Help! SSE chasing for payment for an account I never had!

scouser_down_under

Hi, i'm hoping somebody can advise me as I think I'm in a bit of a tricky situation....

Almost 2 years ago I moved into a shared new build apartment with 2 other people. I drew the short straw for putting the electricity bills under my name, so duly tried to set it up. The letting agent had already put my name down on an account with SSE, so after a month or so I phoned up to give them a meter reading and pay the first bill. To my surprise they said I was not a customer of theirs (despite having a joining pack from them) and gave me an advice number to phone to see who the property was supplied by. They agreed that I was with SSE. I duly phoned SSE and again they advised I was not a customer. Not much you can do if people won't take your money!

I moved out of the apartment in July 2012 having never had to pay an electricity bill. However, for the 2 months or so SSE have been leaving voicemails asking me to contact them, saying it is very urgent and stating a case reference number. I'm worried that they have now realised the error of their ways and are now after 9 months of electricity bills.


Can anybody advise what my best course of action is? I feel a bit hard done by if I have to pay 9 months all at once and then try to reclaim the money back off my old housemates, which could take some time. A friend did tell me that they can only backdate bills by 12 months, does anybody know if this is true?

Any help is much appreciated.

Nada666

No it is not true - they have up to six years to chase the debt you owe. The twelve-months rule is only where, say , they are chasing you eventually for 19 months instead of 9 months - then the bill can be capped to 12 months. But in your case you owe all the money and will have to chase down the other absconders yourself.

dogshome

It seems that there was a c*ck-up with the original registration of your meter and the Central Register for you area didn't have the meter listed.

You have actually been lucky - When these cases are resolved, the supplier who eventually does take over isn't allowed to bill for power supplied prior to the date they took on the account, which is why SSE are issueing a bill for only 9 months.

Your post indicates that you were in occupation for just under 2 years, so if the 12 month back-billing rule were applied you would have had a bill 25% HIGHER than the one you have now

brewerdave

dogshome wrote: »

It seems that there was a c*ck-up with the original registration of your meter and the Central Register for you area didn't have the meter listed.

You have actually been lucky - When these cases are resolved, the supplier who eventually does take over isn't allowed to bill for power supplied prior to the date they took on the account, which is why SSE are issueing a bill for only 9 months.

Your post indicates that you were in occupation for just under 2 years, so if the 12 month back-billing rule were applied you would have had a bill 25% HIGHER than the one you have now

...nope, if you re-read the original post, he moved in just under 2 years ago (say Oct. 2011 ish) and moved out July 2012 -so thats where he gets 9 months bills from. What I would be more worried about if I was him, is that his name was left on the account AFTER he moved out!:(

scouser_down_under

brewerdave wrote: »

...nope, if you re-read the original post, he moved in just under 2 years ago (say Oct. 2011 ish) and moved out July 2012 -so thats where he gets 9 months bills from. What I would be more worried about if I was him, is that his name was left on the account AFTER he moved out!:(

Thanks for the comments - I haven't yet contacted them. I moved out about 14 months ago, and they have been chasing me for 2 months, my thoughts are that I shouldn't have to pay. I am thinking of speaking to SSE and stating the date I moved out and directing them towards the letting agent - do you think this is reasonable?

macman

Why do you think that you shouldn't have to pay anyone for 9 months of usage? Do you dispute the actual usage and amount billed?

Nada666

Why do you think you shouldn't pay? You and your flatmates knew you had not been billed, knew you had used power, but decided to do a runner because the registration had been messed up.

Provided the bill is for the time you were resident you are liable to SSE. I assume the bill or demand, rather, does not include dates and reads. You can insisit on a detailed account to make sure the bill is for the correct period and usage but other than that 100% of the bill is yours to pay.