Tracking down Solarplicity credit
AN unhappy former customer of failed energy supplier Solarplicity had all but given up hope of ever getting back the hundreds of pounds in credit and mistaken debits he believed he was owed.
John Ingram struggled in vain for months, but at last it looks like light is starting to twinkle at the end of what’s become a very long tunnel for him.
Some 43,000 residential customers of the struggling company were switched to Toto Energy by regulator Ofgem in July and then under its protection rules 7,500 transferred to supplier EDF Energy when Solarplicity folded in August.
But John was more out on a limb as the appalling service he had received prompted him to jump ship in November last year when he switched to Bristol Energy.
Prior to that he had not received a bill for almost eight months. The last one had said he was £135.75 in credit.
In May 2018 John, from Swansea, took a final reading from his meter before the company removed it and fitted a smart meter.
But that did not work out too well. “When I checked the display kept saying ‘awaiting data’. Apparently my area’s poor signals affect it,” he said.
Six weeks after switching he found debits totalling more than £300 had been taken by Solarplicity.
“By this time I calculated I was owed £528.61. I am coming up to my 90th birthday and can do without this hassle,” he told Crusader.
After he sent a recorded delivery letter with all the figures, “I received an estimated bill. They seemed to have forgotten about putting in a smart meter and the accuracy that was meant to deliver,” he added. “The last time I spoke to them in March they said they did not have my final reading, despite my having sent it recorded delivery.”
Crusader failed too to penetrate the chaos. But with Solarplicity no more, what hope is there for John and other similar customers?
According to Ofgem, EDF will honour the credit balances of current and former Solarplicity customers. If he sends in his details then EDF, as the supplier of last resort, can check his details. Once it has all the information it needs from Solarplicity and its administrators, EDF will be able to contact him.
It is also advised that as John is older he could benefit from Bristol Energy putting him on its Priority Services Register.
Although not a windfall but money he is rightly owed, John is delighted at this turn of events. Thanking Crusader, he urged other creditor casualties “to give it one more go”.
edfenergy.com/solarplicitycustomers/0333009 6993 and ofgem.gov.uk/solarplicity