Stuck in the Middle of Three - A Game of Gas Providers

Williams661

Hello all,

So this is still being dealt with by the support people of the three(!) energy companies involved - but I needed to vent in the meantime as the longer this has dragged on the more strange and irritating it's all become.

A year ago we moved into a rental property that had been empty for the previous year. When we moved in we were told by the letting agency that our energy supplier (for both gas and electricity) was First:Utility. Letters from F:U addressed to 'The Occupier' and the previous tenant (we'll call them THE_RUNAWAY as their part in this story is important) confirmed this. Easy.

I shopped around and found that I could save some cash by switching to British Gas at the time. Again: easy. I did the usual new occupant procedure with both F:U and BritGas and after a month or so the Gas and Electricity supply was transferred successfully from F:U to BritGas. I've been paying BritGas ever since without any problem - entering my meters online, tracking my usage. All normal and above board.

There was a small amount to pay to F:U for the month between our move-in date and the transfer to BritGas which was done. According to letters from that time there was also a few hundred pounds worth of debt on the F:U account left from before we moved in which was in the THE_RUNAWAY tenant's name. But after we paid our small slice that was the last we ever heard from F:U.

Now here's where the weird stuff starts. We also started to receive letters from a third energy company addressed to THE_RUNAWAY. Enter stage left - NPower.

To begin with I just did the standard thing - 'No Longer Here. Please RTS', in the post box; done.

But they kept coming. And with them eventually came the knocks on the door from a third party collection company working for/with NPower. It became apparent that THE_RUNAWAY left a LOT of debt. Thousands of pounds worth of debt to a previous energy account at the same address.

'Odd' I thought - as how could they have moved to a different supplier if they had debt with NPower from before that... or I would have thought this but truth be told I didn't particularly care. I was just mildly irritated but still justifiably sending the letters and the collectors away.

Well, no problem, I called up NPower and explained that THE_RUNAWAY was long gone and that we were the new tenants. I explained when we moved in and the operators were fine with this. Easy.

Except, no. We then got our first NPower engineer calling round to take the gas meter reading. Which was when I began to notice it was odd because even if there was prior debt there wouldn't be any new information to be gained by taking a reading now - because the supply was being handled by BritGas.

After that the letters to THE_RUNAWAY from NPower continued. Occasionally one would come through from a Debt Collector, or a solicitor (which I found out checking the return addresses). Always these went straight back into the post with an RTS.

Then, recently, I broke. It had been over a year. We'd explain the situation in email, on the phone, the letters were being constantly returned. Even the guys that showed up at the door acknowledged that we were not, in fact, THE_RUNAWAY.

Fast forward to today, another gas engineer came to read the meter. An NPower gas man. He was a nice bloke so I asked him: why they would still be getting sent here when our provider is BritGas?

"We are your supplier mate".

So I called NPower up again. I explained the situation with the letters and the continuing house calls by their gas engineers doing their job. And that's when I found out that - according to their system - they still ARE my supplier of gas (not electricity though). There was a mention of a note saying that it should be transferred soon acknowledging the error but not much more than that.

So the reasons the letters hadn't stopped was because as far as NPower were concerned they still have an active account at the property. Therefore the debt was still growing and, in their eyes, regardless of whether it was THE_RUNAWAY living here or not - it was an active supply.

So then it clicked properly for the first time when I looked through old letters. I'd in good faith set up the whole transfer from First:Utility across to BritGas. And that had, in both companies eyes, been completelysuccessful. Which means F:U must have also correctly(?) believed that they controlled the gas account to the house at the same time as NPower. This would have been the case for a number of months or even a year.

Both F:U and NPower were in THE_RUNAWAY's name and at the same address. Meaning somehow, at some point, THE_RUNAWAY had transferred from one to the other (NPower to F:U I believe) without the massive existing debt with NPower stopping it from happening.

Meanwhile BritGas have had no trigger to say that 'Hang on! NPower are the actual guys holding this account! We cant supply you" since I've been happily paying for a year remember?

So, I'm officially stumped. How on earth does this happen? Has it happened to anyone else? Is there anything I can do to make sure this doesn't somehow come back on me? And just how much trouble is THE_RUNAWAY in? (Actually, that last one I'm not too fussed about..).

antrobus

Williams661 wrote: »

....
So, I'm officially stumped. How on earth does this happen? Has it happened to anyone else? Is there anything I can do to make sure this doesn't somehow come back on me? And just how much trouble is THE_RUNAWAY in? (Actually, that last one I'm not too fussed about..).

Contact Meter Point Administration Service

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/moving-home-your-energy-supply/find-out-who-your-gas-or-electricity-supplier-is/

Autumnella

It's possible British gas have taken over the wrong supply. In which case they need to refund you and send the supply back as an erroneous transfer. Check the meter serial number on the bills both companies are sending compared to the actual serial number on your meter. If they're the same it might be that there are 2 meter point reference numbers for your property, in which case one supplier would have to voluntary withdraw theirs.