No official news yet about energy supplier folding.

Which supplier?

Symbio

Still waiting for Enstroga....

I sent meter readings to Symbio last week. They have ignored them and I have just received a bill using estimated readings. They have estimated both the end of September reading and the end of October one - and the end of September one is well over 1000 units too high!

It said in the paper they were very dodgy.

Bill

They asked me for a meter reading, so I read it and submitted the reading the day before they went broke. Their final bill uses this reading. They owe me money so I hope I get it sometime. I have down loaded the bills. The last two don't show the calcultions on page 2.

It'll appear as a credit on your new supplier's account.

Generally - or it can end up as a refund direct to you. Either way, it is safe, but could take some time to work its way through.

As a customer they were fine. They just didn't have the money to sell energy for less than they paid for it, which is what the government is insisting all the energy companies do at the moment.

Theo

Yes, I had that from Scottish Power from readings I supplied a month ago. Not quite as bad as yours, but the figure they substituted is 100 units higher than the current meter reading.

Now going through it all again with Igloo. So much for smart meters . . .

Do you have a link to ".. the government is insisting..."?

That's nothing - my last (September) bill is now 8,600 kWh ahead of my actual readings which I give them every week with photographic evidence. I took the precaution of cancelling my DD with them as soon as I knew they had gone bust. I got a return email from them inside 24 hours (they never ever replied to my bill enquiries) asking me to re-instate it!

I wouldn't be 100% sure about that.

When I last transferred it was very chaotic. The only thing that was constant was every incorrect accounting was in their favour.

Even given clear instructions they tried to take money they weren't supposed to.

The price cap is set to ~4.5p/kWh for gas. Meanwhile wholesale prices are ~200p/therm or 6.8p/kWh (therm=29.3kWh). The minister reckons this is situation normal:

"The taxpayer should not be expected to prop up companies which have poor business models and are not resilient to fluctuations in price."

All the inflows and outflows probably balance out in a 'normal' market, but this isn't a normal market. The price cap is set at a level of looking back to the previous 6 months, which is not much use when suppliers have to buy forward contracts for the next 12 months - those prices differ substantially at the moment, which is why everyone is in a pickle.

Theo

I am rather hoping that they'll give the higher figure to whoever takes over and I'll have got well over 1000 units at Symbio's lower price rather than the new company's higher one :)

We will become customers of E.on Next, so my computer tells me.

See

I was with Igloo until I started the switch to Ovo on a 2yr fixed on 8 September after Igloo pushed my monthly DD to £207, 2 months after increasing it from £130ish to £170ish. I switched over to Ovo on 26 Oct but I'm still waiting for my final bill (which I estimate at £40) plus a return of my £360 credit. Looks like I will need to wait for E.on to pick up the pieces from Igloo, process the final bill and return my credit. I just hope they don't try and slam my new Ovo account....

The danger is that the old company charge you for the higher figure, the new company do a reading of their own.

From my experience the new company didn't feel constrained to stick to the agreed transfer figure. They did as I demanded in the end, but it was hard work.