Moved to new house

cajef

clocKwize wrote: »

BG are staking a claim on that used energy because the old owner was with them..

Correct and you didn't tell them you are the new owner.

Once more, they are billing you because they are have supplied your gas and will do until the changeover takes place, npower cannot charge you for something they are not supplying you with until the changeover, though you cannot appear to grasp this.

clocKwize

cajef wrote: »

Correct and you didn't tell them you are the new owner.

Once more, they are billing you because they are have supplied your gas and will do until the changeover takes place, npower cannot charge you for something they are not supplying you with until the changeover takes place, though you cannot appear to grasp this.

Seriously are you trolling me?

I'm not denying anything you just said. I'm trying to raise the question why. as its all on paper and theoretical that I owe them that money. They haven't done anything to "supply" me, other than write it on a piece of paper that they are doing so, then send me a letter asking for money. I know this is "how it works" which you have so kindly pointed out multiple times.

My question is why does it work like that, other than to benefit the suppliers.

The grey area exists because I haven't signed anything to express I want BG to supply me with energy, if I started posting post-it notes through your letter box, then posted a letter through saying they cost 5 pound each a month later, you'd obviously not have to pay me, even if you wrote on the post-it notes (or used the gas)

So where do the energy suppliers get the right from, if they have one, of requesting I pay for something I haven't asked them to supply?

Again, before you start having a moan, I am NOT repeat AM NOT, trying to get out of paying, I'm perfectly happy to pay, I just think its a very strange system and was more trying to start a conversation about it and understand more than to enrage you.

dogshome

When there is a change of houseowner, or tenant, the set-up so far as Gas & Elec are concerned is that the Utilty Co supplying the previous owner, remains the supplier to that address and it's meters

It really is the only way to do it - The alternative would be for that present supplier cut the supplies when someone moved out, leaving the incoming occupier in a dwelling without Electicity/Gas until they had made an agreement with a supplier.

Perhaps your new home was standing empty for a while before you agreed an Exchange date, it's getting colder so the previous owner would have had the heating on low to prevent pipe problems, and paying the cost of doing so.
For accurate billing so you are not paying bills run up by the previous owner, it's important when moving in that you contact the incumbant supplier to report your residence and meter readings - and that you advise them of meter readings and a date when you move out.

steve-L

cajef wrote: »

Correct and you didn't tell them you are the new owner.

Once more, they are billing you because they are have supplied your gas and will do until the changeover takes place, npower cannot charge you for something they are not supplying you with until the changeover, though you cannot appear to grasp this.

How have THEY supplied the gas?
Did they produce the gas, bring it onshore and dry it, build a pipe to the OP's house and supply it?

No someone else produced gas, they put it in a pipe with other people.. this then goes through allocation. It goes ashore to a facility and put into the network and this then get supplied to the OP's house. Meanwhile the suppliers bid for volumes of gas.... there are not the same volumes as delivered, just volumes.

The real question is perhaps why does it take 7 weeks to switch?
All that happens is someone else bills you for the gas you use.
There is no physical switch, its the same gas exactly... molecule by molecule.

The utilities are simply brokers who OWN customers. Unfortunately since this is a utility we can't really live without they seem to be able to do as they like.

In terms of OWNING the gas, that is like buying shares in a company and walking into their factory and claiming you own a specific rivet.

dogshome

Oh come on steve-L,
I think you have had enough comment to understand how the market works and why it is constructed the way it is
Sure, there is a lot wrong with it, but inherited 'deemed' utility supplies is the least of the problems, ( It worked in exactly the same way prior to privatisation)

oldskoo1

clocKwize wrote: »

Seriously are you trolling me?

I'm not denying anything you just said. I'm trying to raise the question why. as its all on paper and theoretical that I owe them that money. They haven't done anything to "supply" me, other than write it on a piece of paper that they are doing so, then send me a letter asking for money. I know this is "how it works" which you have so kindly pointed out multiple times.

My question is why does it work like that, other than to benefit the suppliers.

The grey area exists because I haven't signed anything to express I want BG to supply me with energy, if I started posting post-it notes through your letter box, then posted a letter through saying they cost 5 pound each a month later, you'd obviously not have to pay me, even if you wrote on the post-it notes (or used the gas)

So where do the energy suppliers get the right from, if they have one, of requesting I pay for something I haven't asked them to supply?

Again, before you start having a moan, I am NOT repeat AM NOT, trying to get out of paying, I'm perfectly happy to pay, I just think its a very strange system and was more trying to start a conversation about it and understand more than to enrage you.

Utility companies supply the meter not the person

It does seem quite unreasonable to take 4-6weeks to switch but that is just the way it works.

As you haven't signed a contract you will be on the standard rate which is usually quite high. We all have to go through it, I did recently.

I assume, without reading the other threads you submitted readings to npower when you moved in. You can provide bg these to make sure your bill is correct, previous owner should have anyway.

If correct, you have to pay bg until your npower switch over happens but I'm sure you have gathered that by now

Richie-from-the-Boro

clocKwize wrote: »

Hi guys,

So I've moved to a new house, signed up to npower the day after we moved in via uSwitch.

That was over a month ago and I've now received a letter from British Gas addressed to Occupant, saying I owe then about 120 for 14th Oct to 1st Nov! on their Standard Tariff.

- they are correct, if you immediately entered your starting numbers, and their bill is correctly based on the NOW numbers

Do I actually owe them this money? I've switched to another provider (although its pending, I guess? I still haven't hear but it says it might take up to 7 weeks) and they don't even know my name, therefore I'm not in any kind of contract with them.

- you do, per my numbers comment above

I'd obviously much rather just pay npower from the date I signed up with my meter readings from that day, as I know I'll be getting a good deal, not standard tariff deal from a company that doesn't even know who I am - Thoughts or advice?

Its the way it works - you have a legal 'deemed contract ' with [ the existing supplier] BG from the moment you are the legal householder, many others have explained it to you my friend, just accept no one is wrong - you just didn't understand how it works - you do now !

clocKwize

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Its the way it works - you have a legal 'deemed contract ' with [ the existing supplier] BG from the moment you are the legal householder, many others have explained it to you my friend, just accept no one is wrong - you just didn't understand how it works - you do now !

I wasn't saying anyone was wrong, I just wanted to understand why things work like this. I've now had a look in to "deemed contract" as I didn't know this term.

It still raises the question, why does it take 7-8 weeks to switch supplier, and as others have stated too, suppliers are just brokers of energy, and don't physically do anything to supply my house with energy, why it works like this in the first place? Why do they have the right to claim me as a customer? If I want to pay a different supplier for the energy I've used, it would be neither here nor there.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Why do they have the right to claim me as a customer?

Well the way your preferred wish list would work if you were allowed it, would be that no 'deemed contract'' would conveniently mean no bill for those 7-8 weeks.

- smashin'

Then the one million people that move house each year in the UK would equally have no bill,

- 7 weeks @ £20 = £140 x 1 million = UK£140 mi££ion pounds
- that the rest of the UK energy users would have to pay on your behalf
- and that's never going to happen is it ?

why does it take 7-8 weeks to switch supplier

- take that up with the Ombudsman, its largely to do with protecting you and I, it's called the 'cooling off period'

clocKwize

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Well the way your preferred wish list would work if you were allowed it, would be that no 'deemed contract'' would conveniently mean no bill for those 7-8 weeks.

- smashin'

Well, we'd have to pay our preferred supplier.Maybe 5 days from moving in you can register with a supplier or something..