advice needed "extra energy" are taking the p

shadyadie

I will try and make this as simple as possible.
We had tenants in our house (that basically left it in a right state when they left). They left in July and it has taken us until december to get someone else in.
The agents didn't seem to know who the bills were with, but made a huge mistake reading the meter when the tenants left.
We have since found out the account is with extra energy.
On the 3rd December I spoke to someone there who took the actual readings off me (luckily we have photos) and said it was no problem and they would revise the bill. They keep sending us emails telling us to go and look at the bill.
BUT.
WE can't sign in to look, as the account isn't active, or so I've been told tonight. They want £100 for using no gas. and the electric still hasn't been sorted.
If I have never signed up with extra energy do I need to use them as there standing charge seems outrageous to me and no one there seems capable of sorting out the electric readings.

What are my options, can i go elsewhere, ( I never signed up with them) or am I stuck?
I don't want to get a debt against my name, but I don't want to be ripped off either.
I've never had these sort of problems before

D_M_E

When the tenants left the supplies were on a deemed contract with whoever supplied the property when they left.

As you have found, this was EE and, from that day, the supply would be on their very expensive standard tariff.

A gas bill of £100 for 5 months on standard tariff with no gas used could easily be correct as the £100 could be for the daily standing charge on the standard tariff.

If the electricity has been sorted and all that is outstanding is the gas at £100 then my advice would be to pay this and switch to get away from the standard tariff and make substantial savings going forward.

EDIT - I see the electric has not been sorted so I think you are stuck until it is.

As you cannot get access to the account you should WRITE a letter and send it by recorded delivery and head it COMPLAINT in big bold letters and outline your problems and ask for resolution.

If, after 56 days nothing has been done, go straight to the Ombudsman and get them involved. You have to wait for 56 days from the date you sent the letter - I personally would add another 3 days to allow for holidays at this time of year.

Until it's all resolved you will be on their most expensive tariff so you should put aside £5 a day to cover any eventual bill and you should get change out of that.

Yes, I know, £5 a day is high but you have to allow it's the most expensive tariff you are on.

MalMonroe

Hi, just butting in here to say, is it your name on the bills? And if not, can't the previous tenants be chased? If your name IS on the bills then they definitely do need to be contested. Surely you cannot be made to pay if you have never even signed any agreement with EE? When you do get all things sorted, I would certainly look into changing my agents, tout suite. They have obviously neglected checking on the property as well as reading the meters correctly. I hope you aren't paying them!

System

As a meter reader for many years I advise you to look more closely at the meters. Bad tenants will routinely fiddle the meter., Many switch to little known suppliers knowing that they will not come out to read the meters.There is no point in switching to a very cheap supplier such as EE and remaining on their very expensive standard tariffs. If you have prepayment meters posssibly the gas meter will display "call help " and have a build up of standing charges because they have not been crediting the meter because its fiddled.No gas used is suspect . Electric prepay will also build up standing charges if its been bypassed under the lower cover. The red light on the meter will remain on all the time ( and not pulse ) even when electricity is used.Meter bypassing is endemic in the UK because all suppliers ( except BG ) will not lift a finger to deter it. Letting agents are hopeless, I ve never met one yet who has the slightest idea about meter fiddling so I would nt trust anything they say.Most fiddling and bypass theft is done on prepayment meters but credit meters are also used to steal energy.
If your name is on the bill YOU are liable and there is no point in contesting anything because you will not win. If not any debts are not your responsibility but whilst it is vacant you are now responsible for ALL standing charges, do not attempt to pass this on to the next tenant.

shadyadie

@ House Martin nothing has been or is being fiddled, to the best of my knowledge.

Update

Still haven't received a bill, even after numerous phone calls and emails including sending photo's of the meters taken at the time, yet the readings we have been told over the phone are still incorrect.

Today I have received an outstanding payment demand " or else it will go on your credit rating threat" BUT I still haven't had a bill and I refuse to just pay out without knowing what for. ( I haven't even had an incorrect bill)

I don't know what else I can do, the call center staff can't change anything and they can't get into our account either, so calling them is a waste of time, and they never address the emails that we send.

Cardew

File a complaint with the Energy Ombudsman - copy to Extra Energy.

shadyadie

Replied to there last email, stating that we still hadn't received a bill. But no reply back.

shadyadie

Just had a reply, still no bill, just a total of what I owe them, but I know this is incorrect as I was given the totals over the phone weeks ago, when they still had the incorrect meter readings and despite being assured that these would be corrected they obviously haven't.

How many times do you have to give them the correct readings before they will change it I have also sent them photo's that were taken at the time of the readings.

Anyway my last email I have told them I will not pay or enter into any more correspondence until it is sorted and correct.

What worries me is if they put this on my credit rating as non payment. But I refuse too pay a bill that I know is incorrect ( Not that they have actually sent me a bill yet)

Told them if the next correspondence isn't correct I will be writing to the the energy ombudsman.

shadyadie

Still haven't sent me a bill and the amount they are asking for is ridiculous, as well as the meter readings still be made up by them, they now want to charge 68.5p standing charge on the elec and gas a total of £1.37 a day. Why would anyone use them.

System

MalMonroe wrote: »

Hi, just butting in here to say, is it your name on the bills? And if not, can't the previous tenants be chased? If your name IS on the bills then they definitely do need to be contested. Surely you cannot be made to pay if you have never even signed any agreement with EE? When you do get all things sorted, I would certainly look into changing my agents, tout suite. They have obviously neglected checking on the property as well as reading the meters correctly. I hope you aren't paying them!

Oh yes you can be made to pay. A Deemed Contract exists to ensure that there is no interruption of supply on a change of an owner/tenant. By turning on a light, an enforceable contract has been established and the supplier has the right to claim payment for energy received. Given that Ofgem insists that a fixed contract cannot be entered into without the consumer's agreement, a Deemed Contract defaults to the supplier's standard variable rate.

If neither the outgoing/incoming tenant has contacted the supplier, it will attempt to get money as best it can. An incoming tenant can limit liability by immediately contacting the supplier with a meter reading/s and then initiating a switch. There will be a charge until the switch goes through.

I am not defending EE. All I am saying is that anyone taking over a property should contact the existing supplier and either agree a fixed term contract with them or switch away.

shadyadie

Extra Energy are the pits. :mad:
Even though they haven't corrected our bill and despite there assurance that it wouldn't be passed on to a debt collection agency.

We got a call from a debt collection agency yesterday :mad:, So I explained to the guy that we hadn't had a bill and that when talking and corresponding with Cra*py extra energy the meter readings were still incorrect even though we had told them 14 times and sent photo's.

I told him that I was willing to pay as soon as the bill is corrected. He also agreed that the standing charge was extortionate, but that he couldn't do anything about that.

The debt collection agency has been on to Extra Energy and told them that we will pay once the bill has been corrected. AND as if by magic, the bill has now finally been corrected. Goes to show that their customer call center and customer care email are a waste of time and you need to be able to speak direct to accounts. ( they won't put customers through).

This has been the worst experience I have ever had with a utility company and I would advise anybody not to touch Extra Energy with a 12 ft barge pole, as they are totally incapable of sorting out any issues :mad::mad::mad: