Go Effortless Energy & Comparing Business Energy Alternatives
Smaller energy companies have had a tough time during the last few years, and the Covid 19 pandemic certainly didn’t make things easier. Go Effortless Energy was the first supplier to fall to the brutality of the pandemic during the coronavirus pandemic period. If you would like to read more information or learn more about the pricing of business energy, you can do so here .
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Go Effortless Energy & Ofgem
The responsibility falls on regulatory organisation Ofgem in these situations to choose a new supplier to take on Go Effortless Energy’s former customers. There were 2,500 of these domestically and a smaller number non-domestically.
Go Effortless Energy & Octopus
Ofgem appointed Octopus Energy to take on these domestic customers when Go Effortless Energy ceased to trade. The appointment took effect on Saturday, 5th September 2020, following the standard competitive process that Ofgem runs to ensure that energy customers get the best deal possible.
It then became Octopus Energy’s duty to contact these customers to explain what would happen next for those who used to be with Go Effortless Energy. After placing customers on a deemed tariff rate, they then communicated personalised tariff information. Customers still had the right to ask to be put on a different tariff or shop around and look at what else was available if they decided to do so. No exit fees could be charged to those customers who decided to do so.
However, Ofgem recommended that customers don’t immediately switch to an entirely new supplier as they usually do in these situations. It usually creates less hassle if customers wait for the newly appointed supplier first to contact them and then let these transferred customers know about all of the necessary personalised information for the new Octopus Energy tariff.
Taking time for transferred customers to let the transition take place made sense as many steps were taken to make the adjustment as smooth as possible. Customers had their new account set up entirely in just a couple of weeks, at which point Octopus Energy would again make contact to let customers know the good news.
However, even if customers were to wait for this process to be completed, the option would remain to discuss tariff options with Octopus Energy or look into potential tariffs provided by other energy suppliers. The process makes this especially easy for consumers since the transition is made very easy in the first place, and if, at the end of it, customers still wish to weigh up their other options, then exit fees will not be in place to hold them back.
Go Effortless Energy Transition to Octopus
One of the primary benefits of waiting is that it make the process of sorting out credit balances a lot easier. When an energy supplier closes down, their former customers who had credit balances built up often worry that they’ll miss out on what their hard-earned cash has gone towards.
One of Ofgem’s role as a regulator is ensuring nothing like this happens. However, they do this by overseeing the proper transition process, which can be potentially disrupted if customers look to switch providers during the transition. After Go Effortless Energy closed, Octopus Energy was obligated to honour customers’ credit balances for current and past customers of Effortless Energy, whom the now-defunct company owes money.
It was Octopus Energy’s responsibility to review all relevant debit or credit details on the former Go Effortless Energy accounts. Having this handled properly was as simple as waiting for Octopus Energy to contact you with the relevant instructions to make sure that everything was sorted and moved over smoothly. When making contact, they would also answer all sorts of relevant questions or concerns about the debts and credit built up on customers’ accounts.
However, these matters may not always be resolved instantly. Getting the debts and credits transferred over to the new account could take several weeks sometimes as it was Octopus Energy’s duty to properly go over, receive and review the correct records from Go Effortless Energy.
Credit balances were calculated by deducting any unbilled charges for your previous energy supply by Go Effortless Energy. This partially contributed to the process taking longer than it otherwise would. Octopus Energy had worked out another part of the details before deciding where each customer stood.
Whilst in situations like this in other sectors, similar credit transfers may only result in balances left on accounts that can be used but not withdrawn, things are slightly different in the energy sector.
Octopus Energy, in most cases, would adequately honour the credit balances of the current and past domestic customers of Effortless Energy if they were owed money still after the deduction of unbilled charges for the supply from Go Effortless Energy.
However, credit built up on balances wasn’t the only thing that carried over. Unfortunately, customers who still owed money to Go Effortless Energy weren’t off the hook by their account transfer. Octopus Energy administrators were also responsible for contacting customers who previously owed money so that a repayment arrangement could be made.
Go Effortless Energy Direct Debit
For customers who preemptively cancelled their direct debit, Octopus Energy would keep things running smoothly by again making contact to set up a new customer account and any necessary direct debits. This would be the stage when they would also explain what’s happening with any credit balances that customers had with Effortless Energy.
Unfortunately, not everything is plain sailing for these customers, however.
Octopus Energy was under no obligation to take on complaints that were still unresolved when Go Effortless Energy shut down (complaints from the latter, that is. Octopus Energy still had to address their existing customers’ concerns). This doesn’t mean Octopus Energy would necessarily be unresponsive to customers, though, and points brought up during initial contact have a possibility of being looked into and resolved. The point of recourse for most customers in these situations is to turn to the Ombudsman to discuss the next steps.
Find out more about prepaid energy meters here.
Other useful links about Business Energy
How to Find the VAT on a Business Energy Bill
Microbusiness Energy Prices
Compare Large & Industrial Energy Prices
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