Electricity bill - Previous owner??? Ahh!!!

[Delvis]

Hello all

I'm doing one of those annoying threads where I need more clever people than myself to help with a situation....

Basically...We moved into a house on the 15th May this year, we have meter readings written down signed by a tenant and the agency.

We have had several letter now, all addressed to said company at our address...We have been meaning to get them to them but not had time / forgotten...Meanwhile, we phoned NPower up in May/June as per our agency so we could get an electricity account set up with them, they said our electricity will be ready on the 25th of June but in the meantime we would have a 'temporary' account(?) or something along those lines.

Now, come to today, we have had a house inspection, so, in my infinite wisdom, I left the letters on the cooker for the agency to pick up...I come home this evening to find one of the letters open with a final reminder bill written all over it for £130 from Southern Electric.

Now, we don't have electricity supplied from southern electric, one of their bills states the two meter readings as well as stating the bill is for the period of 28th may to 25th june....the 'latest' meter reading they have given, is actually more than what our current meter even says in one aspect, also, we have had no meter reading people here since we've moved in.

Now, I believe that the previous tennants were registered with Southern Electric, and their bills were sent to the house under the agency name...

Question is, who pays the bill? Why are we accountable if the agency has told us to give all letters to them to themself, why are we accountable if we have phoned up a electricity supplier (as told to do so) to set up our own electricity bill.

I'm thoroughly confused, I can see my letting agency being about as helpful as a bamboos butt as they normally are...And I wuite frankly don't want to be paying it for obvious / various reason.

Help?

 

[JC]

You are only liable to pay the electricity costs you have incurred since moving in.
You have a signed copy of the meter readings when you took over the property.
Pay the electricity supplier who you set up an account with, anything else is for the agency / previous tenant to worry about.

 

[Delvis]

You are only liable to pay the electricity costs you have incurred since moving in.
You have a signed copy of the meter readings when you took over the property.
Pay the electricity supplier who you set up an account with, anything else is for the agency / previous tenant to worry about.

Right okay...Becuse we also gave the 'start' meter readings to NPower as well, so any other costs are to do with the Agency / previous owner?

Anything I can do so that it doesn't get fobbed over onto me? I'm worrying because one I don't wish to be double charged from two companies, and two the dates on the letters and the bill are scarily close to our moving in date etc

 

[RussZS]

The only issue you may have is that the current supplier may not 'let you go' with outstanding debt

I'd call them up and explain your predicament, then switch to npower, but make sure you're on one of their Sign Online Tariffs, for the best deal

 

[Morba]

We've had this with npower also. The place we are in had an unpaid bill and they started chasing us. Now we were changing suppliers, so knew that would take a while and would incur some cost to npower, we called them when the bill came and told them the reading when we moved in and said we'd happily pay the portion that we owe.
Npower continued to charge us the full amount so we have not paid a penny until the bill is split.
They are still asking for the money now, almost 2 years later. Thankfully in our case the bills are still addresses to the old occupants, so we aren't interested until they split it.

 

[Delvis]

The only issue you may have is that the current supplier may not 'let you go' with outstanding debt

I'd call them up and explain your predicament, then switch to npower, but make sure you're on one of their Sign Online Tariffs, for the best deal

But they aren't our current supplier, they were never infact our supplier?

We are already with Npower, thats the problem, when we took the house over all the documents we had from the agency said to call up Npower, say you are the new tenants and give them the meter readings of our moving in date, which we did...

We've had this with npower also. The place we are in had an unpaid bill and they started chasing us. Now we were changing suppliers, so knew that would take a while and would incur some cost to npower, we called them when the bill came and told them the reading when we moved in and said we'd happily pay the portion that we owe.
Npower continued to charge us the full amount so we have not paid a penny until the bill is split.
They are still asking for the money now, almost 2 years later. Thankfully in our case the bills are still addresses to the old occupants, so we aren't interested until they split it.

As above, we're with Npower, its the old supplier asking 'hartwell estate agency' (the previous occupiers) for some money?

Why would I be accountable when Hartwell have told me to ring Npower and make an account with them when they should have cancelled the old electricity surely? If they've told us to ring another company?

We've given Npower the start readings so its just all a bit arghhh!

Doesn't help when all the letters have 'we will prosecute you etc etc and charge you any outstanding bills etc etc'

 

[JC]

You have never had a contract with Southern electric at this property, it is not your responsibility to cancel the utilities bills that are in the previous tenants names, you are perfectly entitled to choose your own utility supplier.

If you moved in, used electricity for a week, then contacted Npower to switch, Southern electric could bill you for the difference.
If you moved in, immediately took readings and contacted Npower I don't think Southern electric have any power to charge you anything.

Either give the letters to the agency or write "not known at this address - return to sender" and stick them back in the letterbox if they have a return address on them.
Southern electric shouldn't even know your name so they can't bill "you", neither do they legally have the ability to bill the "property"

 

[Bry]

They cant do anything as long as you keep that signed letter saying the meter reading.
Continue paying your bill to npower (make sure they have the right meter number from when you moved in) and ignore anything to do with southern electric.
Send your estate agent a letter stating the facts and send the same one to southern electric as they (the estate agents) are responsible for previous bill and not you.

 

[Delvis]

You have never had a contract with Southern electric at this property, it is not your responsibility to cancel the utilities bills that are in the previous tenants names, you are perfectly entitled to choose your own utility supplier.

If you moved in, used electricity for a week, then contacted Npower to switch, Southern electric could bill you for the difference.
If you moved in, immediately took readings and contacted Npower I don't think Southern electric have any power to charge you anything.

It's a weird double edged sword isn't it?

From what I know, Meter readings were taken, and NPower would be in contact? Along with other bill companys like water etc.

As per a letter from Hartwell we received on the 14th of May, and I quote:

"Please find enclosed a list of your utility companies along with their contact details. We have notified them of your details and also the check in meter readings. If you have not heard from these companies within 14 days we would recommend that you contact them directly."

Surely that says it all?

 

[Delvis]

Either give the letters to the agency or write "not known at this address - return to sender" and stick them back in the letterbox if they have a return address on them.
Southern electric shouldn't even know your name so they can't bill "you", neither do they legally have the ability to bill the "property"

Problem is i've opened them naturally to find out whats going on.

They are addressed to the agency which is weird...so I think the previous tennants used that as the contact name.

 

[RussZS]

Sorry, I misunderstood your post.

From what I can gather, you are responsible for this bill, given that you have lived at that premise during the period stated on your 'final bill'. However, the fact that the meter read is inaccurate, has resulted in a wildly expensive bill. What you need to ascertain is where this meter read has been taken from, and get it amended to the appropriate value. Then, they should recalculate your final bill, at an appropriate amount (for the stated period)

Ideally, you need to know what you used between that period, but I assume you don't have this?

 

[razerbwfc]

...

If you moved in, used electricity for a week, then contacted Npower to switch, Southern electric could bill you for the difference.
If you moved in, immediately took readings and contacted Npower I don't think Southern electric have any power to charge you anything...

That's not quite true, as it takes 4-6 weeks to change supplier. So if you move into a property and contact your chosen supplier on that day, you will still be supplied by the current supplier for up to 6 weeks until the transfer to your new supplier is completed.

 

[Delvis]

Sorry, I misunderstood your post.

From what I can gather, you are responsible for this bill, given that you have lived at that premise during the period stated on your 'final bill'. However, the fact that the meter read is inaccurate, has resulted in a wildly expensive bill. What you need to ascertain is where this meter read has been taken from, and get it amended to the appropriate value. Then, they should recalculate your final bill, at an appropriate amount (for the stated period)

Ideally, you need to know what you used between that period, but I assume you don't have this?

I have meter readings from when the keys were given to us, and from a few days ago, along with any readings I want now

I believe the bill has gone up due to the 'over due payment' but who knows...it's all stupid when hartwell have said that they have told all the relevant energy suppliers about us and the move in meter readings

 

[Delvis]

That's not quite true, as it takes 4-6 weeks to change supplier. So if you move into a property and contact your chosen supplier on that day, you will still be supplied by the current supplier for up to 6 weeks until the transfer to your new supplier is completed.

But the current supplier wasn't my current supplier?

We had about a months wait before we could move into our new place, during which time I presume Hartwell have called the relevant company and stated our move in date, then contact them with the relevant move in date meter readings (As they themselves have stated in a written letter to us)

 

[RussZS]

That's not quite true, as it takes 4-6 weeks to change supplier. So if you move into a property and contact your chosen supplier on that day, you will still be supplied by the current supplier for up to 6 weeks until the transfer to your new supplier is completed.

Correct, so the OP was SE's customer until 25th June, when the supply changed over. The issue here is the amount on the bill, which is based on a false/estimated meter read.

When we all get 'smart meters', this will all be a thing of the past!

 

[Delvis]

Correct, so the OP was SE's customer until 25th June, when the supply changed over. The issue here is the amount on the bill, which is based on a false/estimated meter read.

When we all get 'smart meters', this will all be a thing of the past!

Why though? When Hartwell have given us a letter saying they have informed the relevant company that we are moving in? Why should I be liable to pick up a bill from a company that I wouldn't otherwise know about?

 

[RussZS]

But the current supplier wasn't my current supplier?

We had about a months wait before we could move into our new place, during which time I presume Hartwell have called the relevant company and stated our move in date, then contact them with the relevant move in date meter readings (As they themselves have stated in a written letter to us)

The supplier is registered to the meter at your premise though and given the date range you are being billed for is when you were living there, you technically are responsible for an 'amount'. However, the amount you have been billed is inappropriate. I'd be surprised if they have increased the amount because of lateness of payment, it will be the meter read issue.

What should have happened, is on the day you moved in, the person who SE hold as their 'customer' should have called SE up and told them that you had moved in, and given them a meter read on that date. Do you know if this happened?

 

[Vonhelmet]

Get this sorted ASAP. When my wife and I were in our first house, we had LondonEnergy break into our house while we were out and swap our meter out for a pre-pay one (that robbed about a third of the credit from each card to recover past debts) because the previous tenant had skipped out on about £600 of charges. They attempted to drill the front door lock, and broke it, then they got in through the back somehow.

So, that was fun. Our landlord was livid.

The fun didn't stop there, as once we got them to replace the meter, they didn't believe the meter readings that we gave them as they said that our meter readings couldn't possibly be 100odd as the previous reading was 60,000odd... On the old meter... which they replaced with their pre-pay one... and then with another regular one.

Anyway. The only people they listened to were Energywatch, the independent regulator. They might be called Ofgen now, I don't know. Call them and get them on the case.

 

[Morba]

You might have said already..... does your documentation from the letting agency (check in document?) have the meter reading from when you were given the keys to the place?

 

[Delvis]

The supplier is registered to the meter at your premise though and given the date range you are being billed for is when you were living there, you technically are responsible for an 'amount'. However, the amount you have been billed is inappropriate. I'd be surprised if they have increased the amount because of lateness of payment, it will be the meter read issue.

What should have happened, is on the day you moved in, the person who SE hold as their 'customer' should have called SE up and told them that you had moved in, and given them a meter read on that date. Do you know if this happened?

No idea...? Before the day we moved in and got the keys to the house, we got a letter stating the following : ""Please find enclosed a list of your utility companies along with their contact details. We have notified them of your details and also the check in meter readings. If you have not heard from these companies within 14 days we would recommend that you contact them directly."

So surely the relevant people have been informed?

It cannot be upto me to phone up a company that I didn't even know existed untill 6pm this evening