Furious Yorkshire Energy customers STILL waiting for credit refunds after Scottish Power takeover
Former customers of defunct gas and electricity supplier Yorkshire Energy have vented their anger at new supplier Scottish Power over delays in issuing credit refunds, with some saying they've now waited two months to get their money back. Some are even still waiting to be transferred over. Here's the latest on what's happening and what your rights are.
Energy regulator Ofgem appointed Scottish Power to supply Yorkshire Energy's 74,000 household customers after the small provider stopped trading in December. But while the switching process began on 6 December, many former Yorkshire Energy customers say they still haven't been told when money they were owed by their old supplier will be returned to them. Scottish Power has to honour all credit balances and give customers the option to use credit to offset future energy use, or request a refund.
Others have complained that they are still waiting to be contacted by Scottish Power about their new account or that they haven't received a closing bill from Yorkshire Energy.
Once you're set up with Scottish Power you can use our free Cheap Energy Club to see if you can save by switching. But DON'T switch until Scottish Power's confirmed you've been moved over and you've received any credit you're owed.
'Switchover was two months ago, but still no sign of the credit'
We've seen dozens of complaints and queries from former Yorkshire Energy customers. Here are just a few:
Most customers have now been switched - but credit refunds may take 'weeks'
Once former Yorkshire Energy customers receive their final bill and are set up as Scottish Power customers, any credit will be transferred over to their Scottish Power account. Ofgem doesn't set timescales for when credit has to be returned, and Scottish Power hasn't given a specific deadline - but it has said that it is working to issue credit refunds "over the coming weeks". It's unclear how many customers are still waiting for refunds.
The majority of former Yorkshire Energy customers have now had their supply moved across though, according to Scottish Power, with fewer than 1% of households still in the process of being transferred. It says the remaining customers, around 200 households, should be set up over the next two weeks. Scottish Power says missing account data is to blame for the delay.
There's no fixed timetable for a switch to be completed when a failed supplier's customers are moved over to a new provider, according to energy regulator Ofgem. It adds that the amount of time these transfers take can sometimes be outside the new supplier's control because customer data from the failed supplier may not have been kept in an efficient way.
Don't switch until you've moved to Scottish Power AND received credit owed
Once you've moved to Scottish Power you'll be placed on what's known as a 'deemed' – ie, default – tariff. The tariff won't be the cheapest available but it won't have exit fees, so once you're moved over, you can switch penalty-free - do a full market comparison with our Cheap Energy Club.
Ofgem advises customers to wait until they've transferred over to Scottish Power and received a credit refund if they're owed one before switching away to a cheaper tariff elsewhere.
It says any switches instigated on or from 6 December 2020 - when Scottish Power took over - from households who have not yet fully transferred to the supplier will be cancelled automatically. You will have to restart the switch once you've been confirmed as a Scottish Power customer. In this situation, Scottish Power is also still responsible for processing your credit refund, and requesting to switch away may prolong this.
Those who started a switch before 6 December 2020 will see these progressed as normal, although in this scenario it will still be Scottish Power's responsibility to refund any credit.
How to contact Scottish Power and take your complaint further
Unfortunately, there's not much you can do to speed up the credit refund and switching process, but at the very least it's worth contacting Scottish Power for an update on your case. Former Yorkshire Energy customers can call a dedicated customer service number on 0800 559 3309 or email contactus@scottishpower.com.
If you're unhappy with how it's handled your account, you can submit a formal complaint (though there's no guarantee this will speed things up). Here's how:
First raise a formal complaint. If you can't get in contact using the contact details above, or are still unhappy, you can raise a formal complaint direct with Scottish Power or via the free Resolver tool.
If necessary, go to the Ombudsman. If you fail to get a response to your formal complaint, or the issue doesn't get resolved within eight weeks, you can then take it to the Energy Ombudsman, which is an independent body that handles disputes between consumers and energy firms.
You can raise a complaint for free by filling in this online form. Just make sure you select Scottish Power as the supplier you want to complain about, and not Yorkshire Energy - the Ombudsman is no longer accepting complaints about Yorkshire Energy as it is in administration.
What does Scottish Power say?
A Scottish Power spokesperson said: “We would like to reassure customers we are committed to honouring any customer credits and we will be in touch with each customer as we receive their final bills from the administrator. We are progressing with the issuing of final bills and credits and would like to thank our customers again for their patience.”