One woman has been left waiting eight months for a refund from British Gas.
The turmoil of the energy markets over the last couple of years has meant that millions of households have seen their energy supplier go bust.
It’s happened to me, twice.
And when your supplier hits the wall, you get shunted over to a new supplier. It should mean that your balance goes with you, or that you are refunded any large credit balances you had against your account.
However, the experience of one loveMONEY reader shows that this doesn’t always happen.
Waiting for a refund
Maria Nyhan was a customer of Bristol Energy, a small energy supplier.
Like so many smaller suppliers, it hit significant difficulties as a result of the tumultuous wholesale markets and, along with its parent business Together Energy, closed its doors at the start of the year.
When that happened, around 176,000 customers were transferred to British Gas, to ensure they were still able to access gas and electricity.
At this point, customers were also informed of the balance of their account.
If you have overpaid on your energy bills, then you are able to claim that money back in the form of a refund. Maria was told that she was due a refund of £260.92.
Maria only stayed with British Gas for a month, electing to instead switch to Octopus Energy for her energy supplies.
British Gas contacted her, asking for a payment for the period she was with them, which she of course paid, while asking what was happening with the refund.
Rather than answer her letter, British Gas steered her towards speaking to them online or over the phone.
British Gas staff on the supplier’s webchat promised that a refund would be paid, but here we are months later, with no refund processed.
Even at the best of times, most of us would feel somewhat anxious about not being able to get our hands on the best part of £300 of money owed to us, but these are far from the best of times.
Maria is in her 60s and doesn’t work, and with the cost of living crisis is simply seeing her savings dwindle away.
The worry this will be causing is substantial, particularly when she knows she is owed a significant sum of money, and has been for an extended period of time, with no clarity on when she will receive it.
The British Gas explanation
We spoke to British Gas to find out what’s going on, and why this refund is taking such an extended period of time to pay.
The supplier said that there had been “issues with the data” supplied by Bristol Energy and its parent Together Energy.
The failed firms are now reportedly going over this data, with British Gas saying that until it receives the updated figures it will not be able to issue refunds.
Unfortunately, it suggests there is no “definite timescale” for that data to be supplied, and therefore for the refunds to be processed.
Sticking in the craw
On one level I can understand why British Gas wants to have completely accurate data before sorting out these refunds. It makes obvious business sense.
But I find it impossible to accept that the process should be taking this long. Bristol and Together Energy went bust in January, that’s eight months ago.
How on earth can it take this long for the data to be supplied?
Let’s remember, Maria will not be the only customer in this position either, given the thousands of households that moved to British Gas as a result of Together’s collapse.
It also sticks in the craw that British Gas is being quite this insistent on having every penny accounted for, given its own financial position.
Back in July its parent business Centrica announced that its operating profits had increased fivefold to a frankly farcical £1.34bn.
In other words, it’s not short of a few bob and so holding off returning the money owed to those approaching pensionable age, which would not make the slightest difference to its own bottom line, is appalling.
We are in the midst of a severe cost of living crisis, with millions of people experiencing real anxiety over paying their bills and feeding their families.
Energy suppliers have a responsibility to do the right thing here, to ensure that their customers are not put through undue stress or denied access to their own money without good reason.
And if they aren’t able to do that, then Ofgem must take a firmer grip of the industry and protect consumers rather than suppliers’ bottom lines.