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Further to our Alpine Utilities Ltd’s intervention (see our post 29th July 16) it appear that Scottish Power have now reduced the wait time for an automatic re-application to just 10 days from previously 29.

While we welcome this change, which inevitably will save many customers from going onto the excessive out-of-contract rate unnecessarily for too long, we still would like them to introduce a manual override mechanism to re-apply earlier and/or for a specific start date.

We are delighted to inform you that we have now partnered with a Market Leader in Water Management

With suppliers overcharging customers in 1 out every 3 water bills, expert scrutiny and advice is essential to ensure charges accurately reflect the services you receive, and with deregulation just around the corner (April 2017) now is the best time to act.

Our partners are experts in Water Management, offering water audits, bill validation and procurement, as well as advice on any water industry matter. They have saved over £103M since 1990 for their customers

Initially, we are conducting free audits for our customers to highlight the opportunities to save money. Please send us your water bills for us to review – we will report back to you within a few days with a no-obligation recommendation.

Water Audits, how they work
Combining on and off site investigations, errors can be found and corrected. Inefficiencies can be highlighted, and we will recommend the best course of action to reduce and recover costs. Some of the aspects that will be looked into will include:

● Over-estimated bills
● Data errors
● Billing errors
● Charges for incorrect properties
● VAT amendments
● Closed premises but still being invoiced
● Converting unmeasured properties
● Incorrect meter readings
● Meter size reduction

They also specialise in checking and correcting charging assessments of surface water and highway drainage, investigating banding reductions, RV checking and drainage to cancel and reduce charges that do not connect to public sewers.

Send your recent water bill now to info@alpineutilities.co.uk or fax to 0844 3588 613 for a free no obligation assessment of the hard cash that we can save for your organisation.

Dual Energy has sent the following communication to its brokers:
Due to recent increase in prices & as per their terms and conditions, DUAL Energy have notified us that some of their customers that have signed up with them for a start date from 01/01/17 – 31/03/17 will be having a price change. The reasoning for this increase in the agreed rates is due to the increase in the wholesale cost of electricity. They have absorbed as much as possible of this; however are now having to pass this increase over to some of their customers.

In response to our enquiry Dual Energy has confirmed:
The communication which will go out to the customer in the coming weeks, does give the opportunity for customers to cancel if they are not happy to continue on the new set of prices offered. We are of course covered to do so by the T&Cs (4.2, 4.3, 8.1.1) but this is not something we ever wanted to use.

It is the result of a combination of freak incidents within the industry where supply has been hindered, leading to a wholesale increase beyond what we can support (absorb). Up over 70% since April https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/nov/12/electricity-bills-rise-energy-supply-cuts

So the customer will always have the right to opt out at a price change juncture, within the set time frame of notice.

We are still reluctant to accept that their T&C’s cover a price increase simply due to the rise in whole sale prices but this is something Dual Energy customers should discuss with their brokers and/or legal advisors – voting with your feet is always an option.
However it is important for all Dual-Energy customers to check their post and act quickly in case the supplier decides to pass on prices rises to all current customers.

OFGEM does not think so.
In case you have a credit balance (usually from a monthly budget plan) on your energy account and the supplier goes bankrupt, you may loose your money!
Therefore Ofgem has put in place a new safety net to protect consumers in the unlikely event their supplier goes out of business.
The credit balance will be transferred to the supplier of last resort who may recoup it’s cost through an industry levy.

However OFGEM has now confirmed to Alpine Utilities Ltd that this scheme only covers domestic customers.
While budget plans are less common in the commercial energy market, customers may still have a credit balance from an overestimated meter reading or security deposit paid.
There is currently no scheme in place to protect business energy customers from any losses should the supplier go bankrupt.
Customers should take this into consideration when procuring a utility contract.

Customer A just visited our office with electricity bills from his supplier amounting to £27’000! We checked the rates, readings and dates and all appear to be correct.
Buy hey! Among the various consumption figures it says 99’000kwh! The error: the previous reading was estimated at 60000 the latest reading was actual at 59000 – instead of calculating a credit of 1000kwh, the supplier billed for 99’000!
Alpine Utilities has now contacted the supplier on behalf of the customer and we are waiting for a revised bill.

It’s not just to find the cheapest price you need a professional broker – we make sure you are not unjustly ripped off by the suppliers!

OFGEM has published data which shows that in the first half of this year (Jan-June 2016) more than 3.8 million switches took place as people changed their energy supplier – around a million more than the same period last year (Jan-June 2015).

In the first half of 2016, around 1.6 million domestic customers switched gas suppliers and 2.2 million domestic customers switched electricity suppliers.

However, whilst there are more deals in the market to choose from, OFGEM’s data reveals that 66% of domestic customers are still on expensive standard variable tariffs.

Meanwhile, customers can save over £300 by ditching expensive standard variable tariffs for the cheapest deal, often a fixed-term tariff. The average standard variable tariff of the larger energy suppliers as of 28 July 2016 was £1,066. The cheapest tariff available on that date – a one year fixed tariff – was £758, a saving of £308.

Commercial Customers have an even bigger choice of suppliers and potential savings are obviously much bigger, too.

For a competitive quote and a professional service contact Alpine Utilities Ltd today.

David Lande from Alpine Utilities was disappointed to learn that Scottish Power have a very rigid process of re-applying for transfer after an objection. The system is automatic and will only re-apply 29 days after receiving the first objection. This can lead to customers paying unnecessarily excessive out-of-contract rates.
Following the intervention of Alpine Utilities with OFGEM, they have contacted Scottish Power and they agreed to will look to develop an override for the circumstances that you have described.
OFGEM thanked Alpine Utilities for bringing this issue to their attention.

Mr Lande said: It’s very encouraging to be able to flag a problem with a supplier and see OFGEM taking immediate action.

Recently a customer contacted Alpine Utilities Ltd as his previous supplier’s end read was much higher than the new supplier’s start read, which would cost the customer hundreds of pounds for double charged energy.

Alpine Utilities contacted the new supplier on the customer’s behalf and we are awaiting the final response from the supplier.

It is therefore important that customers always compare the previous supplier’s final bill with the new supplier’s first one.

Any discrepancy should be reported immediately and as a responsible broker we will pass on your complaint to the relevant department.

In the 2015 Autumn Statement, the Government announced its intent to reduce the impact of
renewables policies on the costs of electricity for the most Energy Intensive Industries (EIIs).
This proposal would see EIIs exempt from a significant proportion1 of the costs of the Renewables Obligation (RO) and the Small Scale Feed-in Tariff (ss-FiT), in order to ensure that they maintain their competitiveness internationally. EIIs are currently entitled to cash compensation from the cost of these schemes (i.e. they pay the costs but receive compensation from the Government). From April 2017, it is proposed that this would change to a direct exemption at source; however, this is subject to State Aid Approval.
Under this exemption, companies operating in sectors such as metal casting, heavy
manufacturing and mining will benefit, but non-exempt customers will pay extra to cover the cost of the exemptions. This cross-subsidy will put further upward pressure on prices for these non-EII customers.
Havenpower have published and information and Q&A sheet regarding this new policy, which you can access online @ http://www.havenpower.com/customer-information/energy-intensive-industry-eii-exemption-explained

As Alpine Utilities Ltd has experienced various serious problems with Extra Energy we welcome OFGEM’s investigation into that supplier’s performance.

We note that OFGEM has only acted once they have been informed of a highly level of complaints by the Citizens Advise Service and the Energy Ombudsman in March and April respectively.

Some energy brokers however have noticed serious problems in Extra Energy’s customer service and registration system several months earlier and stopped offering their contracts to clients already in late 2015.

We call on OFGEM to open a channel where energy brokers could raise their concerns to OFGEM well before the CAS and Ombudsman have registered a high number of complaints.