I've not received an electric bill for a year!

cobham78

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can give me some advice.

I've been living in a rented property for a year and a half with my fiance, and have just moved out due to the landlady returning to live in the house herself.

After a year of living there, I suddenly realised we hadn't received an electric bill, even though the electric has not been cut off! We decided to keep quiet (I'm an honest person who has paid all my other bills) and see what happened - still on the day of moving out, no bill has arrived.

Obviously the problem now is we have to give final meter readings, which is going to flag up the problem with the electric company (I have since found out this is supplied by Powergen).

The question I need answering, is when the bill arrives, will we have to pay all of it? I know we've used the electricity but is the company not at fault for not billing us or not cutting us off??

Please help!!

Thanks:j

espresso

Did you take a reading when you first moved in? Was it transferred into your name? What type of payment plan are you on? You will obviously have to pay for the energy that you have used, assuming that your name is on the account.

cobham78

espresso wrote: »

Did you take a reading when you first moved in? Was it transferred into your name? What type of payment plan are you on? You will obviously have to pay for the energy that you have used, assuming that your name is on the account.

Yes, we took a reading on moving in, which the landlady would have rung through to the company, along with our name (she's very efficient!). As we never received a bill, no direct debit or anything was set up, so would have been billed every quarter I assume.

I still don't understand why nobody noticed a house using electricity for so long without paying - surely you'd be cut off!!

espresso

You need to ring them, get a bill sent out to you and take it from there.

cobham78

Thanks expresso - I was just trying to be prepared before I talk to them, in case there was any come back.

cobham78

If anyone else has any other knowledge/ideas on how I stand, I'd appreciate it!

SwanJon

If they have not billed you for over a year, they can only charge you for the last 12 months - if they do this, make sure you agree with the estimated read they use for a year ago.

It is possible something else has happened - if you carry on doing the right thing - call and say you are moving out, and if they mention it, say you are aware of the 12 month rule. They'll be able to give you a better idea of what actually happened.

Good luck

cobham78

Thanks SwanJon.

Thats the type of rule I was hoping existed, but wasnt sure how to find out!

Just to let you know I've contacted the electric company today, but they say they don't supply the house - there's some kind of admin issue between the electric networks that cover the whole of the uk and the electric company.

I should know more, so I'll keep you updated!:T

espresso

So who did your landlady supply details to then?

cobham78 wrote:

Yes, we took a reading on moving in, which the landlady would have rung through to the company, along with our name (she's very efficient!).

cobham78

espresso wrote: »

So who did your landlady supply details to then?

It must have been Powergen, but she can't remember (she's just broken up with her boyf, which is why she's moved back in, so her head's a bit messy!:huh: ).

espresso

Good luck sorting it out and keep us informed.