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OFGEM has announced that it has issued a provisional order against Solarplicity, banning it from taking on new customers and increasing Direct Debits of vulnerable customers.

Solarplicity, a supplier with 60’000 customers, has been warned by OFGEM to get its house in order within 3 months or face extension of the order or revocation of its license.

It is encouraging to see OFGEM taking a firm stand against suppliers failing to deliver the service expected by customers.

However we have long campaigned that rather than waiting for complaints to flood, any application for a supplier license should be scrutinized as to whether the applicant will be able to deliver a satisfactory service both from within the human resources and more importantly a sound and capable IT system.

All too often customers experience great trouble as a result of a poor or faulty IT system.

While we have successfully submitted hundreds of LOA’s (letter of authority) ever since joining the industry 19 years ago, over the past few weeks Npower has made it a sport to systematically reject almost all of our LOA’s presented, citing the new GDPR regulations.

While we strongly support data protection, business has to continue to operate and rejecting a valid LOA can result to customer’s going unnecessarily out-of-contract and/or Npower missing out on their opportunity to quote for a lucrative business.

We call upon Npower

1. To show some flexibility and only to reject a LOA where there is reasonable concern of its validity
2. Instead of simply rejecting a LOA, they should find a way to verify  it’s validity by checking company director details, contacting the customer and if available comparing signature with other correspondence from same customer
3. Make good on their promise of Account manager to speak to the customer to verbally validate the LOA when tel. no. has been provided as requested

Alpine Utilities will not hesitate to escalate the matter, should a customer get negatively affected by their new policy.

In less than 4 weeks into the new year the 2nd energy supplier Our Power with 38’000 domestic customers out-of-business.

Perhaps time for OFGEM and the DTI to do some soul-searching and demand some rigorous tests before granting a license to a new energy supplier.

Allowing  one supplier after the other to go out of business and fail it’s customers only harms customers and the industry as a whole.

Just 8 days into the new year Economy Energy with 235,000 domestic customers ceased trading. Following 2018 with 8 suppliers going out of business, what will 2019 bring?

Is the utility market sustainable for smaller suppliers?

OFGEM and the DTI will have to answer this question.

Ofgem has banned Economy Energy from taking on new customers until it resolves its customer service issues.

According to OFGEM the following problems have been identified with this supplier:

The particular behaviours of concern giving rise to the provisional order are that Economy Energy’s Domestic Customers are or are likely to be:

• at risk of being unable to contact Economy Energy, where customer service arrangements are not fit for purpose;
• at risk of not being billed with complete and accurate information;
• at risk of not receiving a refund in a timely manner;
• at risk of customer complaints not being correctly identified, logged and signposted to the Energy Ombudsman.

We are pleased to see OFGEM taking action against suppliers taking money but not delivering the customer service expected.

Hopefully this will be a wake up call to other suppliers as well, to put their house in order and improve their customer service level.

D-Energi has written to some customers that their fixed-term contract rate will increase by over 3.5p/kwh (over 20% increase!) just 2-3 months after the start of their electricity contract.

A customer who signed up in August an electricity contract with D-Energi to start in October has now a month later been informed that his unit rates will increase from 13.19p/kwh to 16.712p!

The supplier cites increased wholesale prices, which they are no longer able to absorb.

To add insult to injury we have checked the current matrix prices and found the company still offering rates of 2p/kwh cheaper to new customers than their proposed increased unit rates to customers who signed up just recently.

Alpine Utilities Ltd has written to D-Energy saying this is unacceptable and customers expect their contract rates to be honored for the duration of the contract.

We have also asked how can they still offer new customers cheap rates while at the same time increasing contract prices to existing clients?

A communication sent out by the company to TPI’s says the price increase decision was not made lightly but future contracts would not be subject to such a price review. But Alpine Utilities Director David Lande says he lost trust in this company unless they get clean with their existing customers.

Spark Energy Supply Ltd is the latest small supplier to cease trading, after Extra Energy the 2nd in just a week.

This sparks the debate: are small suppliers viable? Is it worth signing up with a small supplier?

For domestic customers there isn’t that much on stake. OFGEM will now find an alternative supplier of last resort who offers to take on the failed supplier’s customers.

OFGEM’s message reads: ”

Our message to energy customers with Spark is there is no need to worry, as under our safety net we will make sure your energy supplies are secure and your credit balance is protected.

“Ofgem will now choose a new supplier and ensure you get the best deal possible. Whilst we’re doing this our advice is to ‘sit tight’ and don’t switch. You can rely on your energy supply as normal. We will update you when we have chosen a new supplier, who will then get in touch about your new tariff.

“Although we have seen a number of supplier failures this year, our safety net procedures are working as they should to protect customers.”

It’s a different story with commercial customers: The new chosen supplier will take on the failing supplier’s customers, but unless they offer to honor the previous supplier’s contracts, their new tariff offered maybe anything but competitive.

Changing supplier will place customers on the excessive deemed rate until the switch is complete.

OFGEM are now running a consultation on their proposal to increase the tests before granting a license to a new supplier. It remains to be seen whether this will improve matters and we will stop seeing suppliers going out of business on a regular basis.

So, our advise to customers considering their renewal is: Unless the savings are substantial, go for an established supplier that has been around for many years with a good customer service track record.

Alpine Utilties Ltd will advise to the best of our knowledge with every quote if the cheapest supplier offered belongs to that category.

OFGEM started a consultation on strengthen the criteria they use to assess supply licence applications for new entrants in the energy supply market.

This follows the collapse of a number of smaller suppliers over the past year(s) and failure of some others to provide adequate customer service.

In response to OFGEM’s supplier licensing review we have requested that robust testing of any new billing system should become mandatory before allowing it to go live as upgrades have in the past created many problems and untold misery to customers for several months.

Recently a customer sent us an electricity bill charged at the variable rate. A quick check revealed that a contract had been renewed back in November last year.

Alpine Utilities contacted the supplier who apologized for the error and promised to re-bill the customer.

This incident highlights the pitfalls energy customers can fall into.

Alpine Utilities always requests to receive the first bill of any new/renewal contract for free validation. As most customers rarely spot any issues utility brokers are in a much better position to find and rectify any errors.

Customers who paid the reduced VAT rate and no CCL during the 1st contract term, may find this changed at the contract renewal.

Customers are therefore advised to check the VAT rate after a contract renewal and should contact the supplier if the discount has no longer been applied.

Alpine Utilities Ltd encourages its clients to send in the first bill after a renewal or change of supplier for FREE validation.

Alpine Utilities Ltd will also assist the customer with any issues relating the implementation of the energy contract.