£1,000 gas bill 12 months after leaving the property

chuck_taylor

Hi,

I have received a bill from Scottish Power asking for about £1k for gas supplied to my previous address.


Background
This was the first property I lived in paying my own bills etc so was an amateur. I paid EDF for my electric thinking the gas was covered in this. The bills are now gone being so long ago so I cannot refer back to them.
I never received any advice from the landlord/tenant agency about what suppliers were used nor did I receive any bills during my occupancy from Scotish Power. Neither did I deal with any Scotish Power reps carrying out meter readings of any type.

In brief where do I stand?

Thanks.

Carl31

If the account is in credit, they owe you?

Anyway, it was for a period you lived there, so you owe it

chuck_taylor

typo I meant 'debit'. (editted)

What about the 'billing code'?

Cardew

nor did I receive any bills during my occupancy from Scotish Power.

Firstly it doesn't matter what the Landord/Agency did or did not tell you, you are the account holder.

If you never received any bills from Scottish Power, I don't understand why you say 'The bills are now gone being so long ago so I cannot refer back to them.' Or are these EDF electricity bills which you expect will detail Scottish Power's gas account?

Scottish Power only have to prove that bills were raised and sent. If you hadn't informed them you were the account holder, they would have been addressed to 'The Occupier'. Or could they have been sent to the letting agency.

As the bill you have is from 25/11/10 to 10/2/11 it does seem that a series of bills were raised.

Is you meter internal or external?, is the bill based on an estimated reading(s) - the meter reading will read xxxx(E) - or could the letting agent have supplied meter readings?

More information needed.

chuck_taylor

The bills I mentioned were the EDF bills (that I assumed covered gas too). Now gone as have been out of the property for 1 year.

No Scottish Power bills were ever received at that address either addressed to myself or to the occupier.
The letting agency did not forward me any bills either.

How can I be an account holder to something I never signed up to or agreed to??!!

No idea if it was internal or external, nobody ever read it (as said I knew nothing about this being a first time renter).
Yes the readings are estimated apart from the end reading on 11/02/11 quote 'customer read'. This was not me. It may have been the letting agent but they have not informed me of this.

macman

You are in a deemed account with the existing suppliers from day one when you start using the gas and electircity. It's not necessary to have sign any paperwork or 'agree' to anything.
Do you agree that you have used the gas and that the bill is correct?
Surely you would have taken closing meter readings-how can you otherwise verify the bill?

Cardew

chuck_taylor wrote: »

The bills I mentioned were the EDF bills (that I assumed covered gas too). Now gone as have been out of the property for 1 year.

No Scottish Power bills were ever received at that address either addressed to myself or to the occupier.
The letting agency did not forward me any bills either.

How can I be an account holder to something I never signed up to or agreed to??!!

No idea if it was internal or external, nobody ever read it (as said I knew nothing about this being a first time renter).
Yes the readings are estimated apart from the end reading on 11/02/11 quote 'customer read'. This was not me. It may have been the letting agent but they have not informed me of this.

Nobody signs up for Utility accounts these days.

Under The Gas Act,(of Parliament) as soon as you use any gas you have entered into a legally binding 'deemed contract' with the supplier(Scottish Power in your case)

If the gas meter was external, you wouldn't know if it had been read or not.

The Billing Code states that if a bill has not been raised, they can only back-bill for 12 months, if the Utility company are at fault.

However it expressly excludes the situation where someone moves in and doesn't notify the company:

http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/publication/finish/43-code-of-practice-for-accurate-bills/412-the-code-of-practice-for-accurate-bills-back-billing-for-domestic-customers.html

Exclusions.

Have been using the supply but have made no attempt to contact the supplier to make or arrange payment, including moving into a property and making no attempt to let a supplier know they are the new tenant.

Utility companies have no way of knowing when properties are re-occupied - some remain empty for years.

So my reading of the situation is that you were unaware that it was your responsibility to determine who was supplying you with gas and let them know you were in residence.

The fact that you were not used to Utility Bills and/or the Landlord didn't advise you, is not Scottish Power's fault.

So I would think that the Billing Code will be of no help to you and you are liable for the bill!

chuck_taylor

I used gas of course, as said I thought at the time that my EDF bill covered this, now with no EDF bills I cannot confirm this. How can I know if the bill is correct 3 years after first moving in, 1 year after moving out while not reading the meter for Scottish gas. I may have read it, I remember reading the electric one but remember it was 3 years ago.

macman

But your electricity bill must have been relatively tiny, how could you think that it covered all your heating and hot water as well?
If you have no independent record of the meter readings then you're not in much of a position to dispute the billing. But £968 for two years usage does not seem unduly high.

jalexa

chuck_taylor wrote: »

I used gas of course, as said I thought at the time that my EDF bill covered this, now with no EDF bills I cannot confirm this. How can I know if the bill is correct 3 years after first moving in, 1 year after moving out while not reading the meter for Scottish gas. I may have read it, I remember reading the electric one but remember it was 3 years ago.

Use the Subject Access Request mechanism. For £10 you can obtain copies of all bills and correspondence.

Re the Billing Code, you need to refer to the case studies to see whether you are entitled to relief. http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/publication/finish/43-code-of-practice-for-accurate-bills/412-the-code-of-practice-for-accurate-bills-back-billing-for-domestic-customers.html Usually I post that "on the face of it" the poster is entitled to relief. In this case as described "on the face of it" you are not entitled to relief.

Scottish_Power

Hi chuck taylor,

If you wish I can check this for you and if for any reason we are not complaint with the ERA back billing code I will address this. I can also offer time for you to repay the amount outstanding if correct.

If you want me to look in to this e-mail me with your details.

My e-mail address is [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]

Kind regards

Graeme @ ScottishPower