Can energy providers charge you for the previous tenants unpaid bills?

woanelly

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could advise. Basically we live in a two bed flat and we think that are bills are way too high. There are two of us and we both work full time 5 days a week. When we first moved in we were being charged 108 per month, then 6 months later it went to 117 and most recently (just before we moved) we were told we would have to pay £197 per month based on our average spend per year (£2364)!

At first we didn't even question it and paid each month but we have recently moved out and they say we owe £500. We have always given meter readings but do not have access to our own and so just had to go off whatever the concierge had told us.

We've just asked our neighbour how much they pay and they said they've been payin 80 a month but its just gone up to 110, that's still £87 less than us for the exact same flat, exact same heating/water system etc. We were with Scottish Power and they are with EDF, yet on comparison websites Scottish Power always come out as the cheapest for us?!

I recently heard (and I appreciate that it may be a rumour) that sometimes if there are unpaid bills from previous tenants they will charge you for them?

It's so frustrating to know that our next door neighbours pay so much less than us,
I don't understand how this could be?
Plus I used to live in a 3 storey house with 4 other people and our bills were never more than £100 a month.

Any advice would be great, we feel at a complete loss as I don't even know if this could be investigated?

stclair

In reality once you move in and notify the supplier your the new tenant a seperate account would be set up for your self.

They cant charge you for someone elses bills, you may want to ask them for copies of the bills since you moved in.

macman

You have a legal right of access to your meters, (as do the utility co.), do not reply on others to read them for you. Enforce your rights, get your own readings, and check them against your bills. Without knowing your actual consumption, no-one can say if your billing is too high.