4 Year old bill

Frankie8

4 years ago I moved house and believed I had paid all relevent bills for the gas and electricity for my old property, however this morning I received a bill for gas supply at the old property. Is there any rules that say the utility company can still bill after such a long period of time? Any advice would be most welcome.

DUTR

You beleive the bill was cleared the energy company have countered your belief. I understand 6 years is the time limit for many 'authorities' to claim monies owed.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

It depends on the situation.

You say you 'believed' you had paid all relevant bills. However did you give closing meter readings to company and get a 'final' bill forward to your new address?

If a valid final bill was raised against your name, then it remains valid even if it didn't reach you.

You may have heard about the 12 month backbilling rule. That means that the company cannot bill back more than 12 months from the time of raising that bill, AND where the company are at fault.

jalexa

Frankie8 wrote: »

4 years ago I moved house and believed I had paid all relevent bills for the gas and electricity for my old property, however this morning I received a bill for gas supply at the old property...

In general a final bill should have been provided within 6 weeks, or an explanation provided. In the normal course of events suppliers cannot bill for energy supplied more than 12 months prior to the bill.

So you need to "set a trap" by asking the supplier why they did not comply and digest the response.

Questions I have is that when you informed the supplier you were moving (I take it you did?) did you provide closing readings, were you asked for and did you provide a forwarding billing address? (And do you still reside at the provided address?) The answers to that may be significant to the question you ask.

Cardew

DUTR wrote: »

You beleive the bill was cleared the energy company have countered your belief. I understand 6 years is the time limit for many 'authorities' to claim monies owed.

If a bill has been raised, then it remains valid forever. e.g. you couldn't get a bill, evade payment by going abroad for six years, and then expect the 'slate to be wiped clean'. They can still 'claim' 50 years later.

The 6 years(5 in Scotland) is the time period to raise a bill for services/goods. However with gas/electricity companies this is complicated by the 12 month back-billing rule.

jalexa

Cardew wrote: »

They can still 'claim' 50 years later.

Hmm... if you say so. I'm not a debt "expert" but I *thought* a debt not acknowledged for 6 (or 5) years was "time-barred" for recovery action. And can no longer appear on Credit Reports.

Atidi

Cardew wrote: »

If a bill has been raised, then it remains valid forever. e.g. you couldn't get a bill, evade payment by going abroad for six years, and then expect the 'slate to be wiped clean'. They can still 'claim' 50 years later.

The 6 years(5 in Scotland) is the time period to raise a bill for services/goods. However with gas/electricity companies this is complicated by the 12 month back-billing rule.

That is not the way I understand the law.

A creditor has 6 years (5 in Scotland) to pursue recovery of a debt either from when it occurred or from the last date the debtor acknowledged the debt.

The debt is always a debt until it is repaid, but after the appropriate period has elapsed, the creditor cannot legally force a debtor to pay.

For this reason, many creditors will apply for a court order once the period is coming close to the expiry of the allowed period ... because recovery of court judgements are not restricted by the legislation.

Atidi

Frankie8 wrote: »

4 years ago I moved house and believed I had paid all relevent bills for the gas and electricity for my old property, however this morning I received a bill for gas supply at the old property. Is there any rules that say the utility company can still bill after such a long period of time? Any advice would be most welcome.

Unless you have a final bill (which was paid) or you can prove you tried to obtain a final bill to pay, then the supplier has 6 years (5 in Scotland) to bill you.

It may also be possible even if you did have a final bill that you paid, that matters come to light with the supplier that they could not have reasonably known about at the time they produced the final bill (and you did not advise them otherwise), to rebill you up to 6 years later (5 years in Scotland)

Claims under the back billing policy are looked at individually and decided on merit by the supplier. You don't really provide sufficient details to advise how a supplier would consider your case.

The back billing policy can be found here:
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

Cardew

jalexa wrote: »

Hmm... if you say so. I'm not a debt "expert" but I *thought* a debt not acknowledged for 6 (or 5) years was "time-barred" for recovery action. And can no longer appear on Credit Reports.

I think the situation is covered in The 1980 Limitation Act 1980 which states how long a creditor can chase someone for an unpaid debt. This articles explains how the limitation act applies to unsecured lending in England and Wales.

This a a relevant passage.

When a Creditor can pursue an unsecured debt.


A debtor may think (or hope) a creditor has written-off a debt if they have not heard from them for a long time. This may be because of failure to tell the creditor of address changes. The debt still exists and creditors are entitled to
chase payment indefinitely.

It is a very common scenario where a customer leaves a property without arranging for a final bill and does not leave a forwarding address. Provided the supplier has raised a bill the quote above is applicable. i.e. 'the debt still exists and the creditors are entitled to chase payment indefinitely'

The debt is always a debt until it is repaid, but after the appropriate period has elapsed, the creditor cannot legally force a debtor to pay.

For this reason, many creditors will apply for a court order once the period is coming close to the expiry of the allowed period ... because recovery of court judgements are not restricted by the legislation.

Agreed!

The point I made earlier was that evading payment for 6 years does not mean the debt is 'written off'.

Cardew

What is a 'debt in principal'(sic)

Did you bother reading posts #7 and #9 above?

So I take it that you contend if somebody 'does a runner' and is un-contactable for 6 years the debt lapses?

jalexa

Cardew wrote: »

So I take it that you contend if somebody 'does a runner' and is un-contactable for 6 years the debt lapses?

IMO the answer is "yes". To counter that the creditor needs to obtain a court judgement in advance of the debt becoming statute-barred (thanks Debtfree11 for not nit-picking my slightly incorrect term:D) in which case the limitation is void.

TBH it is unthinkable that a sensible creditor would not manage the "6 year issue".