As a result of persistent inefficiency and incompetence from London Electricity(!) in June 2002 I applied to transfer the gas supply of my accommodation from it to SEEBOARD. I received a letter from SEEBOARD dated 2 August 2002 infomring me that my gas supply would indeed be transferred to it wef 12 August 2002.

On 6 September 2002 I received a further letter from SEEBOARD stating "I am delighted you have recently chosen SEEBOARD Energy to supply your gas and electricity and look forward to welcoming you as a customer SOON. Your agreement is CURRENTLY BEING PROCESSED and you may be assured that WE WILL DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO SPEED UP COMPLETION OF THIS." (my capitalisation)

Naturally I was extremely concerned that having previously been informed that the transfer had already taken place I was now being told that it wa still in progress.

After two enquiries to SEEBOARD I was informed by Seeboard Energy Customer Services that "> The date that we began supplying your gas was 12 August 2002." The company ommitted to explain the reasons behind its letter of 6 September and what it was that was "currently being processed".

The entire matter has led me to believe that we were far better off when utilities such as gas and electricity were supplied by single, non-profitmaking, publicly accountable bodies.