NPower occupier letter - just moved in to rental

Scoobing

Hi

Bit of a noodle-scratcher this one.

I moved into this flat as a private tenant on the 27th March 2017. The property manager took an initial meter read for electricity and gas as part of the inventory and check in process.

I currently do not have an active account with any supplier. I was with British Gas from January 2016 to Feb 2017 and then closed my account as I was going overseas and then staying with family. I didn't know when I would be moving into my own place again.

I have tried to create an account with NPower (the flat's current supplier) but they have a different meter serial number registered to this address. I've run a high-load test and am pretty confident my meter is my meter. The meter serial they have is nowhere to be found in the building. There are 7 flats within the one building with all meters in a cupboard by the building front door.

Secondly, today I have received an 'occupier letter' from NPower about their right to enter the property due to outstanding debt. I have contacted them to let them know I took over the tenancy only a few days ago and they have made a note of this.

Still, the letter has me pretty worried. I want to get my own NPower account setup soon and ask NPower to use my meter to record usage. I am the occupier at the moment, but I hope I'm not in any way liable for previous debts to NPower if A) I have never been an NPower customer previously, and I can prove by way of tenancy agreement and other documents that I only moved into the property 2 days after the occupier letter was generated.

Any advice on what I should do? From reading previous posts I think I'm fine but these letters do make you worry...I guess they are designed that way...

Cheers

Scoobing

Scoobing

Also just to add some more complication into the mix, NPower has this address as Flat 3, 42 Apple Road (not real address). XX XXA postcode.

Years ago the building was reconfigured - my current postal address for royal mail, council tax etc. is Flat 3, 4 Banana Road XX XXN postcode. It is on the corner of Apple and Banana road so post for either reaches just fine it seems.

However my flat has a specific Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN). There is no UPRN for Flat 3, 42 Apple Road, just a UPRN for 42 Apple Road. Is UPRN a field in the ECOES database I can use to help sort this?

nPower

Scoobing wrote: »

Hi

Bit of a noodle-scratcher this one.

I moved into this flat as a private tenant on the 27th March 2017. The property manager took an initial meter read for electricity and gas as part of the inventory and check in process.

I currently do not have an active account with any supplier. I was with British Gas from January 2016 to Feb 2017 and then closed my account as I was going overseas and then staying with family. I didn't know when I would be moving into my own place again.

I have tried to create an account with NPower (the flat's current supplier) but they have a different meter serial number registered to this address. I've run a high-load test and am pretty confident my meter is my meter. The meter serial they have is nowhere to be found in the building. There are 7 flats within the one building with all meters in a cupboard by the building front door.

Secondly, today I have received an 'occupier letter' from NPower about their right to enter the property due to outstanding debt. I have contacted them to let them know I took over the tenancy only a few days ago and they have made a note of this.

Still, the letter has me pretty worried. I want to get my own NPower account setup soon and ask NPower to use my meter to record usage. I am the occupier at the moment, but I hope I'm not in any way liable for previous debts to NPower if A) I have never been an NPower customer previously, and I can prove by way of tenancy agreement and other documents that I only moved into the property 2 days after the occupier letter was generated.

Any advice on what I should do? From reading previous posts I think I'm fine but these letters do make you worry...I guess they are designed that way...

Cheers

Scoobing

Hi Scoobing

Thanks for your post.

Hopefully, we can help get this sorted for you.

If you only moved in 27.3.17 then you're certainly not liable for the bills/debt prior to this date. If you've not already done so, get in touch (either on the phone or using the details on our profile page, putting MSE in the subject header) with your details, correct address, serial number and meter readings and we'll set this up for you. We can then track down the previous occupier for the bills they owe (if you can provide the property manager's details then this will certainly help!).

If we have a different serial number, we'll need to work out if it belongs to a different flat (which you've confirmed it doesn't), or if there's been a meter exchange in the past which hasn't been updated. If you can check on or around the meter there's normally a sticker or card with the old meter details on, confirming the serial number, readings and date it was exchanged. I appreciate it's a shared meter area and rented property so this may be missing, so we can try and locate the missing information from the meter operator, who should have the details on file. You've done the right thing doing a load test so I'm confident that you're looking at the right meter too.

I hope this helps and we can get this sorted for you.

Kind regards

Jess

Scoobing

Thanks for the quick response Jess, I will do as you suggest first thing in the morning.

I added a second quick reply about the address issue, perhaps it's not major but has this kind of thing happened before? I believe it is because the main entrance to the building moved from Apple St to Banana Street. I read that UPRN was part of ECOES but then it was removed.

Will it be possible to convert the old address nPower hold into the new, correct address as per Royal Mail etc. Even though its for the same physical property?