Is this a massive service error on behalf of an estate agent?

Lich123run

Hi, hoping you can help. Me and my wife are currently letting the above property through an Estate Agent. We feel we've been led completely astray with regards to the misinformation we've been provided regarding our electricity supplier. The paperwork we recd from the agency when we signed the lettings contract stated the property electricity was managed through Scottish Power. However, we have recently found out ( after 4 months of living in this property) that this property is live under Npower and that too under Economy 7. Now, we've been living here since 9/11/13 and we've had no communication from Scottish Power which we were misled to believe was the company that fed our electric supply. We tried contacting Scottish Power after 12 weeks had lapsed but it was to no avail. We then recd a letter from Npower last week which was under the previous tenants name but under our address. Clearly, we opened it to realise that it was the electric bill. I rang Npower couple of days back and explained the situation who have in turn amended their details and transferred ownership of electric to us from 09/11/13. I am now disputing weather we should legally be owing Npower anything at all until now as we were misinformed that our electric was supplied through Scottish Power and we had no clue that we were on Economy 7. We've been using all electrics in the day and will be at a huge financial loss. Economy7 would've never been our first choice. My wife is 8 months pregnant and we both are now under huge stress for no fault of ours as far as we can see.
Do you feel what's happened is justified? We clearly feel this is a massive service error on behalf of the agent and not sure where we should go from here.
Any help will be appreciated .
Thanks,
Taz.

Wyndham

"huge stress"? Gosh your life must be so much easier than mine if this is where you get your huge stress from.

What exactly do you feel you have missed out on? I really don't see that you have a case at all. Why didn't you contact the power company to tell them you had moved in anyway? If you had, this would have been resolved some time ago.

Lich123run

The Agency did the paperwork and gave us a copy of the letter they sent to the wrong electric firm. We were told they will contact the firm?

tberry6686

How would the agent know who the supplier is or what tarriff you are on. The previous tenant could have switched to any supplier they liked and any tarriff they wanted. Did you try and supply Scottish Power with a move in reading, this should have shown that the account was not with scottish power.

What heating system do you have, if it's electric storage heaters then economy 7 is likely to be the best option.

Lich123run

Thanks tberry. We don't have storage heaters. Just electric heaters.

Wyndham

Who passed on the meter reading?

Lich123run

The estate agent did when we moved in.

ConfusedofYorkshire

When you move into a rental it's generally your responsibility to contact the supplier with your reading. By doing this you find out who your supplier is. I am sure the agent said what they believed to be true but the old tenant probably changed it.

I always change the supplier to the cheapest one possible based on my circumstances.

anselld

Your responsibility.
You will find the difference between E7 day and standard tarrif isn't that big. There are bigger savings by getting the best tarrif for your needs and paying by direct debit but only you can arrange that by contacting your supplier of choice and arranging an account.

Doozergirl

You owe someone - what does it matter which provider it is?

If you had contacted Scottish Power, they would have told you that they don't supply you and either told you who does or gven you another telephone number of someone who could. It's something they are always used to.

Hopefully, if you don't have your meter reading, the estate agent wrote it down as part of the inventory, perhaps.

I can't see a world where you don't legally owe for electricity used because you didn't know who supplied it.

princeofpounds

http://www.ukpower.co.uk/who-supplies-my-gas-and-electricity

This is your responsibility - it always is to contact utility suppliers on moving in.

The link above explains there is a service to find out who is supplying you with one phone call.

Best to change it now and move on.

PS the LA always works for the LL. They have no particular service obligations to tenants in general. Don't ever think you are their customer, you'll get your expectations up.