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What do I do if Economy Energy still owes me money?

  • 22 January 2019
  • 44 replies
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D
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what do I need to do to recover overpayments taken by them?
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Best answer by Transparent 22 January 2019, 15:27

Hi @DELKHELA - Welcome to the OVO Forum.

Good question.... and you're not alone. OVO are busy collecting a list of such customers.

There's a heap of advice on another thread here.
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44 replies

Transparent
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Hi @DELKHELA - Welcome to the OVO Forum.

Good question.... and you're not alone. OVO are busy collecting a list of such customers.

There's a heap of advice on another thread here.
Save energy... recycle electrons!
Slinky
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@DELKHELA

"Fear not: if any supplier goes bust, consumer credit balances are now 100% protected."

The above words of wisdom were found in this link, lots of similar comments and useful advice for you to look at here:

Economy Energy refusing Refund of Credit Balance
"The only queer people are those who don't love anybody."--Rita Mae Brown
C
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I was an economy energy customer and was automatically switched to OVO, when the EE stopped trading.
I was told to carry on paying the direct debit and OVO would take over the direct debit.

You emailed me to say that you will be taking over my supply on the 31st of January and I would be receiving a bill from you within 6 to 8 weeks.. you also said I would received a final bill from EE.

Neither of those things have happened, and I am still paying my dual fuel direct debit to EE.

i have also received and email saying you are putting your prices up, that is a bit rich considering I have no idea what my actual bill is.

logging into your website tells me absolutely nothing, as you have no information to tell me.

i note that you are currently taking over another failed company, it would be nice if you could sort out the EE take over first.

I do hope that you will not try and charge me from the 31st of January when you should have taken over my direct debit to EE while telling me that I need to chase EE for the surplus paid from January to now.
G
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I am a previous economy energy customer with a credit balance which I am waiting for a refund. I chased this up with OVO over a month ago and was advised it would take a few weeks. I am still waiting for my money to be returned despite leaving economy energy in October!! Has anyone had more joy?
P
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I got a bill from Economy energy on 13/12/2018 with an estimated meter reading which wiped out all my credit balance of £646.04 . The estimated meter reading was wrong and I submitted the actual meter reading which will bring the credit balance to £681. I haven't received any revised bill. As per economy energy wrong bill , I owe them £826 (due to estimated meter reading) but as per actual reading the bill should be in credit by £681.

Is there anyway i can get the wrong bill cancelled / revised and get the refund?
S
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Hi, I’m an ex economy energy customer who moved supplier to octopus just before EE went bust. I informed you of this when you tried to take me over the first time, and now you’ve done it again with my gas. I called you a week ago- with a lengthy wait to speak to someone as usual- to ask why I’d been removed from octopus, and your customer services rep told me you didn’t have my supply it was still with octopus.
So back I go to octopus, who tell me that no, you are my supplier.
Now, despite me being over £300 in credit with EE, you have just sent a dd notification telling me you’re going to take over £100 a month. And there’s no one to speak to when you work full time hours.
I’m truly fed up. Please stop my supply with you, you have no permission or agreement with me to supply me. You evidently have my email. Please use it ASAP.
Regards
T
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Hi still not had final bill from EE and they actually continued to take Direct debit from my account in fact one came out in Feb 19 after they went in to administration so should I get in touch with bank to claim this back? Also OVO have now sent me illustrated statement but mentions nothing about my EE payment history on this as I would of thought they produce a statement they should be advising you what you already paid to EE and show on the statement they now are saying will be taking over £200 by direct debit from 1st April but OVO have not advised me of what credit owed from Economy Energy I finding whole process a joke and should I cancel my direct debit with OVO
W
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How do i get my Economy Energy Refund....?
Nancy_OVO
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Hi all!

@DELKHELA@Gemmarae05@Chaos@Pius Thomas@Tyton01@WilkoLes@Transparent@Slinky @Sammieh

I thought I'd make this topic the updated hub for Economy Energy queries regarding Direct Debits, billing and refunds. I've tagged a lot of users from this older topic and advised to head over here for updates.

Here are some important updates from the last few weeks:
  • We are now able to refund Economy Energy customer who left the company before they went bust and were taken over by OVO. If this applies to you, you'll need to get in touch with the team (phone, email, Facebook or Twitter) and confirm your bank account sort code, and the last 4 digits of your account number so that we can send the refund via bank transfer. Alternatively we can send a cheque to your current address. In some instances where the refund amount has not been confirmed by Economy, we may ask you to provide a copy of your final bill.
  • As of last week, we have started billing customers who were still on supply with Economy when they went bust, and have been transferred over to OVO as a live customer. The billing will be done in batches over the next couple of weeks and you'll receive an email notification once your first bill has been created.
  • We've also started taking over Economy Direct Debits. Any payments you've made to them since January will be transferred to your account with us. You'll receive an email or letter confirming when your Direct Debit has been successfully moved to OVO, which will also confirm the amount (should be the same as with Economy), and the date (which may be different due to different dates available with OVO). Once you've received this, if you check your online banking and you can see a live Direct Debit with OVO, you're free to cancel the inactive one with Economy. If you can't see the OVO one in there yet, we'd advise against cancelling your old one so there's no risk of us losing your bank details in the transfer process.
It's important to mention as well that if you haven't received a welcome email from us or can't log in to our website, that Economy may have sent over an invalid email address. Please get in touch with the team on Facebook to double check we've got the right one.

Hope these updates have helped! Comment any further questions below.

Thanks,
Nancy
Your guiding light(bulb)
D
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can I have a contact no please?
K
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A contact number would really help.

Since EE was taken over by Ovo I'd been trying to switch energy suppliers.

I am unable to switch gas because apparently the national database still shows the Plot Number (New build since 2010) rather than my address.

This means no one will take over my gas until it's updated.

I've had a few gas suppliers since 2010 all of whom have had no problem taking over my gas supply. Until Now!

It's been SIX weeks since I asked Ovo to update my details as their duty of care on taking over from EE.

I'd like to get this actioned. It seems facebook is a quicker way to get in touch but doesn't necessarily mean it gets actioned and I need an update as until then the supply is in question and I've absolutely no idea what I'm being charged.

Thanks.
Nancy_OVO
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Hi @DELKHELA and @katemjames - our contact number is 0330 303 5063.
Your guiding light(bulb)
D
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ive been told we need a final statement from the administrators and need to email them
Economy.Energy@uk.gt.com
once I have this then OVO will act on it.
D
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Economy Energy Trading Limited – in administration

Eddie Williams, Jon Roden and Stuart Preston of Grant Thornton UK LLP were appointed as joint administrators of Economy Energy Trading Limited (“Economy Energy”) on 14 January 2019.

The joint administrators have retained a number of Economy Energy employees to assist with the Administration process, including the final reconciliation of customer accounts and collection of outstanding debts. Due to the large number of customer accounts to be reconciled, it is likely that this will take some months to resolve.

There will be a dedicated customer liaison team set up in the coming weeks to assist with customer queries.

Customers

Customers with a credit balance

If your query relates to a credit balance with Economy Energy, OVO Energy will be honouring balances for current and exited customers, you will be contacted by them directly.

If you left Economy Energy prior to the transfer to OVO on 12 January 2019 and have received a final bill, this information has been provided to OVO and OVO will be in touch about honouring this credit balance to you. Alternatively OVO can be contacted directly, the contact details can be found by following the links below.

If you left Economy Energy prior to 12 January 2019 but have not yet received a final bill, OVO will be honouring your credit balance once a final bill has been issued. Likewise, if you transferred to OVO on 12 January 2019 as part of the SoLR process, OVO will honour all credit balances once your account has been final billed.

Due to the high number of customer accounts to be reconciled and final billed, this process is currently estimated to be completed in May/June 2019. This process can only begin once final meter reads have been received and agreed, which is estimated to be completed by the end of March 2019. Please note that current completion dates are based on estimates and are subject to change as the process continues.

Customers with a debit balance

All amounts owed to Economy Energy relating to energy supplies prior to 12 January 2019 remain due and payable. If you owe money to Economy Energy we will be in contact with you to discuss repayment arrangements.

Meter readings

If you wish to submit relevant meter readings please send these to reads@economyenergy.co.uk

Other queries

If your query relates to compensation awarded or a complaint lodged prior to the administration, we advise that the joint administrators’ are unable to progress these matters further. However if you have agreed a compensation claim with the Ombudsman, please forward details of this to us, and your claim for compensation may qualify as an unsecured creditor and rank as a claim in the estate.

Further information can be found by following the links below:
Transfer to OVO https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/economy-energy-customers-your-questions-new-supplier-ovo-energy
Credit customers https://www.ovoenergy.com/economy-energy
Prepay customers https://www.boostpower.co.uk/economy-energy

Trade Suppliers

S
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Still no repsponse re what we do if we have an Economy Energy smart meter when you're asking for meter readings. How do we read our Economy Energy smart meters - or do we even need to?
Suzanne
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Haha and I thought it must be the fault of Brexit...

From where I am it seems like a right royal 'c$$k up'

So now Ovo are advising that it could take until June 2019 to clarify and agree accounts previously held with EE, yet advise that they are about to increase all tariffs from 1st April 2019 - seriously?

This is clearly putting customers at an unfair advantage when we cannot review tariffs available either with Ovo or the general market until the accounts have been reconciled.

I would suggest to the management of Ovo that they should defer any increases until all accounts have been agreed, if nothing else as a PR exercise and an act of goodwill.

Ovo have just requested yet another reading which I shall email to them, wonder what this will produce and when!
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Anyone out there that is an ex customer of Economy Energy due a payment recieved it yet?
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OVO advised us ex EE customers not to switch away as it might delay the transfer from EE.

The April increase to their already expensive tariffs makes me think it is just blatant profiteering.

I have switched to Octopus. My balance with EE should more or less cover the consumption while I was with OVO so they can take as long as they want to sort it out.
1
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"Failed supplier Economy Energy owed nearly £12m to customers when it went out of business earlier this year, according to new documents."
http://www.cityam.com/275073/exclusive-energy-supplier-owed-12m-customers-went-out
Transparent
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Ouch! Thanks for that info @15isto2

I've also had a look through the Formal Notification document of 4th Jan in which Ofgem laid out its reasons for eventually removing Economy Energy's Licence on 8th January.

There are multiple reasons given, very few of which are actually breaches of UK Law. Most fall into the category of failures to properly notify Ofgem of actions, and of having no record system to track when/how customers' complaints were handled. So they were unable to state whether they were or were not in compliance with their own Complaints Procedure.

It's the lack of records which must now be at the heart of the work being undertaken by the appointed Administrators. No wonder you guys have been suffering such delays in obtaining refunds via OVO.
Save energy... recycle electrons!
Transparent
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And @PaulD can I point out that it is Ofgem's advice that you don't switch away from OVO until they've notified you of your account status. This advice hasn't been instigated by OVO.

When you switch, it is the responsibility of the Receiving Supplier to handle all aspect of the process. This includes steps for "due diligence" to ensure that you are not leaving the Relinquishing Supplier with an account which is in debt. There is no direct contact between the two suppliers. It's all handled through ECOES and Xoserve, the two National Databases of electricity and gas meters.

Given that EE's records were in disarray, and that they had levied a one-off extra Direct Debit against many thousands of customers in their last six months of trading, there is a high probability of the switch process failing for you.
Save energy... recycle electrons!
P
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And @PaulD can I point out that it is Ofgem

's advice that you don't switch away from OVO

until they've notified you of your account status. This advice hasn't been instigated by OVO

.

When you switch, it is the responsibility of the Receiving Supplier
to handle all aspect of the process. This includes steps for "due diligence" to ensure that you are not leaving the Relinquishing Supplier

with an account which is in debt. There is no direct contact between the two suppliers. It's all handled through ECOES

and Xoserve

, the two National Databases of electricity and gas meters.

Given that EE's records were in disarray, and that they had levied a one-off extra Direct Debit against many thousands of customers in their last six months of trading, there is a high probability of the switch process failing for you.

It may have been instigated by OFGEM but OVO repeat it on their website.
Transparent
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Ex-customers of Economy Energy might like to know that the Administrators filed a Statement of Proposal at Companies House on 16th March.

There are actually four companies in the Economy Energy group. The one in Administration is Economy Energy Trading Ltd. You can view the records for all four by visiting the relevant page on Companies House website.

The Statement of Proposal gives a detailed explanation of what went wrong in the company, which stemmed from a decision to extend their operations from Pre-Payment Meters to Credit Customers. The IT system was inadequate to handle the billing and estimates for Direct Debits, leaving many accounts in debt.

In common with other failures of Domestic Energy Suppliers at the end of 2018, the nail in the coffin was the Company's inability to pay a large sum (£28.5m) to Ofgem.

As I read through ex-EE customers' comments in this Topic, I notice a number of you wanting to now switch away from OVO and find a cheaper deal elsewhere.

In light of your torrid experiences over the last couple of months, I wonder if you now feel differently about seeking out the cheapest deal?

Might you perhaps also want to obtain some background information about any Supplier you are considering using?
  • have a look at the last set of accounts at Companies House
  • read the latest annual Energy Supplier survey from Which?
and if you do the latter, please have a look at the full report table. It's interesting comparing customer perceptions against the actual figures for Complaints Handling and Call-Waiting Times.

About 5 years ago, I found myself in a significant dispute with my Energy Supplier. I don't think I would now be writing on this Forum if I hadn't gone through that experience. I learned a great deal of how the energy sector works, and I must also give credit to the staff at the Office of the Energy Ombudsman who took care to explain matters. Thank you!
Save energy... recycle electrons!
M
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Thanks for the report @15isto2 makes very interesting reading...hint of sarcasm!

So EE invoiced and took DD's, then increased the DD's with no quantification on how they had arrived at these increases [I did ask for the calculations several times] in advance...

And now we discover that they received credit from suppliers, so where's the cash?

"Concerned suppliers lowered or removed the amount of credit they would extend to Economy Energy, and the company was no longer able to pay for electricity in arrears".

This business model cannot fail, surely?

No cash outlay for EE, in fact EE should have been awash with [our] cash, so where did it disppear to?

These are questions which the administrators should be asking and reporting back to the City/Ofgem with their findings.

How much were the Directors paid in salary and dividends?

What about the fiduciary duty of the Directors, to act in the best interest of the business?

From where I am it looks crystal clear that the business had serious cash flow issues throughout 2018, if not before and was certain to fail, sooner rather than later.
M
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Have had a look at the report prepared by Grant Thornton, interesting reading as always…
They report the following:

Debtors:

5.2 The most significant asset of the Company is the book debts as at 11 January 2019. Debtors are comprised of credit customers whose direct debit payments were not sufficient to cover the consumption for the period up to the date of the SoLR process (or date at which customers switched to an alternative supplier).

Assumptions I believe, whilst Grant Thornton rely on the Directors figures I believe they will prove to be wildly exaggerated.

For example: when I renewed our contract June 2018 I used ‘actual’ units/cost used for the previous year and adjusted by 10% to allow for the increases that always come along.

EE decided it wasn’t enough and adjusted our DD in September and December by approx. 50% to cover any alleged shortfall.

I disputed this and requested their calculations, never did get them.

Therefore, it is my opinion that due to their cash flow issues the Directors chose to increase DD’s to cover this, clearly unjustified hence I believe we are in credit with them, am I alone?

So, it will be interesting when we finally receive our final bill from EE.

5.7 A proportion of the final debtor book relates to unbilled debt which are amounts owed by customers but a bill has not yet been generated in the billing system and sent to the customer. A full customer account reconciliation and final billing process is required to issue the customer final bills and finalise these debts.

It looks like the Director with significant control, Miss Lubna Khilji has done very well for a 33 year old out of her business career to date, I wonder if her supply has also been transferred to OVO.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/rip-economy-energy-latest-widely-13834949

It will be interesting to follow this investigation through to completion, guess that will take upto five years in any event.

Whilst this is ongoing it goes without saying the accountants and lawyers will be handsomely rewarded for their endeavours.

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