Fucked off with energy company

[Youbutterbelieve]

Switched energy provider in September. Switch was quick and easy. Set up a fixed monthly direct debit to go out on 30th month. Provide a meter reading. All good so far. 30th September, no payment taken. I figured it was probably to close to the set up date. October, provide meter readings as requested (for whatever reason they don't seem to be able to get them from my smart meter, frustrating but not the end of the world). 30th October comes, no payment taken. I called them, they apologised and said it looked like my DD wasn't set up correctly, did it again over the phone and they readjusted the amount to cover the not taken payment. November. Provide meter readings and again, no payment taken. Call them again, re set up direct debit. December SAME THING HAPPENED! I called them again and gave them a different bank account. Again they adjusted the monthly amount. I offered to make a payment in full (having still got the monthly payments in my account) but apparently they don't do that.

Anyway, it's the 30th today and guess what!?! No bloody payment taken. I'm not thoroughly fucked off.

AIBU not to call them and instead put the money in my high interest savings account and wait for them to contact me?

What energy company is it???: I'd be careful because they might suddenly realise you owe them and send you a huge bill.....my response would be to pay it back slowly Lol

Which energy company is it?

I'm perfectly happy to receive a big bill - I've got the money, I just want them to take it!

It's home energy.

@Youbutterbelieve okay never heard of them tbh 🫤 are you locked in contract wise or can you switch to a more reliable supplier

Maybe try OFGEM. You might not be the only person this is happening to. I’m sure once they get involved the energy provider might sort themselves out.

I think now is the time to email them an official complaint. Put everything in writing inc dates and phone call times etc.

If you do end up going to Ofgem then they will need you to have logged an official complaint first I think?

How long are you going to put up with this nonsense? Switch to another supplier.

I wouldn’t be complaining and emailing them , it’s their own fault if they don’t want to be paid as long as you have the money when they eventually decide they want it then why should you chase them ?

This. And say you want compensation for their incompetance, wasting your time chasing them up.

The energy provider has up to 1 year to bill you for energy used. That’s right, they can fail to bill you for a whole year and then present you with the bill for 365 days worth of energy usage and expect you to pay it there and then. Only found this out when Octopus screwed up the gas meter and didn’t bill us for gas for 7 months. When I noticed they shrugged and said they could have left it for a year.

Raise the complaint with the provider first. They have 8 weeks to respond, after which time if you are not happy with the response tell the provider you are not happy and then you can escalate to the Energy Ombudsman (not OfGem). Energy Ombudsman’s submission process is really easy, although they ask for a lot of evidence including bills, but hopefully you won’t need to upload too much.

They've billed me every month. They're just not taking the payment!

Fair enough, I guess if they’ve billed you they will eventually take action for non-payment despite you trying to pay repeatedly! Complaints process is the same though.