Christine Lang on the challenges we face when dealing with energy suppliers

Working in the Citizens Advice network I regularly hear from our CAB advisers about the difficulties people face when dealing with their energy suppliers. However, it wasn’t until I moved house myself this year that I found out first-hand how complicated this can be.   

On the day I moved in, in April, I gave my energy supplier meter readings for my new house. The readings I gave, however, didn’t match what the energy supplier ‘expected’ because the previous owner hadn’t given meter readings for some time.

Despite me repeatedly sending the same photos, which had a time and date stamp on them, my supplier was unable to send me accurate bills. Then about a month later, when this hadn’t been resolved, the company explained they would have to start a dispute with the previous owner’s energy supplier. I was told in June that this would take one to two weeks to resolve. 

Four weeks later, in July, still no resolution, so I put in a complaint. Then there was an ‘aha’ moment when the supplier said they’d realised what the problem was: that there was no final meter reading from the previous owner (which wasn’t news to me). In August I had to remind them that they were meant to be looking into this. Yet again, they promised to do so, and by September I thought things were almost resolved. But they weren’t. 

Now, more than five months after moving, I still haven't had correct bills and there have been nearly 100 emails back and forward (and I really wish that was an exaggeration). In addition, I’ve been confused by the terminology being used, eg they keep talking about switching. To me, switching is when I switch energy supplier, but now it’s being used because the house has switched energy suppliers. 

I’m very lucky that colleagues have been helping me but you shouldn’t have to work for CAS to be able to understand this process. In fact, I would have ignored some of the letters if it wasn't for my colleagues’ very helpful advice not to do that. 

All of this made me realise more than ever that the work the energy advisers do is made more complicated by the energy suppliers’ inability to resolve basic issues. It really does feel like the onus is on me, as the bill payer, to keep chasing this up, rather than them to resolve it. If I wasn’t so determined to agree a solution I could have paid hundreds of pounds I didn’t need to just to make the problem go away.  

All I want is for the energy supplier to send me a bill that I understand and resolve the issues when they said they would. It doesn’t feel like a lot to ask.  

Moving house is stressful enough without this. And of course, there are people more vulnerable than me, eg elderly, disabled or struggling to manage their energy bills. It’s been a sharp reminder that we deserve a better service for the energy rates we pay, and also that we should all look out for our relatives and friends who are caught in these disputes and make sure they know the CAB network is there to help them with free, confidential and impartial advice.  

Christine Lang is a project manager at Citizens Advice Scotland.

This column was first published in the Herald.