See also: REC Schedule 30 - Resolution of Consumer-Facing Switching and Billing Problems

Background and context

The Consumer-Facing Switching and Billing Issues (CFSB) Schedule sets out the rules and operational procedures for resolving problems that may impact a Consumer’s experience of switching or the accuracy of their energy bill.

The objective of the Schedule is to provide the framework for:

• affected parties to cooperate in a timely manner with the minimum negative impact on Consumers; and
• resolving disputed or delayed resolutions between Energy Suppliers.

The Schedule consolidates previously separate procedures for the resolution of these activities in the MRA and SPAA Transition Schedules.

From REC V3.0 go-live on 18 July 2022, the Resolution of Consumer-Facing Switching and Billing Issues (CFBS) Schedule introduces an escalation route to the Code Manager for issues in the Secure Data Exchange Portal (SDEP). The intention for this change is that the escalation procedure should be a path of last resort and Suppliers will still be required to resolve issues between themselves, however, the Code Manager will be monitoring non-compliance and may escalate to the Performance Assurance Board (PAB) where appropriate.

Code Manager Escalations 

The Code Manager will be monitoring non-compliance through monthly SDEP reports that are received from the SDEP Service Provider in the first instance. The Code Manager will therefore have visibility of all non-compliance, and individual instances do not need to be submitted to the Code Manager in order for non-compliance to be visible. ​

There may be occasions where Suppliers wish to raise individual escalations to the Code Manager, which can be raised by completing the SDEP escalation form and sending to SDEPescalations@recmanager.co.uk. This will be used to complement the information that the Code Manager already receives. ​

The expectation is not that the Code Manager will investigate every escalation raised or be responsible for resolving the issue. It will still be the responsibility of Suppliers to resolve the issues.​

When escalations from Supplier are received, the Code Manager will use this information in addition to the monthly reports from SDEP, to assess performance and non-compliance. The Code Manager will then consider if further intervention is required, such as the application of Performance Assurance Techniques (PATs), or if the non-compliance should be raised to the PAB.