3 year old 'final demand' for utilities bill

fortunefaded

I sold a house with an ex, settled everything and moved back in with folks temporary. My mum told me she got a final demand letter (the first of any she's seen) saying I owe 90 quid on the old propertyt. I've been moved out, registered on electarol role for 3 years...So finding this suspicious.

What is my best course of action? Do I ignore this as it came to the wrong address, is there any harm contacting the debt agency to understand out what's going on, I.e dates the debt occured?

[Deleted User]

When was the letter sent?

sourcrates

Hi,

What exactly, is the bill for ?

fortunefaded

Letter is dated third of Jan 2017. Mum sent me a photo, it was for cooperative energy and I believe I was on dual fuel. 90 quid would be 5 weeks billing.

sourcrates

fortunefaded wrote: »

Letter is dated third of Jan 2017. Mum sent me a photo, it was for cooperative energy and I believe I was on dual fuel. 90 quid would be 5 weeks billing.

Are you aware of the "back billing code" ?

If you haven’t received a gas or electricity bill for over a year, you might not have to pay for all the energy you’ve used.

Under the ‘back billing code’, your supplier can only charge you for a maximum of 12 months of energy use if they haven’t sent you a bill for over 1 year.

If you were no longer living there, then you most likely dont owe this at all.

fortunefaded

sourcrates wrote: »

Are you aware of the "back billing code"

No, I will look into this further.

With a final demand, presumably they have tried to bill me via letter, wouldn't they argue the case?

Should I contact the agency to ask for disclosure on their sources or ignore the incorrectly addressed letter?

sourcrates

fortunefaded wrote: »

No, I will look into this further.

With a final demand, presumably they have tried to bill me via letter, wouldn't they argue the case?

Should I contact the agency to ask for disclosure on their sources or ignore the incorrectly addressed letter?

Sending the provit letter to the agency would be the first course of action.

dieselv2

This happened to us but it turned out people who moved into our old house started an account in our name and didn't pay the bill.

sourcrates

fortunefaded wrote: »

Should I contact the agency to ask for disclosure on their sources or ignore the incorrectly addressed letter?

This "debt agency" will almost certainly of bought this debt.

You have to realize how these things work, they will have no idea whatsoever about any details relating to this debt, old accounts are bought up in bulk lots, hundreds, thousands, at a time.

They then chase the debts owner for the full amount, they will only usually know an account number, name, and a balance outstanding, nothing about how the debt was accrued.

For further information, you must send the "provit" letter, the DCA then pass this on to the original creditor, who will then search its records for your details, if they find you in there system, they will send back all the info they have on the debt, if they cant find you, then the debt cannot be proved, and that would be the end of the matter.