3 year old electricity bill

uhohima

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone has any advice for problems I'm having with my energy provider. I apologise in advance.. it's a bit of a long one!

A friend I used to live with has ben sent a bill by debt collectors for electricity from dec 07-june 08 for a flat we used to share.

The problem is, obviously this bill is 3 years late! When I moved into the flat, I called the leccy company to double check the account details, as I had been told my letting agency would set it all up correctly. I was informed that they were waiting on a gas reading, then would send the first bill, to which I replied that they would be waiting a long time, considering the flat didnt have gas! This seemed odd to me, as a previous couple had been living there for at least a year, and would have thought they would have corrected it... Anyway, 4 or 5 phone calls, months down the line, and I was told the account had all been set up correctly in the landlords name by the letting agency and he would be sorting it, so left it at that.

In the year and a half I was there, they never requested meter readings or sent someone out. But a few months after I moved out, (my friend stayed on) he told me that the letting agents had changed the utility supplier, and that he had been sent a bill by the previous company for nearly 2000, for electricity over a year.. and gas! But only for a year... nothing previous to that. To cut a long story short, after plenty of phone calls, they finally realised that we didnt have gas, and that the amount they were charging was totally unreasonable (all estimated readings) for a 2 bed flat. The problem seemed to be, that is was a new build area, and they had our flat meter swapped with one of the show homes meters (which did have gas).

I'm presuming the couple before us didn't pay anything, and when the landlord bought the place when it was first built, he obviously didn't set up the account correctly, and the lettings agency from the start had neglected to set it up too. So my question is, can we be billed for this, 3 years down the line, when the account was in the landlords name? The only meter reading they have is from 3 months before we moved in, and one over a year and a half later when the lettings agency changed the utility company (without telling us).

Thanks!

spiro

Unless your elec was included in your rent, it was your responsibility (as the new tenant) to tell the supplier you had moved in.

It appears you did not do this, therefore you are liable for all elec for the duration of your tenancy.

uhohima

Hi Spiro,

No I had called them the day I moved in, to which they said they were waiting on a gas reading, so I informed them there was no gas, and the guy told me he would 'look into it and sort it'. A month later when I had no heard anything I rang them again, just to have the same answer. 2 Months later I rang them again, and I was told it had been set up by the letting agency in the landlords name. Clearly it had not been set up from day one, when the landlord probably bought the flat, as it was only a year and a half old when I moved in, and there had been previous tenants, whose names the electricity company had no idea of, only the landlord.

uhohima

Also, when the lettings agency changed supplier, they only charged us for a year, not our whole tenancy... which seems odd? But I was told they could only charge us a year in arrears, so why now have they decided they can charge us from before that time, 3 years late?

TBagpuss

If the bill was in the landlord's name, then the liability is his, although you may have a laibility to reimburse him, depending on the terms of your lease. In that case, you would be liable obnly for the elecrictiy actually used during your occupsation of the property.

Under the Energy Retail Association's code of practice ("Code of Practice for Accurate Bills: Billing Code". ) a supplier can't normally recover bills for more than one year if they failed to bill at the time. However, in your case it is possible that they did try to bill sooner but that you didn't get the bill , because you had moved out, or that a bill was sent to your landlord, in which case they are in effect pursuing a debt (rather than trying to raise a bill after 3 years delay)

Did you take readings when you moved in, and when you moved out?

uhohima

Thanks for the info Yeah readings were taken whilst moving in and out, but were never given to the company, as everytime they rang they either said they were waiting on a gas reading and didnt need leccy, or that it was in the landlords name so he was sorting it :S The bill is nearly 1000 too, so I'm pretty sure they are just estimating it, like they did for the first one, because I very much doubt we could have used £1000 worth of electricity in 8 months, mostly over spring/summer so not much heating, and when we both were out the house 9-6!