£500 gas bill 7 months after moving out

Che75

Hi. SSE (Southern Electric) mistakenly sent me two bills around £30 each 7 months after I moved out. When I called they told me these should have been to the new tenants at my old address, but oh by the way you owe £500 on the gas bill.

I did receive a gas bill in Sept 12 but thought I'd paid up so I checked online and the balance was nil so I left it at that. I did save a copy of the webpage. They never chased the bill (they say they were sending bills to my old address although I had told them my new one). They also sent me a cheque of a couple of quid for an overpayment so naturally I assumed all accounts were closed - they have said that related to the electric only not the gas.

So my question is this: am I required to pay or do you think I can get any reduction on the bill for the fact I was told the balance was shown online as nil and I didn't get billed again?

McKneff

Che75 wrote: »

Hi. SSE (Southern Electric) mistakenly sent me two bills around £30 each 7 months after I moved out. When I called they told me these should have been to the new tenants at my old address, but oh by the way you owe £500 on the gas bill.

I did receive a gas bill in Sept 12 but thought I'd paid up so I checked online and the balance was nil so I left it at that. I did save a copy of the webpage. They never chased the bill (they say they were sending bills to my old address although I had told them my new one). They also sent me a cheque of a couple of quid for an overpayment so naturally I assumed all accounts were closed - they have said that related to the electric only not the gas.

So my question is this: am I required to pay or do you think I can get any reduction on the bill for the fact I was told the balance was shown online as nil and I didn't get billed again?

You are required to pay I'm afraid. It seems that you now agree that you do.

Your post is full of 'I though' and 'I assume'
Never assume anything when it comes to you owing money or indeed money owing to you.

Sorry.

macman

They can bill you up to a year afterwards, so yes you do have to pay if the bills are correct. Did you supply closing readings for both accounts when you moved out? If so you can verify the readings and billing.