Third Party Dispute

emz_w

I have been trying to sort out my final bill with EON energy and now they are said I'm in a third party dispute. I split up with my husband over a year ago and due to his violent and threatening behaviour I could not go back to the house to get the gas and electicity readings which were in my name. EON said that was fine and said my meter readings could be estimated and I could pay my bill from those and close the account. As a result those readings they said they owed me £780 pounds and emailed me to ask for where the cheque should be sent. I wrote back with my address and they said the couldn't send the cheque as they had been in touch with husband and he had disputed that they send the cheque to me. They put my account in dispute and because of the divorce and the harrassment from my husband I put my action on hold as I had enough on my plate. In September last year they sent me a bill saying I now owed them £315 pounds based on a meter reading my husband had given them and then in december they send me another bill saying my husband had given them another reading and it had now gone up to £548! EON would not discuss it with me as they said I had to sort it out with husband but that isn't an option as he is violent and abusive and doesn't negotiate. They said it was a third party dispute and if I didn't pay they would send the baliffs in. I went to the energy ombudsman who said they can't deal with it as its a third party dispute. What do I do? I have had to pay the bill as they said they are going to send in the baliffs and as I live with my parents I don't want to bring them any trouble but I can't afford this bill and I don't know how I'm going to survive having paid this money. Has anyone else been in this situation?

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi emz w,

I am sorry to hear of your situation.

If I could just ask a couple of questions as I am a bit confused by a couple of things

Was the account for the house only in your name and were you the one making the payments, from your bank account only?

Or was the payment arrangement in yours and your husbands name? if this is the case then the refund would not be sent to just one person as you were jointly responsible.

To remove a name from an account, both parties need to agree as this makes the person named on the account responsible for the bills. (this is the same as adding someone to an account)

I think this is where things have gone wrong, as it appears that you may still be named on the bills, so the account was not closed down when you moved out and re-opened in your husbands name only.(I am only speculating here as I don't have any details)

In all honesty it does sound like a third party dispute, so the supplier would not get involved.

We do have a specific department that deal with home moves, they may be able to advise more specifically.

I am sorry I can't be of any more help and I apologise if I am on the wrong lines.

Please let me know if I have got this wrong.

Helena

emz_w

I was the only person on the account and the money was paid out of my account as he has been unemployed for a year. I don't understand why EON took his word for it and not mine. He is a nasty abusive character so he could well have shouted at EON staff until they complied with what he wanted which usually happened with him, that's one of the reasons why I divorced him but I don't know why no one not even the ombudsman can intervene. Whilst going through the courts with my divorced I've realised there are loads of women who have violent and abusive husbands and wonder how they have fared when it has come to the practicalities of life.

spiro

Given that you got divorced you should have got your lawyer to sort out any outstanding/joint bills/debts including utilities. The problem E-on face is you could say the reading was 1000 when you moved out and your ex says its 2000 when its actually 1500 as your both trying to save money.

I accept this does not help but you could just have easily been 2 people (unrelated) were one moved out and another moved in. That is why change of tenancy issues tend to be regarded as third party disputes because the supplier will get paid its just a case of who pays.

emz_w

It may seem a simple thing to get a solicitor to sort this stuff out but its hellishly costly and doesn't work unless the other side are willing to co-operate which he's not. I'm just concerned that whilst the energy supplier said they weren't will to take sides and its a third party dispute they still took his meter readings over the estimate and I'm the one that loses out which isn't fair. I think the moral of the story is to ask the energy supplier to go to the property to do a reading and then you both need to adhere to that reading....a bit difficult when you're life has just fallen down around you... such is life