Raw Deal: Letting off steam as a needless energy switch causes ire

Helen Slater was sick of being messed around or ignored by her power company.

She is with First Utility but about a year ago she started getting letters from them saying her gas supply was being moved to another firm, as per her request.

“I couldn’t understand this because at no stage had I arranged to switch my supplier,” Helen, from Portknockie, Moray, said. “I called and told First Utility that I had not asked for this and they assured me that it would not go ahead.”

However, Helen was baffled when a few weeks later First Utility wrote to her to say that her gas had been successfully moved to a company called Foxglove Energy.

“I again called First Utility to complain and try to get this sorted out,” she said. “I was told that it was obviously an erroneous transfer, that they would request to transfer me back and not to worry about it.”

Helen then started getting emails from First Utility requesting meter readings, even though she had a smart meter. And in November she received another letter once again telling her that she had been transferred to Foxglove.

“My smart meter also stopped working and the old gas meter display was just blank,” she said. “I had no idea who my gas supplier was and I was continuing to pay First Utility every month by direct debit.

“I was worried that my bills would go through the roof in winter because I wasn’t able to even get a proper meter reading, plus I didn’t know who was actually supplying my gas.”

After Helen contacted Raw Deal, First Utility quickly resolved the issue.

The company said: “Ms Slater’s gas supply was mistakenly switched by another energy supplier resulting in us alerting her that we would no longer be her energy supplier.

“Once she alerted us that she did not request to switch, we took back her supply in January 2019. As explained to Ms Slater, we can confirm that we are her current energy provider and that her account is in order without an outstanding balance.

“We’d also like to reassure Ms Slater that her smart meter has been reinstated and her bills will be based on her actual usage.”