Times Article: Overcharged for Gas & Electric for not using DD ??

[EXC]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/mon...cle4448569.ece

[Tools]

Re: Tom B in Sunday Times

Energy giants are told to pay back billions

Utility firms could be taken to court for breaching EU rules on payment methods

Ali Hussain ENERGY companies are overcharging customers by as much as £1 billion a year in defiance of European Union rules, it was claimed last week.
Lawyers said the breach could lead to consumers taking their utility firms to court to reclaim hundreds of pounds, in an echo of last year’s revolt over bank charges.
The 10m customers who pay by cash or cheque every quarter are being charged £699m more than is justifiable, according to a report from a committee of MPs last week. Pre-payment meter customers, including those with second homes, are paying up to £400m more.
The excess is in breach of an EU directive which states that any difference between payment methods should reflect the cost to the supplier. This is only £20 even though suppliers charge up to £69 more, MPs say.
Graham Kerr of watchdog Energywatch said: “I expect consumers to demand lower payments or even ask for a refund in the same way as bank-charge customers.”
The MPs on the Business and Enterprise committee called for suppliers to be forced to lower tariffs through price controls if they fail to act in 12 months.
This follows British Gas’s decision to raise gas bills by an average of 35% and electricity tariffs by 9%, increasing the average bill by about £267 a year — the highest ever single increase. About 1.6m of the firm’s customers who pay by direct debit have seen a steeper increase of 42%. Customers in London, the Midlands and East Anglia have suffered a rise of almost 44%.
The energy giant, which has nearly 16m UK customers, blamed the rise — its second in six months — on increases in wholesale energy prices since last year of up to 89%. EDF set the ball rolling this month when it raised gas by 22% and electricity prices by 17%. However, unlike British Gas, the French supplier has not committed to keep prices on hold until the end of the year. The remaining four big energy firms are expected to follow suit.
Customers who pay by cash or cheque every quarter, also known as standard credit customers, are charged an average of 11% more for their energy — or £89 a year extra a year, according to the MPs. The report said: “The ‘Big Six’ are on average overcharging pre-payment customers by £59 a year, and those on standard credit by £69.”
Tom Brennan of Atlas Chambers, the law firm that initiated a surge in bank-charge claims last year, said the excess charge was in breach of EU directives set out in 2003. “If the MPs’ report is correct, then it would seem energy firms are in breach of their duties,” he said. “It would suggest the consumer could and should bring these claims to a court if they cannot obtain a refund from their supplier.”
Consumers would be able to claim back for four years of overpayments. With 3.64m pre-payment and 10.14m standard credit customers in Britain, the potential cost to energy firms could be more than £3 billion.
Regulator Ofgem will publish its investigation into energy firms next month.

Have your say by going to the link on EXC`s post and submitting to The Times

[enaid]

Re: Tom B in Sunday Times

Are there any letters ready yet lol?

[Amethyst]

FANTASTIC

The 10m customers who pay by cash or cheque every quarter are being charged £699m more than is justifiable, according to a report from a committee of MPs last week. Pre-payment meter customers, including those with second homes, are paying up to £400m more.

The excess is in breach of an EU directive which states that any difference between payment methods should reflect the cost to the supplier. This is only £20 even though suppliers charge up to £69 more, MPs say.

Graham Kerr of watchdog Energywatch said: “I expect consumers to demand lower payments or even ask for a refund in the same way as bank-charge customers.” ............................

Customers who pay by cash or cheque every quarter, also known as standard credit customers, are charged an average of 11% more for their energy — or £89 a year extra a year, according to the MPs. The report said: “The ‘Big Six’ are on average overcharging pre-payment customers by £59 a year, and those on standard credit by £69.”

.....................
Regulator Ofgem will publish its investigation into energy firms next month.

Be exceedingly hard to work out how much you have been overcharged.

The cheque/cash payment custs info also seems contrary to the findings about the BT phone payment method charges.

From reading that seems the average overcharge PA would be £49, so over 4 years nigh on £200.

Prices going up because £992 million profit in six months isn't enough (31 July 2008)

Adam Scorer, Campaigns Director at energywatch, said: "British Gas customers, still reeling from 35% price hikes, might have expected Centrica to be losing money. They will be staggered at the rude health of Centrica's half year profits. Customers will be outraged to learn that while they ponder how to make ends meet Centrica’s shareholders are enjoying an increase in their dividends.
“Centrica has kept its promise to shareholders by delivering very strong half year profits in gas production and storage and by doing whatever was necessary to recover its desired profit levels as a retailer as quickly as it can.
"Obviously, almost a billion pounds of profit in six months isn't the sort of profit Centrica wanted so it has raised gas prices by 35%. Consumers would love to be able to affect their bottom line so easily.
"The bottom line for consumers makes for very grim reading. The £1000 a year energy bill ceiling is well and truly breached. Numbers in fuel poverty will explode this year. Households have some hard decision to make about stretched budgets.
“Centrica has been at the forefront of industry measures to help vulnerable consumers, and we welcome the measures announced yesterday, but they will only cushion, or delay, the impact of these price rises.
"Why are consumers being so hit by fuel rises? Because they are paying the price of broken energy markets in Europe and at home.
"In Europe the price of gas bears little relation to the true economic cost of gas, instead it reflects the high cost of oil.
"This week a powerful group of MPs identified that the domestic market is riven with problems that reduce competition. The consequence of that is suppliers such as British Gas are able to pass on costs to consumers and protect their profit margins far more easily than they should.
"Government, Ofgem and suppliers needs to take a hard and honest appraisal of their efforts to tackle fuel poverty. No one can seriously maintain that government has a credible strategy to achieve its legal target to eradicate fuel poverty for vulnerable consumers in 2010 and for all consumers by 2016.
"If the era of cheap energy is over, then the era of cheap solutions to fuel poverty is over as well. Government will fail to meet its fuel poverty target for 2010. Unless its acts quickly there will be questions about whether it has effectively abandoned the fight".[/quote]


Energywatch

[Amethyst]

Re: Tom B in Sunday Times

87. There has been a widening gap between companies' direct debit tariffs, and those for standard credit and prepayment meters (PPM). Nine years after liberalisation, this suggests a serious failing in the competitiveness of the market. Recent debate has focused on the prices for PPM. However, we are equally concerned about the poor deal standard credit customers are receiving, particularly given that this is the payment method for the vast majority of the fuel poor and the evidence suggests they are on average being over-charged even more than those on PPM.

Business and Enterprise - Eleventh Report

Here you can browse the report together with the Proceedings of the Committee. The published report was ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 16 July 2008.

Contents

Terms of Reference

Summary
1 Introduction

• Ofgem's inquiry

2 The wholesale gas market

• Recent prices The UK gas market
  Increasing gas dependency
  Market concentration
  LNG import capacity
  Gas storage
  European-UK gas price link
  Oil-gas price link
  Gas contracting

3 The wholesale electricity market

• Rising input prices Rising environmental costs
  Market concentration
  New capacity
  Vertical integration
  Liquidity

4 The retail gas and electricity markets

• Historic prices Changes in supplier costs
  Market concentration
  Switching
  Payment types
  Smart metering
  The SME market
  Product innovation and 'green' tariffs
  Off-network gas consumers
  Final remarks on markets

5 Fuel poverty

• Recent developments Social tariffs
  Raising incomes
  Improving housing

Conclusions and recommendations
Formal Minutes
Witnesses
List of written evidence
List of unprinted evidence
List of Reports from the Committee during the current Parliament

[Tom_Brennan]

Article in the Sunday Times re: price differentials in payment methods for customers

Following from today’s article in the Sunday Times relating to price differentials in payment methods for gas and electricity customers, I am posting on here to give some additional background information. The following is the correct position to the best of my knowledge, but if you are going to rely on the following statements in court or in correspondence with your gas or electricity supplier, then I must recommend that you get your own independent legal advice. The legal research I have undertaken in respect of this issue is not final, and my thoughts on this issue may be refined in light of further research.

Before I start I would also like to correct a slight error in the report in the Sunday Times: when Ali Hussain states “Tom Brennan of Atlas Chambers, the law firm that initiated a surge in bank-charge claims last year”, it should be noted that Atlas Chambers is a barrister’s chambers, and not a law firm at all. And whilst my case may have been one of the factors that helped to highlight the issue of unlawful bank charges, I would like to stress that I had not joined Atlas Chambers at the time of my case. At that time, neither Atlas Chambers nor its members were linked to my case or bank charges generally.

Now to the substance.

The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) is the responsible Authority for regulating gas and electricity suppliers, and has as one of its statutory objectives a duty to protect consumers. Ofgem is responsible for issuing licences to the relevant suppliers, and such licences are a pre-requisite for the national supply of electricity and gas.

There has been a great deal of consumer concern at the increasing level of gas and electricity bills, which has seen the recent introduction of the term “fuel poverty”, which is defined as “Households which spend in excess of 10% of their income on maintaining an adequate level of heating and lighting”: see page 42 of the House of Commons Business and Enterprise Committee Report on Energy prices, fuel poverty and Ofgem, (hereafter “the Select Committee Report”), which can be found at http://www.publications.parliament.u...r/293/293i.pdf


There has been particular concern at the standard practice by energy suppliers in charging significant differences between the different payment types for bill payments. If a consumer pays by cash, cheque or pre-payment meter, then they are likely to be charged significantly more than those customers paying by direct debit.

However, under paragraph (d) of Annexe A to EU Directives 54/2003 and 55/2003 (extracts below), gas and electricity suppliers must offer a wide choice of payment methods, and any difference in terms and conditions (e.g. price) must reflect the costs to the supplier of the different payment systems. In essence the suppliers are not allowed to profit from using different payment methods, as it is normally those who must pay by cheque, pre-payment meter, or cash, that are normally the hardest hit by fuel costs and “administrative costs”, and those most likely to fall within the definition of “fuel poverty”. These EU Directives had to be implemented by the UK by 1st July 2004.

However, it does not appear that the UK has implemented those Directives correctly, specifically in relation to the requirement that any price difference between the payment types having to reflect the actual costs to the supplier.

In paragraphs 83 to 88 of the Select Committee Report mentioned above, MPs reached the conclusion that there was significant overcharging by energy suppliers for any payment type that was not by direct debit. They concluded that: “The ‘Big Six’ are on average overcharging pre-payment customers by £59 a year, and those on standard credit by £69.”

Under previous UK Regulations, between 2004 and 2006, Ofgem operated standard licensing conditions for electricity and gas suppliers that are different to the current conditions that are imposed on suppliers today. Under those old licences, the suppliers had tosupply different payment methods under Condition 43: Contractual Terms - Methods of Payment. Condition 43(4) stated that “The [supplier] shall process all requests for a supply of electricity to domestic premises without undue preference or undue discrimination” in respect of those different payment types (gas suppliers had the same standard terms). This could arguably have been in line with the European Directives which have already been mentioned, and the requirement that any difference in price reflect the actual cost.

But Ofgem revised the standard licensing conditions in 2007, and since then Condition 27 (the new condition on payment types) no longer makes any reference to “undue preference or undue discrimination”. In effect, the new licensing conditions are a step back for consumer protection.

Ofgem does seem to have picked up on this point, which can be seen in the Fuel Poverty Summit Action Group that it convened in April this year:
http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainabili...0Programme.pdf, at page 7, Commitment L. Ofgem is now considering how this issue may be addressed in possible new licensing obligations.

However, the measures to implement the relevant European Directives were supposed to come into force by 1st July 2004, but it appears that the UK has failed to implement them correctly. Our UK legislation, and the licensing regime that stems from it, does not appear to reflect the requirements under the European Directives.

So where does this leave consumers? If the content of the Energy Report by the House of Commons Business & Enterprise Committee is correct, then it follows that the gas and electricity suppliers are acting in breach of the Directives as they are charging more than the actual cost of processing cheques, etc, to their customers. The consumer could therefore have a claim against the company on two grounds:

First, that the contractual term is unlawful as a result of the European Directives and/or the 2004-2007 standard licensing conditions, and therefore unenforceable. The consumer would therefore be claiming back any payments that have been made to the supplier as a result of those contractual terms that are found to be unlawful. It should be noted that there is an actual cost to the supplier of the different payment types, but the assertion made in the Select Committee Report is that those price differences that are being charged do not reflect the actual costs. Any consumer challenging such price differentials would be required to prove their case, and would have to rely heavily on the content of the Select Committee Report and associated documents.

Further or alternatively, the consumer could bring a claim for “breach of statutory duty”. I stress could, because this area of law is still very much developing. European Treaties and Regulations (two of the three forms of European legislation) that have direct effect in this country and are intended to protect a particular class of persons are considered to impose a “statutory duty”, and failure to comply with those Treaties or Regulations can amount to a “breach of statutory duty”.

However, where the laws are enacted through European Directives (the third form of European legislation), the law is less clear. It is not certain whether the customer in this case could bring a claim against their supplier for breach of statutory duty. There is case law to suggest that they can, and there is case law to suggest that there is no such remedy in tort. The issue is far from settled, and a test case may have to be run in order to establish legal certainty on the issue.

The good news for consumers is that if a court rules that the consumer does not have a claim against the supplier in contract or in tort, then the consumer could make a claim against the Government for failing to properly implement the European Directives, where the consumer has suffered loss as a result of that failure to properly implement the Directives. Essentially, the consumer would get two bites at the cherry, first against the supplier, and second against the government. If a test case were to be run, it may be that both the supplier AND the government could be joined as joint defendants to the case.

On a practical note, however, a consumer who has been charged excessively by their supplier for paying by cheque or by cash, etc, could write to their supplier and demand a repayment of the amount that they have been overcharged.

I may, in the course of the week, draft such a standard letter for open use, but I must stress again that if it comes to any legal proceedings you must get your own independent legal advice.


Tom Brennan.





Below are the extracts of the relevant Directives and Standard Conditions from the old licensing regime.


DIRECTIVE 2003/55/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 26 June 2003 concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas and repealing Directive 98/30/EC

Article 3
Public service obligations and customer protection
1…
2…
3. Member States shall take appropriate measures to protect final customers and to ensure high levels of consumer protection, and shall, in particular, ensure that there are adequate safeguards to protect vulnerable customers, including appropriate measures to help them avoid disconnection. In this context, they may take appropriate measures to protect customers in remote areas who are connected to the gas system. Member States may appoint a supplier of last resort for customers connected to the gas network. They shall ensure high levels of consumer protection, particularly with respect to transparency regarding general contractual terms and conditions, general information and dispute settlement mechanisms. Member States shall ensure that the eligible customer is effectively able to switch to a new supplier. As regards at least household customers these measures shall include those set out in Annex A.


ANNEX A
Measures on consumer protection
Without prejudice to Community rules on consumer protection, in particular Directives 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) and Council Directive 93/13/EC (2), the measures referred to in Article 3 are to
ensure that customers:
….
(d) are offered a wide choice of payment methods. Any difference in terms and conditions shall reflect the costs to the supplier of the different payment systems. General terms and conditions shall be fair and transparent. They shall be given in clear and comprehensible language. Customers shall be protected against unfair or misleading selling methods;

Article 33
Implementation
1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive not later than 1 July 2004. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.


DIRECTIVE 2003/54/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 26 June 2003 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 96/92/EC

Article 3
Public service obligations and customer protection
5. Member States shall take appropriate measures to protect final customers, and shall in particular ensure that there are adequate safeguards to protect vulnerable customers, including measures to help them avoid disconnection. In this context, Member States may take measures to protect final customers in remote areas. They shall ensure high levels of consumer protection, particularly with respect to transparency regarding contractual terms and conditions, general information and dispute settlement mechanisms. Member States shall ensure that the eligible customer is in fact able to switch to a new supplier. As regards at least household customers, these measures shall include those set out in Annex A.


Annex A
….
(d) are offered a wide choice of payment methods. Any difference in terms and conditions shall reflect the costs to the supplier of the different payment systems. General terms and conditions shall be fair and transparent. They shall be given in clear and comprehensible language. Customers shall be protected against unfair or misleading selling methods;

Article 30
Implementation
1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive not later than 1 July 2004. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.





ELECTRICITY SUPPLY LICENCE: STANDARD CONDITIONS (Old conditions 2004-2006)

Consolidated to 11 August 2006

Condition 41. Terms for Supply of Electricity Incompatible with Licence Conditions
1. The licensee shall not enter into or offer to enter into a variation of or operate any domestic supply contract or deemed contract for the supply of electricity to a customer at domestic premises otherwise than on terms which comply with the licensee’s obligations under the licence.
2. The licensee shall not enforce or take advantage of any term of a domestic supply contract for the supply of electricity to a customer at domestic premises if:
(a) the inclusion of that term was incompatible with its obligations under any of
the conditions, or
(b) the enforcement or the taking advantage of that term would be so incompatible.
3. The licensee shall not take advantage of the omission of any term from a domestic supply contract or deemed contract for the supply of electricity to a customer at domestic premises if that term was required to be included in the contract or deemed contract in question by reason of the conditions.


Condition 43. Contractual Terms - Methods of Payment
1. Where the licensee offers to supply electricity to domestic customers under a domestic supply contract, it shall have available forms of domestic supply contract which provide for the payment of charges for electricity supplied to domestic premises:
(a) by prepayment through a prepayment meter;
(b) by different methods, including:
(i) by cash, at such places and to such persons, as are reasonable in all the circumstances; and
(ii) by cheque, and
(c) at a reasonable range of different intervals, including:
(i) paying twice-monthly or fortnightly or more regularly, such sums as agreed;
(ii) paying monthly a predetermined sum; and
(iii) paying quarterly in arrears.
2. Where the licensee supplies electricity to domestic premises under a deemed contract, the terms of that contract shall include terms in respect of all the ways of making payments mentioned in sub-paragraph 1(b) and the frequencies mentioned in subparagraph 1(c). The foregoing shall not apply to deemed contracts made following a direction under paragraph 1 of standard condition 29 (Supplier of Last Resort).
3. Before entering into any domestic supply contract (other than through a prepayment meter) the licensee shall inform the customer of and offer to enter into domestic supply contracts which comply with sub-paragraphs 1(b) and (c).
4. The licensee shall process all requests for a supply of electricity to domestic premises without undue preference or undue discrimination.

[Amethyst]

Re: Tom B in Sunday Times

Thank you for posting that Tom

The Ofgem report will certainly be interesting.


Also read http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...newpost&t=5748 for some background ref prepayment meters

[Amethyst]

Re: Times Article: Overcharged for Gas & Electric for not using DD ??

Mmmmm rightio peeps, I have vaguely worked mine out - its only 8 months of billing, and the difference is only £10 odd but I thought a toe in the water letter might assist taking this forward.

I intend to reclaim the difference between standard direct debit paid electricity charges and my standard prepayment cash meter electricty charges using the above information.

I'll work on a letter then bug you for help, and hopefully their response will give us an idea of where the leccy company stands on the matter.

My leccy company is E-On.

[EXC]

Re: Times Article: Overcharged for Gas & Electric for not using DD ??

Oooo do I detect a hint of new-found confidence?

[Amethyst]

Re: Times Article: Overcharged for Gas & Electric for not using DD ??

Dear E-on

It has recently come to my attention that your charge for providing my property with electricity supply may contravene the DIRECTIVE 2003/54/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 26 June 2003 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 96/92/EC in that your charges for supply by prepayment meters are subject to discriminatory rates when compared with your standard electricty supply charges.

You will be aware that under the ELECTRICITY SUPPLY LICENCE: STANDARD CONDITIONS you are obliged to offer a variety of means of payment for the supply of electricty.

In a recent Energy Report by the House of Commons Business & Enterprise Committee paragraphs 83 to 88 mentioned, MPs reached the conclusion that there was significant overcharging by energy suppliers for any payment type that was not by direct debit. They concluded that: “The ‘Big Six’ are on average overcharging pre-payment customers by £59 a year, and those on standard credit by £69.

I am aware that the standard KwH rate is consistent with that charged to direct debit paying standard electricty supply rate customers. Currently that of 9.9p per KwH.

However I am also aware that there are differences in standing charge rates and particularly regarding a discount offered to customers paying by direct debit.






Its a start lol....will get back to it in a while









Annex A
….
(d) are offered a wide choice of payment methods. Any difference in terms and conditions shall reflect the costs to the supplier of the different payment systems. General terms and conditions shall be fair and transparent. They shall be given in clear and comprehensible language. Customers shall be protected against unfair or misleading selling methods;

[EXC]

Re: Times Article: Overcharged for Gas & Electric for not using DD ??

Another Times article, this one on how the successful Energywatch is being merged with the National Consumer council to form a weaker organisation - the pathetically named Consumer Focus - who's remit allows it only to handle complaints by customers deemed as vulnerable.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/mon...cle4532420.ece


Watchdog has been put down in its prime

Consumers face a torrid time as Energywatch is wound down despite having helped thousands


With energy prices soaring and millions of households struggling to pay their fuel bills, now hardly seems the ideal time to be dispensing with the services of the industry watchdog. But that is precisely what the Government is doing. From the end of next month Energywatch, which has campaigned on behalf of consumers for seven years, is being wound down and merged into the National Consumer Council (NCC).

Consumer Focus, part of the new-style NCC, will assist with energy complaints only where customers are deemed to be vulnerable. The vast majority of people will have to take on the energy companies without any expert help.

Given the track record of the energy companies, there will probably be no shortage of grievances to take up. In 2001 Energywatch had to deal with thousands of mis-selling complaints, including aggressive doorstep sales tactics. Meanwhile, complaints about billing have continued to flood in, with consumers angry at being sent bills that are late, inaccurate and unclear.

Times Money recently uncovered flaws in npower's billing system, which may have led to millions of the company's customers being overcharged. As a result, Energywatch has referred the problem to Ofgem, the energy regulator.
Related Links

• npower may have overcharged 2.2m

• Power firm customers running out of patience

There are also concerns over the effectiveness of the Energy Ombudsman, now the final arbiter in energy complaints. Critics have compared the ombudsman's performance unfavourably with that of Energywatch, the body that it will effectively be replacing.
In the year to February the ombudsman was unable to help 95 per cent of consumers who asked for complaints to be investigated. It took up 2,469 complaints of the 45,000 referred to it and made compensation awards in 1,498 cases. The average award was £93.80, making a total compensation figure of £140,512.

By contrast, in the 12 months to March 31 Energywatch dealt with more than 200,000 inquiries, investigated 26,895 complaints from domestic consumers and achieved compensation of £6.3 million, with an average award of £170. An Energywatch spokesman says: “It ought to be a matter of concern that the body that will be carrying out some of the key tasks previously handled by Energywatch appears to be less effective in securing compensation for energy customers.”

But a spokesman for the ombudsman said that it was unfair to compare its performance with Energywatch because the two organisations were carrying out different tasks.
The spokesman said: “We cannot hold the customer's hand through the process as Energywatch can. We have to wait until the customer has first exhausted an energy company's own complaints procedure. Secondly, we calculate compensation awarded to consumers in a different way from Energywatch.”

However, commentators remain sceptical that the new system will improve the situation for energy consumers. Gordon Lishman, the director-general of Age Concern, says: “Consumer Focus simply won't replace the services that Energywatch currently provides.
“Whereas Energywatch deals with any complaint referred to it, Consumer Focus is required to deal only with complaints about imminent disconnections. We are worried that this will have a knock-on effect for local information and advice services, such as Age Concern, many of which are already experiencing both rising demand from pensioners with financial worries and problems with obtaining funding for service provision. This is very worrying at a time when energy price rises are having a significant impact on older people and other vulnerable groups.”

Navin Waghe, a specialist in regulation at LEGC, the economic and financial consultancy, says: “In the future consumers will not have the voice that they had when they benefited from a watchdog that was devoted exclusively to concerns about energy.
“What's more, if the remit of the new body taking over from Energywatch can deal only with consumers who are regarded as vulnerable, then it will be of no use to Mr and Mrs Average. This is of particular concern when rising energy prices mean that more and more people are going to be struggling with their energy bills and might need the help of a body like Energywatch.”

A spokesman for Consumer Focus says: “The organisation will be more of a campaigning body and is not primarily going to be there to help consumers with their complaints.
“It will be able to offer some help with complaints, but this is going to be limited to those customers who are deemed to be vulnerable, either because of their personal circumstances or because they have been disconnected or threatened with disconnection.
“We expect that we will receive about 15,000 to 20,000 calls a year relating to energy complaints, which is a lot fewer than Energywatch currently receives. The Government is putting a much greater focus on energy companies resolving complaints themselves through a much tighter procedure.”

A spokesman for the Department for Business, which oversaw the changes to the current system, adds: “The new standards for complaints handling that are being introduced on October 1 will require much more detailed and transparent record-keeping.
“On the same date, the ombudsman scheme will become compulsory rather than voluntary, as at present, so it will have much sharper teeth.”


Case study: Essential service

Trevor Hill, of Cheltenham, was horrified to learn that Energywatch will be disappearing in its present form at the end of next month.

The 83-year-old retired BBC executive, left, says: “I cannot believe that the Government would be so foolish as to disband an organisation that has given so much help to so many people.

“Energywatch was tremendously helpful to me when I got into a dispute with three different energy companies over my fuel bills. I ended up being chased for money by British Gas, E.ON and npower. At one point I had bailiffs turn up at my door demanding money that I did not owe.

“Fortunately, Energywatch staff have devoted a lot of time and effort into fighting my case and I am now in the process of claiming back money from the three energy companies, as well as compensation for all the distress and inconvenience they have caused me.
“I really appreciate having Energywatch fighting my corner. I cannot imagine what I would have done without it.”

[enaid]

Re: Times Article: Overcharged for Gas & Electric for not using DD ??

The 83-year-old retired BBC executive, left, says: “I cannot believe that the Government would be so foolish as to disband an organisation that has given so much help to so many people.

It's called "Progress" the British way of course, bloody marvellous as usual lol

[EXC]

Re: Times Article: Overcharged for Gas & Electric for not using DD ??

“The organisation will be more of a campaigning body and is not primarily going to be there to help consumers with their complaints.............The Government is putting a much greater focus on energy companies resolving complaints themselves through a much tighter procedure.”

Brilliant.

[Amethyst]

Re: Times Article: Overcharged for Gas & Electric for not using DD ??

oh for goodness sake - Energywatch were one of the only bodies who you could actually rely on to sort things out for you.