Think Opus Energy Are Trying It On

Moosic

Hi Everyone. Really hope you can help me, on the 27th August I recently moved into an agricultural property. The property had been trading as a previous business but that was over three years ago.

We were not aware that an Opus business account has been taken over by us when we moved in as no one had mentioned it, we believed that the account we were taking over was a domestic one.

Anyway, over the course of the last few months we have recieved three invoices from them. The first one for the period 28th August - October 28 was £71.85 - which we have paid. The second one strangely for the period 28th August -October 13th £249.60 and the final one October 14th - 28 Novemeber £249.60.
We have spoke to the citizens advice bureau because of these high rates and they have advised us that we should not be paying you as in FACT they are a business supplier of energy and we are not trading as a business.



I need any help of this as i'm not sure what to do, i have spoke to EON and they will take over withing 28 days but now Opus are asking for money. I'm thinking of writing a letter to them as i have seen some scare stories. Hope you can help.



Thanks.

Premier_2

Have you spoken to Opus about this. Afterall, they are your supplier!

You said it was an agricultural property ... so unless you've changed the usage, it doesn't sound like residential. If you have changed usage, how are your supplier supposed to know if you've not informed them?

Moosic

I have spoke to them and they said it was incorrect and that i should look for a domestic supplier. However i have seen quite alot of bad threads about these guys and since i have moved in i now have three invoices from them for a stupid amount of money.

I thought Opus supply business energy, just because i live in an agricultural property does that mean i pay business rates ?

Moosic

Can anyone help please ? Any advice is appreciated.

macman

Perhaps it would help if you could define 'agricultural property'. A farmhouse presumably goes on a residential rate, but the milking parlour next door on a commercial rate?
If you move into a new property and do not register for an account, then you will be in a deemed contract, which is normally the supplier's standard (and most expensive) tariff.
Did you contact Opus as soon you moved in, if so what tariff did you request?

Moosic

Hi Macman, thanks for the reply.

Ok, i need to clear a few things up. I basically brought the property to live in with my wife and my 85 year old mother. The property itself has one bungalow, an orchard and some land which was used to grow vegetables.

The previous owners did run it as a farm shop business; they had ceased trading over three years ago. It is not registered as a business anymore and we do not pay business rates to the council. All we do pay is our community charges.

The problem is here is that we have only just found out that the energy we get is from a business supplier called Opus. We are not trading as a business but over the past two months we have has three invoices for large sums of money.

We had contacted them, they told us that we should look for a domestic supplier - they did tell us that they only supply energy to business users. Therefore we have instructed a domestic supplier to take over within the next 28 days.

There is no contract, i have not signed anything but we still have the invoices from them for business rates which we feel is unfair.

I have sent an email today but not sure if they will respond or how to go about sorting this mess out. We thought when we took over the property that we would just be with a normal supplier so finding out about this has come as a bit of a shock.

Not sure what we can do, so hoping maybe some nice folk from the forums could possibly help?

Thanks,

Moosic

macman

You do have a contract with them-by using the supply from day one you have a deemed contract at whatever their standard rate is. If you have used that much electricity then you will need to pay for it-are the bills actual readings or estimated?
It was really your responsibility to find out what tariff you were on and what it would cost at the outset-you could have switched by the end of September.
Curious though as to why you have two apparently overlapping bills commencing on the same day (28/8?)
PS: I sincerely hope you are not paying community charge-it was abolished in 1993!

Moosic

Hi Macman. I did not know that they were a business supplier until recently, i thought i was taking over a normal account like british gas etc. How can i have a business contract when i have not signed anything and the property is not registered as a business?

Surely it is agaisnt the law to supply business energy when you live in a non buisness house ? The citezens advice buerua mentioned that it is unfair.

The first bill was an actually reading. The second and third were estimates. But yes, i think that having two of them bills overlapping at virtually the same date is a little strange.

Community charges lol, i'm showing my age.

macman

I already explained, you have a deemed contract from day one when you commence using the supply. No signature is necessary, you have made a valid verbal contract which is binding. As was mentioned earlier, the supplier has no idea whether you are a business or not. If the previous owner neglected to change the account to domestic when they ceased trading, then that is hardly the supplier's error. Did you not notice when you got the first bill that you were being charged VAT at 17.5% rather than 5%?
I suggest you supply a current meter reading and get your bill updated-little point in complaining to CAB about an estimated bill-if they are basing it on previous business usage then it may well be over-estimated. I'm not clear if you are disputing the units charged, or simply the rate charged-the first is easily resolved by checking your bills against the opening and current readings.
Either way, if you have an outstanding debt you'll need to settle that first, because Opus will not allow you to switch otherwise.