EDF Energy - overdue account

jimpix12

Hi all, Very briefly I vacated a rented property in March last year and EDF were the provider for electric. Today they ring me telling me I owe them £750 in unpaid bills .... I told them that they have their records wrong and I moved out over a year ago and I told them at the time (as the landlord required proof I settled their account before releasing my deposit). I don't have contact details for the landlord but they want me to dig out information to 'prove' I moved out when I did. Which is fair I suppose.. However...

They don't have my current address as I refused to give it to them, and I never signed any agreements, I always paid the bills when they arrived and didn't go into any sort of special tariff etc. Is it safe to just ignore them? I was under the impression that they couldn't enter a default without signing a credit agreement etc.

harrys_dad

Why not just send them a copy of the proof you gave your landlord? No need to put your address on the letter.

antonic

It wouldnt be a good idea to ignore them because they believe there is a debt and they want it paid.

If you ignore them, and you have decided not to provide them with your new address, then you may find that they start proceedings against you in the County Court to get a County Court Judgment - this is detrimental to your credit rating.

And to get a CCJ, as you wont give them your new address, they can issue an N1 Claim Form to your last know address (the rented property) and if you fail to reply to the form in time, they can ask for Judgment in Default and payment forthwith (immediately).

See here for details : http://www.trustonline.org.uk/

spunko2010 wrote: »

Hi all, Very briefly I vacated a rented property in March last year and EDF were the provider for electric. Today they ring me telling me I owe them £750 in unpaid bills .... I told them that they have their records wrong and I moved out over a year ago and I told them at the time (as the landlord required proof I settled their account before releasing my deposit). I don't have contact details for the landlord but they want me to dig out information to 'prove' I moved out when I did. Which is fair I suppose.. However...

They don't have my current address as I refused to give it to them, and I never signed any agreements, I always paid the bills when they arrived and didn't go into any sort of special tariff etc. Is it safe to just ignore them? I was under the impression that they couldn't enter a default without signing a credit agreement etc.

jimpix12

harrys_dad wrote: »

Why not just send them a copy of the proof you gave your landlord? No need to put your address on the letter.

I don't have much proof now it was 18 months ago. I've got the landlord's email I offered to provide that but they said they don't 'do' emails.

Just wasn't sure if it was worth going to all this bother if all they can do is sell my (old address) details to a debt collection agency.

They are giving me 2 weeks before they sell the debt to a DBA, according to their clerk. Which would imply they don't intend to start any sort of court action, I assume. Will see what I can sniff out tomorrow in my files.

chanz4

You credit file will tell them your new address anyway, so not hard

Jonesy88

spunko2010 wrote: »

I was under the impression that they couldn't enter a default without signing a credit agreement etc.

Gas and electricity work slightly differrently - they can operate on deemed contracts as the supply is constant to the property. Why are you against giving them your new address? They aren't going to do anything to the supply there.

Do you have a council tax bill showing when you moved into your new property? When i used to work for a utility company that was acceptable to confirm the change of tennacy date.

Also, just to clarify, does the debt come from the account continuing to operate after you left or because the final read at the move out date created a debt? Did you take final reads?

You might also get more detailed help on the utilities board.

jimpix12

Jonesy88 wrote: »

Gas and electricity work slightly differrently - they can operate on deemed contracts as the supply is constant to the property. Why are you against giving them your new address? They aren't going to do anything to the supply there.

Do you have a council tax bill showing when you moved into your new property? When i used to work for a utility company that was acceptable to confirm the change of tennacy date.

Also, just to clarify, does the debt come from the account continuing to operate after you left or because the final read at the move out date created a debt? Did you take final reads?

You might also get more detailed help on the utilities board.

The debt is from the period after I left, to the date someone else moved in, I suspect. It was a long time between the two as the landlord was greedy.

I'm against giving them my new address since they will then just harass me there with letters.

Anyway I have emailed them a tenenacy agreement with the end date hopefully this will do.