Gas bill worries!! Please help!

Dancing_Diva

Hi, Im after some advice if anyone can help

I moved into my previous property (rented) in Jan 2010 - I have a letter dated 11th Jan '10 from my letting agent informing the utility supplier (EON) that I was the new tenant and stating final gas and electric metre readings for the previous tenants. There seemed to be no problem as I started to receive bills from EON and paid them promptly.

I left the property in March 2011 and informed EON of the final metre readings (which were not as it turns out, entered into their system) however, i received a final bill which I paid.

In Jan 2012 I received a letter at my new property from EON stating that for the 13 months that I lived in my previous property I was only paying for electric and not gas so they have hit me with a £600 bill!!

During the 13 months I lived in my previous property my landlord got into some financial difficulties so my tenancy agreement was swapped from one well known letting agency to another that I had not heard of. As it turns out a final water and electric metre reading was recorded during my official "handover" by the new letting agency but not a gas reading.

The property was sold in Dec 2011 and the new owner contacted EON to provide initial metre readings - this is where they realised their fault and backbilled me.

My question is - Am i liable for this £600 bill after not having lived in the flat for 9 months? If they do not have a final metre reading for the property have they just estimated the use? £600 seems an awful lot of money for a 1 bed flat (I worked from 8am until 6pm away from flat as well)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Many Thanks

jalexa

Dancing_Diva wrote: »

In Jan 2012 I received a letter at my new property from EON stating that for the 13 months that I lived in my previous property I was only paying for electric and not gas so they have hit me with a £600 bill!!

You need to "set a trap" for E.ON by asking them why they don't (apparently) believe Billing Code backbilling relief applies.

http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/customers/energy-industry-codes/code-of-practice-for-accurate-bills.html

I cannot advise further because qualifying situations differ (and you post an overcomplicated story).

Keep it simple. It is up to E.ON to justify the bill on the information they currently hold without you telling them the whole story.

Welcome to the forum BTW.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi Dancing Diva

The Billing Code may well apply here. This is where we're at fault for not issuing a bill.

If this is the case, we'll not charge you for gas used more than 12 months before the date the problem was corrected.

Each case is looked at individually so it's important you talk to us about this.

I would talk to our Director's Office (contact details are on your bills and our website). They'll open a complaint whilst the matter is investigated. This will stop any debt follow up during the investigation.

If it turns out the bill is valid, ask for a payment arrangement to spread the balance over a similar period it took to put this right. We'll be happy to do this.

Hope this helps Dancing Diva. Give me a shout if I can help further. Drop an email to the address in my Profile if you prefer.

Malc

Terrylw1

Yes, they will estimate opening and closing readings.

Check the start and end dates for the gas otherwise estimation will be based on too many days.

Did the letting agent inform Eon of the gas and elec? If you can prove this or that you havent hampered the supplier from billing you, the billing code is very likely to apply.