Friday October 31st, 2008
I’m in a bind. Atlantic Energy has written to its customers telling them it’s doing a big price hike, yet most importantly this hike is backdated to August. Sadly it has a right to do this as it can backdate up to 65 days under the rules.
Yet as many MoneySavers have emailed to tell me, if you write and say this is a change of contract you don’t accept, and you’re going to leave, they can’t levy the backdated rise.
The problem is, as far as I’m aware you’re supposed to leave within 15 days. Yet switching supplier can take up to two months, so what’s the situation in the meantime, can Atlantic cut off supply? To help with this, earlier this week we asked Ofgem the energy regulator for guidance, as I wanted to put a note in the weekly e-mail.
Yet no answer has come yet, and today it said it needed more time to consult with lawyers. And the 10 day clock is ticking (or has ticked for some). So I’m stuck, while I want to tell people about a way out of this, by the time I can do so it’s too late, and the consequences of getting it wrong are too big without getting authorised confirmation.
Very frustrating.
