Moving home, meter readings and new owners.

Jamesyboyjim

Jamesyboyjim

Jamesyboyjim

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Hey all, I'm looking for some advice here as I'm not sure what to do.

Basically I'm moving out of my rented property this sunday (I've already left, the landlord has sold the property), I informed my electric supplier of this a few weeks back but they said there was already a request on the meter to change suppliers and they can no longer do anything, they said to call back at a later date to submit my final meter readings.

I called up yesterday and received the same message from them, they cannot close my account nor take my meter readings because the supplier is due to change on monday and its up to the new owner to submit first meter readings to his new supplier who will then send them to my supplier and check them against my own readings. they inform me that he should not have requested the change so early on. But how can this happen?! I spoke to the estate agent (who I happen to know) he said the sale wont be complete for a few weeks at least so I'm stuck in limbo, another months payment will come out the bank and I also know that there is a few hundred quid of credit on my account which I want back.

I argued that the meter readings will also be different and who will foot the bill for the discrepancy?! They tell me they will have to accept what I tell them but I don't believe that!

I'm not sure what to do here, I cant believe my account can be frozen by someone else?! The sale could even fall through!! Should I cancel my direct debit?! should I report this to someone else? I want to get my final bill and receive any refunds due, I don't think that's unreasonable. Does anyone have any experience here?
 
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Just take photos of the meters on Sunday and ensure they are date stamped.

If you are in credit I would just cancel the direct debit, what can they do? you don't owe any money, and in any case you do not HAVE to pay via direct debit anyway, you have various payment options.

Just cancel the DD and take photos of the readings that are date stamped for the day you leave.
 
Ace Modder said:
Just take photos of the meters on Sunday and ensure they are date stamped.

If you are in credit I would just cancel the direct debit, what can they do? you don't owe any money, and in any case you do not HAVE to pay via direct debit anyway, you have various payment options.

Just cancel the DD and take photos of the readings that are date stamped for the day you leave.
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Thanks for replying, I have cancelled the direct debit so I'm sure they will moan about not receiving a payment as the account will be active for however long now.

What infuriates me though, is the sale wont go through for a few weeks so my account stays open, with the credit on it, which means I wont be able to get a refund for it for however long. I'm at the mercy of the new buyer I'm told. I'm not sure they can do this legally, why should I be affected?!
 
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Take photos at the time, with time stamps. I'd also send them via email to yourself on the day. (It's harder to prove that you somehow managed to fool Gmail/outlook or the like in falsifying time stamps).

I had some problems when I moved into my new house, it had a prepayment meter when I moved in which I promptly got changed. Took photos on both when I moved in and when it was changed out, nPower didn't want to accept my meter readings and was adamant that in 14 days, I'd somehow used £660 quid (when I'd only topped it up by a tenner in the first place)
 
Kuros said:
Take photos at the time, with time stamps. I'd also send them via email to yourself on the day. (It's harder to prove that you somehow managed to fool Gmail/outlook or the like in falsifying time stamps).
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This - If possible take a photo with the front page of a newspaper from that day in shot, then email yourself a copy and CC their customer service email address and your landlord.
 
You closing your account with the existing supplier shouldn't be an issue, take photos and advise of closing readings.
Its just your bill at the end of the day, seems the current supplier is confused. On Sunday you will cease being liable for that property.
I would call them up Sunday, or worst case Monday if they are not open.
Say hey heres my final readings, please calculate the bill and advise if you owe me money or if I owe you. They can do this immediately.
Its probably better for them to resolve this with you now rather than waiting and having another party in place a few days later.
Must agree its a bit naughty to have changed supplier whilst you are still technically the possessor. Was it the landlord or a new tenant do you know?
 
Just a point to note, they are saying this because they dont like closing an account when a transfer is taking place in case you end up owing them money, as the non supplier they lose one of their ultimate powers (cutting you off).

Can you not demand a refund of most of it anyway?
 
I assume its the buyer who has requested this. When he came to view the place he was very interested in seeing the meter despite me telling him its an economy 7 meter, nothing special. He obviously has some kind of excitement for electricity or something.

I'd be happy to wait until Monday but sse have told me it will take the new owner giving his new supplier meter readings who will then tell sse what they are before they can issue a final bill. sse claim they cannot input any meter readings into their system.

I have given them my new address to send any bill to, if I did owe them, they are able to chase me at the new address. I just cant believe this is allowed to happen.

I think I'll ask them to refund the outstanding credit, that's a good idea, although I have cancelled the DD as I don't want to be paying them another month.
 
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I had exactly the same when I moved - the new occupier had initiated a supplier change before I'd left. EDF said once a change had started they can't do anything on their system to the account. I complained that the shortcomings of their IT system were nothing to do with me and I eventually got a £25 goodwill payment.

It's infuriating because when you move you want everything closed quickly and this can delay things by several weeks. It should not be possible to switch someone's account without their consent, but it is.
 
blueboy2001 said:
I had exactly the same when I moved - the new occupier had initiated a supplier change before I'd left. EDF said once a change had started they can't do anything on their system to the account. I complained that the shortcomings of their IT system were nothing to do with me and I eventually got a £25 goodwill payment.

It's infuriating because when you move you want everything closed quickly and this can delay things by several weeks. It should not be possible to switch someone's account without their consent, but it is.
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Absolutely insane isn't it! SSE assured me this was a very common issue! That makes it worse in my book!

Following the advice on here, I cancelled my DD so they cannot take any more money at least, my other half had a word with them and they are going to refund the credit we have with them and I can sort the final bill out with them as and when. Better than nothing I suppose. I'm still going to the property today though to take some time and date stamped images of the meter.
 
Well this is still rumbling on, I had a letter from the bank yesterday saying they attempted to take payment from the account but couldn't. (thanks again to Ace Modder for recommending I cancel the DD) I called them up to ask why they are still trying to take monthly payment as they know I've left the property and finally accepted my meter readings.

Ended up speaking to a manager who agreed I shouldn't be put out and made to wait by another party and has allegedly issued a refund of the credit, plus £30 goodwill. I'll still have to wait for a final statement but at least it should read £0.00.

We shall see! :rolleyes:
 
If the account is £100s in credit why would they complain about not receiving the latest DD payment!
 
It's worth people knowing that you can put a block on your account for a supplier change. This will notify you if someone tries to do this whilst you have control of the account. Too late for OP but it seems quite a few people are in rented so may save you future hassle.
 
Ok, as far as I'm aware, this should NOW be sorted.

Friday I received an e-bill, expecting it to be zero, it actually read that I owed them 27p.

I face palmed and decided as it was Friday night, I'd ignore it.

but to SSE's credit, I got a phone call about an hour later from them explaining how it was calculated and was correct but that they'd (very kindly) let me off the 27p and that the bill, which should now be final, now reads zero!

So, I SHOULD now be done and dusted with SSE and I hope this doesn't happen to anyone else as it was a pain in the bum!

Thanks to everyone who offered good advice :)
 
Jamesyboyjim said:
Ok, as far as I'm aware, this should NOW be sorted.

Friday I received an e-bill, expecting it to be zero, it actually read that I owed them 27p.

I face palmed and decided as it was Friday night, I'd ignore it.

but to SSE's credit, I got a phone call about an hour later from them explaining how it was calculated and was correct but that they'd (very kindly) let me off the 27p and that the bill, which should now be final, now reads zero!

So, I SHOULD now be done and dusted with SSE and I hope this doesn't happen to anyone else as it was a pain in the bum!

Thanks to everyone who offered good advice :)
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Document it all now before you forgot - times of phone calls, names etc. Given the quality of billing of most energy companies, you'll probably a get final demand or debt collector letter in six months saying you owe £1000+
 
Well this saga has reared its head again, just received a quarterly bill requesting I pay £200. Someone has read the metre and sent a bill. Those idiots know I moved out months ago and the new owner is now with EDF so how exactly has this happened?! :mad:
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
They are probably looking to get you to pay for the difference between your readings and current readings

Did you take photos when you left?
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Based on the advice from here, yes I did.

I have had a chat with cs, they tell me that an attempted block was put on the supplier change, which stopped my account from closing, (this was my landlord at te time who was furious that the buyer had done this, as the sale hadn't completed)

EDF then were able to take over, the current owner has since changed back to SSE and given a metre reading, this has flagged up the difference, which, due to what I said about the block, meant the account was still in my name. They've confirmed from my previous complaint that I owe them nothing and have now changed all the account details over to the new owner and removed my details from the system.

All very confusing and stupid. Still not completely happy that the actual account hasn't been closed, only all my details removed from it and the new owners put in their place. But we'll see what happens :rolleyes:
 
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