ARRRRRGH! That blankety blank power company

Ok, so OFGEM or whoever put us on Utilita Energy on Feb 1 when Our Power folded.
I was away when the switch happened. When I returned from the USA I made arrangements with Green Network Energy to take over the supply. They had to wait two weeks and then moved on the switch. We went live with GNE on 11 March. Weeks later than I'd have liked, but it took that long.

I had made a direct debit payment with Our Power two days before it failed, in January.
I cancelled my direct debit authorization with Our Power as soon as I was aware the company had folded.
I did not authorize direct debits for Utilita as I knew I wasn't staying with them.
On the phone with Utilita when I told them I was switching away I was told I'd get a final bill from OP and a final bill from Utilita.
I have received neither.

So today I'm checking my bank account online and, lo, there is a direct debit from UTILITA taken out two days ago. Without my having given any permissions for a direct debit to be set up.

To say I am furious is an understatement.  I phoned the bank and they are "trying to get it reversed". The guy filled out a form for me, said the money would be back in my account tomorrow, but if Utilita disputed it that they might take it back again.  I reiterated that we were no longer customers with Utilita, and that at no time did I ever authorize them do to a direct debit.

SOOOOO, waiting on the phone with Utilita. Gave up after 20 minutes. Tried twitter. (Not that I'm very good at it.)  Because that's what they say to contact them on, on their webpage. They said to PM them the info. Couldn't until they followed me. Finally got them to do that, and sent it. Some back and forth.  Then said "Oh, you'll need to phone the billing dept tomorrow after 8:00."

I have been good. I have not used the language I am thinking. But dayam, that's like robbery! So anyone can just set up a direct debit without your permission?

And, today in the mail I got the final bill from "Our Power" showing I was "in credit". (Prepared by Utilita.) I have been religiously providing meter readings to OP (and all providers) monthly. Today's happy news is that all the electric since Dec for Our Power has been estimated. AND allocated to the wrong flat in this building.

Thankfully the gas has the correct address.  And is also only using estimated ending meter numbers.

Still waiting to hear from my un-friends at Utilita. Who supposedly were going to contact me very first thing this morning.

Jeez.

The bank did reverse the charge and it's back in my account again.

Once this is all settled make a complaint. I'm not sure if it'd be to the energy regulator or to the financial ombudsman about the direct debit without authorisation, but that is insane! What if they'd caused you to become overdrawn with something you never authorised?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Yeah, they replied on Twitter that it was to make up for any arrears. So that payment was to cover my arrears. Since I was in credit, that wasn't correct.

When I challenged them on that via phone (after a 30 minute wait on hold) I was told that, oh, the direct debit stuff automatically transferred over when we took over Our Power's accounts. The fact that I had cancelled the OP one didn't mean I'd have cancelled the Utilita one.  I told them I had cancelled my Our Power debit prior to them taking over two months prior and that the last time I had checked my bank account online (about two weeks prior to seeing this debit) there was no Utilita direct debit set up, and that one was set up well after I was no longer their customer. So someone had goofed.

I also told them that I had previously spoken to someone there who had said I'd get a final bill from OP and a final bill from Utilita, in paper form, with a complete accounting of charges. And that I'd told that person I had cancelled the direct debit, and yes, was told there would be no debits from either OP or Utilita. The guy said "well, I've just read the agent's notes and there is nothing in there about that." 

I actually did get an apology out of them, with the caveat that "oh, someone should have notified you" that a direct debit was going to be set up. Yes, yes they should have! JHKeyrist....

The bank did refund the money immediately. I've looked at the OP final statement and they've estimated everything, even though I provided meter readings every month. (The gas charge is way under-estimated.) They don't have the correct service address for the electric. And there's no way to reach anyone about it as email bounces back from all the addresses listed on the bill, saying they've ceased trading. Any payments would be sent, according to that bill, to Utilita. Who could not explain how the charges were sorted, when I contacted them.

What. ever. 

I am due to get my first quarterly bill from Green Network Energy in the next few days. The balance of all the direct debit monthly payments is showing up correctly on their website, which is good.

I have not gotten a bill at all from Utilita for the month-ish I was with them. I still anticipate having to do battle with them over it, eventually. But I've kept very good records, as has my smart meter (it stores how much I used each month).  I was in credit with "Our Power" according to the final bill they sent to me, but I noticed that for some reason they had estimated the gas. And estimated it very, very low.  It was always kind of odd, they would send a meter reader out and he'd take the electric reading, but not the gas reading from the meter that was in the same closet.

I do like the option of there being more than one or two service providers (or the municipal power and light company, as in some towns in the States). But the insanity of dealing with some of them... 

Ok, so today I get an email message from Utilita that my bill is ready and to log on to read it.
So I can't log on.
So I spend 15 minutes waiting to talk to someone on their chat.
Who tells me that they can't discuss bills, and I'll have to phone.
So I said I'm not phoning, that costs me per call. Please have someone phone me.
No, they can't do that.
I'd like to speak to a supervisor.
None available, sorry.
They'll send me a paper bill, at my request. It will take 10 days for the request to go through and then up to another 14 to receive it.
There had freaking better not be a charge for that freaking paper bill.
They did clarify that the reason I could not log in was that I am not a current customer.
So can they please make sure I don't get any more emails from them telling me to log in to check my bill?
Oh, sure.

WHAT a bunch of.... well, this bill is for February and I can't wait to see how wrong it is. Fortunately I've kept all my meter readings.