Warrant for disconnection or prepayment meter gas

simonj12

I recently received a letter addressed to my landlord by name "or the occupier". As the occupier I signed for it and opened it. It was from BCW Group (acting on behalf of Scottish Power) announcing a date that they will be applying to the magistrates court for a warrant to enter the property and either disconnect the gas supply or fit a prepayment meter regarding an unpaid bill of around £1700. I have handed this to my landlord.

I moved into the property as a tenant over a year ago. At this stage I did not know who the current supplier was and therefore could not submit a meter reading. Anyway I found my current supplier, Green Star Energy through a switching site and an account in my name for the supply to the property was set up about 3 weeks after moving in. Unfortunately I wrongly assumed that this would trigger a process which would result in me being billed by the previous supplier, now evidently Scottish Power, for the period between moving in and the start date of my contract with Green Star Energy. I acknowledge that I'm responsible for paying for this period but I have never received any correspondence from them.

My landlord claims that the property was only vacant for 2 weeks before we moved in and was occupied by previous tenants up to that point. I have no reason to disbelieve this. He said that Scottish Power insisted to him that they are the suppliers to the property but other than that they will not deal with him because he does not live there. However I have bills which say Green Star supply the property. By the way I pay Green Star by monthly direct debit and I am not in arrears with them.

I have emailed Scottish Power stating my case and attached copies of my tenancy agreement and bills from Green Star to support my claims. So far they haven't responded. I'm wary of ringing them because of poor experiences in the past when I was (knowingly lol) a customer of theirs. Also with an imminent court date for the warrant application I want everything documented.

I'm finding it very difficult to get information from the internet as it all seems to be aimed at people who are named on the bill in arrears or landlords.

So I'd like to know if they can execute a warrant and disconnect the supply or fit a prepayment meter even though I have an account with a new supplier and can only be responsible for a small fraction of the previous debt. It seems very wrong to me but in all honesty nothing surprises me in this day and age.
Also I understand that I cannot be held liable for other people's debts but if they do go ahead and disconnect or fit a ppm then am I responsible as the tenant for paying the warrant costs and/or to have the meter changed back to a normal meter?

JJ_Egan

Did you take meter readings when moving in .

Bigphil1474

Have you tried involving Green Star - they may be able to help, as you are their customer. Have you checked that they are after the right meter - could have been a mix up and they rightly believe that there is a metered supply to Scottish power , but it isn't yours? Good luck.

CashStrapped

A JJ Eagen suggests. This looks like a mix up when moving in.

The old tenant did not give a final meter reading and left the property.

When you move in to a property, you are already in a deemed contract with an existing supplier. You need to set-up an account with them before initiating any switch. There are ways of finding out who the existing supplier is.

Unfortunately, as you did not do this, the previous supplier is chasing you for the small amount you owe them since you moved in and the bill owed form the previous tenant.

You need to ring scottish power. Ask to speak to a manager in their debt collections department and make it expressly clear to them that you are not liable for the debt and to remove the warrant.

Did you give an actual reading (a reading taken yourself) to Greenstar when you initiated an erroneous switch? If so, give that reading to Scottish Power as the opening reading when you moved into the property.

You must push the point, speak to a supervisor and ask for the resolution and confirmation the warrant was removed by email/in writing. Try putting the call on speaker-phone and recording it if you want evidence.

simonj12

Bigphil1474 wrote: »

Have you tried involving Green Star - they may be able to help, as you are their customer. Have you checked that they are after the right meter - could have been a mix up and they rightly believe that there is a metered supply to Scottish power , but it isn't yours? Good luck.

Yes Green Star verified that my meter number correlates to to my account.

simonj12

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Did you take meter readings when moving in .

Yes I've got readings from when I moved in and from when my account with Green Star began.

molerat

Good that you have readings.

Have you got a court date and location so you can turn up and dispute it as it is literally a rubber stamping exercise? SP have a track record of carrying on with action even though one department say it is on hold.

simonj12

CashStrapped wrote: »

A JJ Eagen suggests. This looks like a mix up when moving in.

The old tenant did not give a final meter reading and left the property.

When you move in to a property, you are already in a deemed contract with an existing supplier. You need to set-up an account with them before initiating any switch. There are ways of finding out who the existing supplier is.

Unfortunately, as you did not do this, the previous supplier is chasing you for the small amount you owe them since you moved in and the bill owed form the previous tenant.

You need to ring scottish power. Ask to speak to a manager in their debt collections department and make it expressly clear to them that you are not liable for the debt and to remove the warrant.

Did you give an actual reading (a reading taken yourself) to Greenstar when you initiated an erroneous switch? If so, give that reading to Scottish Power as the opening reading when you moved into the property.

You must push the point, speak to a supervisor and ask for the resolution and confirmation the warrant was removed by email/in writing. Try putting the call on speaker-phone and recording it if you want evidence.

When I moved in I didn't realise that I could find out who the initial supplier was. I thought that the switching process would notify them and alert them to the fact that I had moved in before allowing Green Star to become the supplier. I did ring UK Power earlier today but they have no record of a supplier for my address.

I've just sent another email to Scottish Power following up my initial email but if they don't respond soon then I will have to make that dreaded phone call.

weejangus

Is your property by any chance operated by an IGT (Independant Gas Transporter)? Scottish Power tried to bill me for months of energy usage despite me moving to and paying another supplier. SP have recently updated their systems and it didn't close down my old account.

If you need to know (and prove) who your supplier is / was for any date, call the Meter Number Helpline (0870 608 1524), give them your Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN) which should be on the meter. They can confirm who your supplier is and has been since you moved in. If its Scottish Power, you will be due a refund from Green Star which can be used to pay SP. If it's Green Star, you need to provide SP with the date you moved in (including the meter reading on this day) and the date your supply left SP (including the meter reading on this day). They can only bill you for the Actual energy used plus standing charge for the number of days you were with them (approx 24p per day).

Hope you get it sorted soon.

J

simonj12

molerat wrote: »

Good that you have readings.

Have you got a court date and location so you can turn up and dispute it as it is literally a rubber stamping exercise? SP have a track record of carrying on with action even though one department say it is on hold.

Yes it's 7th April. All supporting documentation prepared and ready to go if need be.
I must say catching the back end of that Panorama episode about it the other night did not inspire much confidence. Although thankfully there's no disability or vulnerability issues in my case.

weejangus

simonj12 wrote: »

When I moved in I didn't realise that I could find out who the initial supplier was. I thought that the switching process would notify them and alert them to the fact that I had moved in before allowing Green Star to become the supplier. I did ring UK Power earlier today but they have no record of a supplier for my address.

I've just sent another email to Scottish Power following up my initial email but if they don't respond soon then I will have to make that dreaded phone call.

This is also why you need to call the INDEPENDENT meter number helpline. You need to know facts. Who supplied you and when. Scottish Power should have never let the supply go to Green Star if the name of the householder did not match the name they had.