Npower broke into my home for non existent bills

Dreamxtreme

OK so. First off. I received letter from Richburns on behalf of npower, saying that they were going to court on the 19th of June to get a warrant. Shocked, I phoned the court to confirm this which they couldn't find anything.

Thinking this was bullying I phoned npower who couldn't confirm it on the phone either as I cannot speak to richburns directly apparently. Gave them my contact details and asked for a bill as I believed someone has used my name without permission to be put on the bill and npower refuse to take it off as I live at the address on file.

They sent a bill £600 which arrived on the 1st of July. Shocked i phoned them again and was put through to the warrants team who told me I was to pay it in full or risk having a prepay meter installed on the 9th.

Now it's the 8th July and at 7am I get bang at the door from 3 guys. A locksmith a gas man and a debt collector saying they have a warrant to enter the premises and install a prepay meter.

I asked to see the warrant and was refused. Suspicions I phoned the court who said no warrant was issued. I phoned the police who came and went in a flash as it looked like they took the guys word and left. Now I'm £600 in debt on a account I can do nothing about according to npower at least. With a meter on gas I wasn't aware I had to pay for.

Any advice would be welcome as I'm getting no where. I did phone the local newspaper about today's events but that's it.

Dreamxtreme

Also to add. After they wouldn't let me see the warrant I didn't let them in. They then proceeded to drill in my door lock. I also had to get a engineer round later as I could smell gas. He confirmed it was a leak in the lever bit

Gingernutty

You started this story with the debt collectors.

They don't just show up out of the blue. There must have been letters, final demands etc.....

NPower have you living at that address. You live at the address they have on file. Presumably you've been receiving bills.

Who's living with you?

How did your name get on the bill?

Why, if you're using the gas did you not think you had to pay for it?

[Deleted User]

With the words " with a meter on gas I was nt aware I had to pay for it " it sounds like you have in place already a prepay gas meter which is faulty and still allowing gas to flow ( call help sign showing ), or the meter had been previously bypassed internally by you or someone else, or a substituted credit gas meter, and you had sat back with free gas thinking how lucky you were and carried on. I had exactly the same thing last week with a new occupier of 9 months who d moved into a previously bypassed prepay gas property and loved it so much they thought it was xmas. The "call help " sign , they said that it was too expensive to phone EDF on a mobile.. ( BMW car outside )..
If this is the case in your case ,please tell me who is to blame..free lunch etc

chanz4

my guess is a section 2b warrant if he already had a pre-pay with smashed valves / drilled.

Op hate to back them up but sounds to me like you were avoiding paying for the utilitys, letters would of been left and I have dealt with richburns a lot so know that what you are saying is not quite right. p.s warrants are bulked stamped by a clerk most of the time

PasturesNew

Bit confusing.... it seems like:

You live at the address; you received a big bill, which you could have checked; you don't think you should pay for gas.

We need more details to get a full picture.

Who else lives there? Why don't you think you should pay the bill? Why did you not phone npower with the £600 bill in your hand to get answers about the bill/duration/dates/amount/liability?

If there's gas, somebody has to pay.... so who?

Andy_WSM

Dreamxtreme wrote: »

Now I'm £600 in debt on a account I can do nothing about according to npower at least. With a meter on gas I wasn't aware I had to pay for.

Why wouldn't you be paying for gas?

Dreamxtreme

I should explain now it's not the middle of the night.

I live in a shared house with 4 people. I was told gas was included in our rent. I have phoned the landlord to explain but he couldn't care less. I will be moving out at some point as I looks like this place is bad news

According to npower 3 bills were produced. One in September for £40 one in January for 200 and one in March for £350. All addressed to me however I have never received them.

Again there was no warning letters. No collection letters or anything. The 1st letter I got was the one from richburns telling me about court action. We did have a standard gas meter in place and every so often a guy would come round and take a meter reading.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Dreamxtreme wrote: »

I should explain now it's not the middle of the night.

I live in a shared house with 4 people. I was told gas was included in our rent. I have phoned the landlord to explain but he couldn't care less. I will be moving out at some point as I looks like this place is bad news

According to npower 3 bills were produced. One in September for £40 one in January for 200 and one in March for £350. All addressed to me however I have never received them.

Again there was no warning letters. No collection letters or anything. The 1st letter I got was the one from richburns telling me about court action. We did have a standard gas meter in place and every so often a guy would come round and take a meter reading.

What does it say in your tenancy agreement?

Having utilities included in the rent is unusual these days.

matelodave

How did they get your name then?

Richie-from-the-Boro

Assumptions

You have a joint tenancy agreement with your landlord, or even a tenancy [non joint] with your landlord.

Most joint tenancy landlord agreements are jointly and severally liable for the tenancy and the energy use and could take court action for any damages for any the landlord suffers against all of you.

A tenancy [non joint] agreement with your landlord could take court take court for energy or rent arrears action against you the named individual. The energy supply arrears would be jointly and severally liable against all tenants regardless of who signed for the energy supply, which means the company can ask any one of you to pay the whole lot, and you can then claim against the others.