Customer classification change

Dispute

The customer contacted the CRU noting that they had been charged on a small business tariff for a domestic house for the past 20 years. The customer had applied to change the classification of the premises to domestic and wanted this classification change to be backdated. They also sought a refund for the difference in costs between domestic and business rates from their electricity supplier for the period the premises was classified incorrectly. The energy supplier in question did not uphold the customer’s complaint and referred the customer to the CRU.

Outcome

The CRU investigated this case and did not uphold the customer’s complaint.

In the case of classification of a premises, when a new connection agreement is signed it is the responsibility of the customer signing up to that agreement (which may be done by an electrician or builder on the customer’s behalf) to ensure the premises is correctly registered as domestic or non-domestic. If there is subsequently a change to the classification – for example, if a new customer moves into a premises previously registered as non-domestic and will now be using it for domestic purposes – the customer must inform ESB Networks (ESBN), either directly or via their electricity supplier, so that the classification can be updated.

The customer, who had been with their supplier since 2004, had always had a DG5 classification, which indicated that the original connection agreement with ESBN was for a non-domestic supply. Furthermore, it would have been noted on each of the customer’s bills that their property was being billed under a business classification (DG5 customer classification).

The CRU checked records with both the electricity supplier and ESBN. The customer had failed to raise this issue with either their supplier or ESBN before January 2022. The CRU also contacted ESBN requesting sight of the original connection agreement; however, due to the length of time that has passed, the original connection agreement was not available. The CRU did not receive any documentation to confirm the original classification of the house, either from the customer or ESBN.

Over the years, the electricity bills the customer received indicated that they were billed on a ‘small business variable electricity’ tariff. It was unfortunate that the customer did not examine their bills previously and query this with their supplier. Had the customer noticed their business customer classification previously they could have had the classification changed to domestic and the issue rectified at an earlier stage.