Never Paid a gas or electricity bill!

Sternology

about 2 and a half years ago we moved into a new home, it was a new build, Barratts gave us forms to fill in to set up the Gas and electricity accounts.

We filled them in with all our details and waited to be contacted. after not hearing anything we chased with Barratts at their site office, they apologised and said it looked like they hadn't sent the forms to the supplier and they would do it. We still heard nothing and we called several times, visited the site office several times. After about 15 attempts we gave up with barratts and called the supplier (then powergen, now Eon) they had no record of the account for our address and said they couldn't do anything.

We were given the name and number of the the account manager for the building company at eon, my wife spoke to him and said there was nothing they could do until the builders had handed over the account to them.

eventually we gave up and decided to put £60 per month away to keep for the future when they got their acts together.

The house builders are now moving off site as all the building work has been done. We received a leaflet through the door from Eon asking us to contact them to make sure we were not paying for someone elses electricity.

I spoke to the Eon and they took my details and a reading and said that we owed over £1400 for electricity alone! I asked why is it only now after being in the property for 2 1/2 years that the account has been handed over to them and they just said that barratts have only given them the details this week!

I explained how we tried and tried to get set up and give them our money but got nowhere, I told them the name of the account manager we had been given and she recognised who it was straight away. She's now arranging for him to call me back tomorrow as he doesn't work at the weekend.

I need to know where we stand with this, we recently had a door to door salesman trying to get us to switch, when we explained we couldn't because we didn't have an account he said that if they do get in contact that we wouldn't have to pay for more than the last 12 months. I have read elsewhere that they can ask for 2 years and some places say 6 years!

How far back can they demand payment for?
Why haven't we been cut off before now?
would barratts have been paying for the supply?

Unfortunately we didn't keep records of when we have tried to contact them and who we spoke to etc as we didn't forsee this becoming such a problem after a few months it went to the back of our minds.

Also we had some financial difficulty in the last 12 months and also got married in April and we had to use the money that we had been putting away for gas and electric.

I still don't know how much the gas is going to be for and I doubt I would be able to afford the payment plan that they offered.

I know we have used the electricity and gas and I'm not going to try and say that I shouldn't have to pay for it but there have been major failings between barrats and Eon and now I'm the one stuck in a financial mess because of their mistakes, would it be reasonable to expect to negotiate the amount owed as a gesture? Are they limited by regulations on the time period they are allowed to claim for if we haven't been billed?

Help

Thanks

Chris

Sternology

Just as an update found this on the Code Of Practice For Accurate Bills (can't post link to it because I'm new)

If your supplier is at fault, and you do not
receive a bill for more than two years, then
from July 2006 any outstanding debt that
relates to energy consumed more than two
years ago will be cancelled. From July 2007,
this will reduce to one year.

gardner1

but is it your supplier who is at fault OR barratts

u_r

a friend of mine who moved into a new build just like you has not had any bills and hence is not paying anyhting!!!!!!!!!

i'l ask her to keep records from now on!!!!!so it looks like it is becoming a standard practice foe new builds!!!!!!!!!

Terrylw1

They can only bill you for the last 12 months if they have not attempted to supply any bills.

Barrett's are fully responsible for all bills up to the point they sell the property on.

However, you do not need Barrett's to send anything in since a Supplier will take your details direct. Building companies tend to do this to help new buyers but they often end up taking incorrect reads, losing paperwork or not sending the correct data through.

It happens loads of times.

It's good that you have been putting money aside though.

Barrett's would send in a handover document which the Supplier then uses to close thier account and set yours up. This could have gone missing anywhere and if there was something on it that was wrong, they may have sent it back and could have been awaiting info off Barrett's.

Be very careful with opening readings. Did you take your own or did Barrett's? Make sure that nothing from Barrett's usage ends up on your bill.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi Sternology

I'm sorry it has taken such a long time to set up an account for your property.

Unfortunately, this situation does sometimes arise with new builds.

At the outset, new developments have their own accounts in the name of the builder. All energy usage is billed to this until the builder advises of a change of responsibility.

Once we are told of a change of responsibility, we will close the account at the property in the name of the builder and open another for the new resident. This will be done to the date we are told responsibility changes.

Sometimes, builders don't tell us of a change of responsibility for a long time, particularly on large developments.

However, as Terry says, new residents can also tell us about a change of responsibility.

The billing code applies where we are at fault for not providing an accurate bill. In these cases, we will only charge for energy used 12 months prior to when the account was correctly set up.

Where we haven't been told of a change of responsibility, we will not consider it to be our fault an account wasn't set up. In these circumstances, we will charge for all energy used at the property.

If, though, it is clear you have been asking for an account, the billing code will certainly be considered.

With new developments, an account manager is appointed to look after all the transfers for the individual properties. Therefore, you are doing exactly the right thing in talking to the account manager for your particular development. These are the best placed people to deal with this type of situation.

Terry also makes a good point about meter readings. Have you taken any during your period of occupancy, particularly opening readings? Let us have any you have taken as this will increase the accuracy of the billing.

Previously, I suspect all usage will have been put down to the builder's general account until it can be re-allocated to the individual properties once we have details of the new residents.

As the development was ongoing, it will have been assumed your particular property was still under construction and, therefore, disconnection would not have been an issue.

Going forward, once the account has been correctly set up and billed, we will be happy to consider a payment arrangement to cover ongoing usage and spread any outstanding balance over a more manageable period.

Sorry this is a bit long winded Sternology but I hope I've covered all the points raised. If not, give me a shout as will be happy to advise further.

Malc

darkblue_2

It's good of e.on to be on the site and trying to advise people, but I would seriously fight to have the billing code implemented on this one.

Terrylw1

darkblue wrote: »

It's good of e.on to be on the site and trying to advise people, but I would seriously fight to have the billing code implemented on this one.

Yes, the billing code is their to protect the consumer from these types of issues.

Even though the builder may be at fault in not submitting documents, the Supplier is still getting reads for consumption so can choose to bill the builder. If the builder ages later says not theirs and they lost the handover paperwork, thats not the customers fault and the Supplier takes the loss.

Also, this consumer has spoken to the account manager who has not resolved it.

http://www.energy-retail.org.uk/documents/BillingCodeFAQs15Oct08.pdf