Am I liable to pay for 3 yrs gas

dogshome

Hi cparker - I'm afraid that you do appear to be something of an innocent abroad when dealing with Utility supplies, but you also appear to have been short changed by the letting agents who should have given you the the Meter readings for Elec/Gas/Water when you moved in.

Also thier comment that your Elec supplier could not possibly also supply your gas and you should have a seperate bill for each service is mis-leading. All the Utility Co's will happily supply both gas & Elec, and some suppliers, Scottish Power for one, combine both the gas & electric billing on a single sheet of paper. Closely check the bills you have had to see if gas is listed - if you have discarded them, ask the supplier for copies

If Gas is not listed, there isa strong possibility that a bill will catch up with you, and the gas supplier has 6 years in which to find you.
What's important now is that you get up to speed when dealing with Utilities
1 KEEP SAFELY the start meter readings for your new dwelling
2 When each bill arrives, check it from Top to Tail to ensure the meter readings and period dates follow on from bill-to-bill, and that the calculations are correct
3 If any bill arrives with an E on the End Reading, this means it is ESTIMATED - Immediately phone the supplier with your meters actual reading so they can send you a truly accurate bill

The points above are just a start, so regularly read this section of the site to make yourself aware of what can go wrong, Believe me it's a lot, so you will know what to look for and what you can do about it
Best of Luck

Premier_2

cparker wrote: »

...I only received one each month with a single amount due...no description).....

What nonsense.

The front of the scottish power bill statement says exactly what it is for.

e.g.

Your electricity charges
Your gas charges
Other charges
etc

The rear of the bill gives even more details.

Tony5101

What a completely nonsensical thread...if you've used a service, you should pay for it. Does it really need to be any more difficult than that?

I think the real thread should have been - "I thought I was getting away without paying for my gas - now someone has caught me out, and I haven't got the money to pay 3 years worth of back payments"

Sorry - but ignorance (real or imaginary) is not an excuse for dodging your liabilities.

dogshome

Hi again cparker - With the flurry of posts, one thing concerns me. In your first post you state: " as I only recieved one each month with a single amount due... no description"

So far as I am aware, the only way to get monthly and payment billing from one of the Utility Co's is to have an online account, which you patently do not have

So who has issued these bills? - Could it be that a third party, ( The landlord? ), is the actual account holder and is billing you some or all of of what they have been billed?

Please post if this is the case as you do have the right to see the suppliers invoices

cparker_2

Tony5101 - I'm not ignorant, I have just never had to deal with utilities before as this is my first time living on my own....mis- informed perhaps, but not ignorant. I went on the advise of agents who apparently messed up everything, hence they were fired, and now nobody knows what's going on, not even the owners. BTW, I never said I didn't want to pay...I was simply looking for advise on what I should do to resolve this issue, if a payment plan with the SP is necessary, so be it....check yourself Tony5101!

I presumed that SE covered both (yes, my fault, should not have assumed) but I simply contacted the list of SP's that were given to me when I moved in and told them I was new tennant and to continue providing me the services...I did not check what was listed on the bills.

I have called National Grid, BG and others and nobody has any record of the metre serial no....nobody knows what to do. In my opinion, the owners of the property or their managing agents never made sure that the property had a gas SP and have not managed the property well, dating back to whenever. So, I ask, should this be my fault/responsibility entirely?! They are now holding my deposit as ransom, but in all fairness, the previous tenants before me and who knows how many before that, clearly have never paid either.

GYOB

Do you know who is supplying the property for Gas? If not, then your first point of contact is XOSERVE. If you contact them on 0870 608 1524. This will save you a load time randomly calling different suppliers to locate the one supplying your property.

If you've been using gas you will have a supplier and you will need to contact them to find out why no bills have been issued. If they've not been informed of the Change of Tenancy they will either have continued sending bills in the name of the previous occupier or simply "The Occupier". If this is the case then you will be liable to pay all charges outstanding for the period you've been in the property.

There are very strict rules from OFGEM as to what bills must include. They will state what you are being billed for (just gas / electricity / both) and how the charges have been calculated.

Yes, it is your responsibility. YOU are responsible for the utilities used and not your Landlord or Letting Agent's (unless otherwise stipulated in your Tenancy Agreement)

Tony5101

cparker wrote: »

Tony5101 - I'm not ignorant, I have just never had to deal with utilities before as this is my first time living on my own....mis- informed perhaps, but not ignorant. I went on the advise of agents who apparently messed up everything, hence they were fired, and now nobody knows what's going on, not even the owners. BTW, I never said I didn't want to pay...I was simply looking for advise on what I should do to resolve this issue, if a payment plan with the SP is necessary, so be it....check yourself Tony5101!

Sorry, but I would beg to differ!
Where exactly did you think that your gas was coming from to heat your home, and cook your food. And more importantly who did you think was paying for it?!?

Ignoring or feigning innocence for 2 or 3 months could be excused - but 3 YEARS.....do me a favour.

The bottom line is, you were quite happy to use the gas at the time, but obviously made no conscious attempt to establish who was supplying it (or paying for it).
By moving out, you have now alerted someone to the fact that you haven't been paying, and have now got yourself into a deep hole. You're now looking for some way of wriggling out of having to pay - otherwise you wouldn't have started a thread titled "Am I liable to pay....."

You used it - so pay for it.

NeverInDebt

Agreed Tony at best Op is very naive at worst a free loader

Still they have to pay for there naivety dont see why customers should

Cardew

OP,


It is difficult to escape the conclusion that you are being disingenuous in this thread.

In your initial thread you claimed not to even know if the property used gas.

The thread is entilitled 'Am I liable to pay for 3 years gas?' Yet now you indicate it is not your intent to avoid payment.

Had you stated openly at the beginning that you thought you had got away without paying for gas for 3 years and now had a problem; we wouldn't have had this saga of:

Don't know if I even use gas in the house

I thought I was paying SE for gas

It must be the agent's fault or the owner's fault .

balf

How can you live in a house for 3 years and never look at the gas boiler controls. At basics you would turn the control down or off in the summer months.

David.