Energy supplier’s bleak midwinter
Christmas Sackings 1
STRUGGLING gas and electricity supplier Economy Energy has laid off more than half its workforce.
It was reported yesterday that the firm is seeking a £5 million cash injection to keep trading. Around 100 employees were shown the door in October, with more let go in the following months. Regulator Ofgem has three investigations ongoing into the Coventry-based firm and one employee claimed workers have been told to hold back any money owed to customers unless under instruction by the ombudsman. Economy Energy did not respond to requests for comment.
SMALL energy supplier Outfox the Market has resorted to social media to reassure customers it is not going bust. The Leicester-based supplier has attracted thousands of customers since entering the market in September last year in a blaze of publicity and promising cut-price energy deals. It also claims all its energy is produced in the UK and 100 per cent ‘green’ (wind produced).
But a mix of poor service and criticism for jacking up prices and direct debit payments has resulted in a fierce backlash from customers, prompting the formation of a 1,000-strong ‘protest’ group on Facebook. Some have quit the company in anger.
Outfox has also attracted a barrage of complaints on review website Trustpilot and complaints resolution site Resolver. Most posts on Trustpilot are to the point. One says: ‘The best thing about my short relationship with Outfox the Market is [that I am] leaving the company.’ Another says: ‘Terrible service. No response to emails.’
The storm of protest has culminated in Outfox taking to its own Facebook account to respond to a ‘few’ questions ‘that regularly pop up’. The first question is: ‘Are you going bust?’ Its response i s an emphatic ‘No!’ adding: ‘It is no secret that the energy market is a difficult place, but we are a sustainable business with a long-term vision.’ It goes on to apologise for ‘conflicting direct debit information’.
Outfox was set up by serial entrepreneur Keith Bastian and wife Maria. They run a network of companies from Frog Island, close to the city centre of Leicester. They include a number of energy-related firms – Blue Fox Utilities, Fix Your Tariff, Foxglove Energy Supply and Fischer Energy. All of these businesses have been set up in the last couple of years.
Outfox the Market is classified as a ‘dormant company’ – one not doing any business. Its latest accounts to the end of June 2018 confirm it has assets of just £2.
Of the 15 companies where Keith Bastian is a director and accounts have been filed at Companies House, only one has disclosed a profit (electrical heating systems installation company Fischer Future Heat UK).
Foxglove Energy Supply had net liabilities – more debt than assets – of £761,000 as at November last year while two other companies both reported overall assets just above £40,000 in their last filed accounts.
In recent weeks, Keith Bastian has admitted that Outfox has experienced
‘higher volumes of customer contact’ and that ‘wait times are longer than usual’. But the problems persist.
Resolver says it has seen a ‘recent spike’ in Outfox complaints over the past couple of weeks with the main issues centred on direct debit problems, delays in getting refunds and poor customer service.
Website energyhelpline calculates star ratings (five stars the best, one the worst) for individual suppliers based on complaint numbers, call centre opening hours and customer satisfaction levels. It currently gives Outfox one star, only one of a handful of 70 suppliers reviewed that receives its lowest rating. Ian Hepworth, from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, switched to Outfox in June this year, attracted by its competitive prices. To begin with, he was paying just over £70 a month for electricity supplied to his three-bedroom detached home where he lives with his wife and six-year-old child. But in late November, he was told the monthly payment would increase to just over £460.
Although Ian admits his original direct debit was set too low and should have been nearer £150, he was ‘shocked’ to receive details of the new payment. He is now in the process of switching supplier.
‘I have had all kinds of issues with Outfox,’ he says. ‘The initial meter reading was recorded incorrectly which meant I had already consumed electricity before I had actually used any from Outfox, t hrowing my account into the red straightaway.’
In recent weeks, he has tried to sort out his Outfox account, only to be deflected. Last Wednesday, he spent two hours in a ‘web chat’ with the company desperately trying to ensure the £460 direct debit would not be taken from his bank account. A transcript of the call, seen by The Mail on Sunday, ends with Outfox stating it can do no more than ‘review’ his account. ‘I do apologise,’ an employee says. ‘We will review for you but there are other customers we have to deal with.’
Chris Ward, a 50- year- old administrator for an office furniture company, was told last month his monthly direct debit for gas and electricity would be rising from £41 to £58 as a result of a ‘new variable’ scheme which means higher payments in winter, lower ones in summer.
Although Chris, from Burnley in Lancashire, understands why Outfox would want to do this, he is aggrieved because he has a credit of more than £100 on his account. He has emailed Outfox saying the payment increase is ‘unnecessary’. Its response has been to reduce the new payment by just over a pound – from £58.02 to £56.76.
‘The communication from Outfox is garbled,’ he says. ‘Phonelines are jammed most of the time.’
On Friday, Outfox told The Mail on Sunday: ‘We apologise to all customers who have struggled t o get through and thank them for their continued patience.’ The company also said customers on a variable tariff would benefit from a price drop in the new year.
Already this year, a number of small energy suppliers including Extra Energy have gone bust.
Have you suffered at the hands of Outfox? Email jeff.prestridge@mailonsunday.co.uk.