Have they failed to meet their code of practice...?

halesowenmum

When I moved house in Dec '11 I asked my existing supplier to move my supply to my new address and followed all their procedures for this. It was only in recent months that I realised that this had never happened and I now owe arrears for a whole year or more's supply of gas and electric.

After a labrynth of twists and turns it has now been confirmed that my elec comes from npower.

In ALL the time I've lived in this new home, npwer have NEVER written to me to tell me they think that they are supplying me, not a single letter here (but it's confirmed on the national database that they are the supplier of my meter and I've confirmed the serial number of it).

So in terms of the code of practice to which the co's adhere, am I liable for a whole year's worth of unpaid electricity when they totally failed to identify that they were supplying me?

Firstly I was assured by my existing supplier that they'd moved the supply, they hadn't, then I wasted two months being harried by another elec supplier who felt that they supplied me when in fact it wasn't them, it was npower.

So can I contact npower now and say it appears you supply me, please can you start doing so, but I'm not paying for any elec past the last month when I first found out that you supplied me (after which by the way I've received NO correspondence from them still and no attempts to set up a direct debit or anything)?

Cardew

Presumably you mean December 2010 not 2011?

No, the code of conduct expressly excludes customers who have failed to contact the supplier and tell them they were now using gas and electricity.

Properties remain unoccupied for years. Are companies supposed to investigate daily, weekly, monthly to see if they can find out if the property is occupied.

The onus is on you to find out who is supplying your property and contacting that company. You seem to blame the Utility company but dismiss your 'mistake' in only just realising you hadn't been paying for gas and electricity.

Under the code of practice you are not liable to pay for 12 months but from the time you occupied, which if Dec 2010 is 16 months.

However I have little doubt that if you kick up enough of a fuss you will get away without paying some of the money you owe.

Joyful

Have you been receiving any letters from Npower addressed to either the Occupier or the previous tenants? If not there would be a breakdown in communication from their end. But Cardew is right that you do need to contact the current supplier when you move into a property as the process takes 4-6 weeks to change supplier. Very often they will not let the supply leave as they will believe the previous tenant possibly with debts still lives in the house. You need to make them aware you have just moved in.

How long before you moved did you request your previous supplier to take over?

chanz4

Who have you been paying in the time? My guess is know one, so now its caught up with you your complaining.

macman

You cannot transfer the account over from one property to another. You are in a deeemed account with the existing supplier when you move in, you should have registered with them first and then switched back if you wished to.
It's not their job to contact you-they have no idea when a property changes occupancy unless they are informed.
nPower are blameless-the fault lies with you and your outgoing supplier.

jalexa

halesowenmum wrote: »

When I moved house in Dec '11 I asked my existing supplier to move my supply to my new address and followed all their procedures for this.

Please name the "existing supplier" who, if what you post was accurately understood, were incompetent. As has been pointed out supply transfer doesn't work like that.

Terrylw1

OK, I agree with the above...if the last occupier moved out, had their account closed, paid up, etc you get possible statuses in a billing system normally.

1 - the old occupier is closed, no open account hence the current supplier has no estimation routines running that force bills out, hence collections teams are not chasing the occupants.

2 - the landlord has an account open hence he/she have an interest in maintaining corre t billing of tenants so the don't overpay.

It sounds like in your case, its scenario 1. Now because they can't bill anything as there is no open account, they don't know when anyone moves in and its up to you to find them. Once you do, they set your account.

The principle is the same as your responsibility in getting it closed as you move away, but in that case you have more of an interest since you get over billed if you don't do it.

You should pay, but there are factors to consider on the suppliers side. If they have had a meter reader out there more than once since you moved in, it will prove conumption and the supplier should spot this, set an named account up which us going to trigger the letters to find out who you are. If they have not done this, they have failed to respond to the incoming data. Ask them that, they may compromise after seeing their errors but you have not informed them and known you should be paying something.

In terms of the change of supplier, that's all the fault of your old supplier unless the change was objected to. Npower may have caused this by objecting in error, but its unlikely because scenario 1 would mean no outstanding debt.