Another day, another failure of regulation.
Energy companies are obliged to take on customers who are having a completely new supply.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...isis-in-market
Sarah Greaves*, a single mother who has spent the last six months renovating a home near Stroud, was left facing a winter without proper heating because no energy supplier was prepared to take her on as a customer and install a meter. <snip/>
As part of the plan to modernise her home, Greaves asked builders to rip out the old, inefficient electric storage heaters and replace them with gas central heating. While the house is set to be connected to the mains at the beginning of December – with most of the building work finished about the same time – she says there is no prospect of having a working gas supply any time soon.<snip/>
She says she first approached SSE, which already supplies the property’s electricity, but was told that it was not currently taking on new customers because of the “strain the fuel market is under”. Since then she has approached British Gas, Ecotricity, E.ON, EDF, Octopus and two smaller suppliers, which have all refused.<snip/>
After Guardian Money’s intervention, SSE, which is now part of Ovo, told Greaves that it will now connect her home, and install the meter on 10 December. It is also reviewing why her request was not escalated to the correct team internally, and the messages she was sent.
An Ofgem spokesperson says suppliers are obliged to take on customers when requested: “We’ve been clear that suppliers must comply with licence conditions despite the challenging market situation.
Energy companies are obliged to take on customers who are having a completely new supply.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...isis-in-market
Sarah Greaves*, a single mother who has spent the last six months renovating a home near Stroud, was left facing a winter without proper heating because no energy supplier was prepared to take her on as a customer and install a meter. <snip/>
As part of the plan to modernise her home, Greaves asked builders to rip out the old, inefficient electric storage heaters and replace them with gas central heating. While the house is set to be connected to the mains at the beginning of December – with most of the building work finished about the same time – she says there is no prospect of having a working gas supply any time soon.<snip/>
She says she first approached SSE, which already supplies the property’s electricity, but was told that it was not currently taking on new customers because of the “strain the fuel market is under”. Since then she has approached British Gas, Ecotricity, E.ON, EDF, Octopus and two smaller suppliers, which have all refused.<snip/>
After Guardian Money’s intervention, SSE, which is now part of Ovo, told Greaves that it will now connect her home, and install the meter on 10 December. It is also reviewing why her request was not escalated to the correct team internally, and the messages she was sent.
An Ofgem spokesperson says suppliers are obliged to take on customers when requested: “We’ve been clear that suppliers must comply with licence conditions despite the challenging market situation.
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