Outstanding Balance

Ariakira113

So myself and my partner arrive home tonight to find an energy bill addressed to my mother in law (which we opened as at one stage all 3 of us lived together and the bills were in her name)

Upon opening the letter (dated 12th May) we are a little shocked to see a bill for an outstanding balance of over £1000 from Scottish Power

We therefore phoned my mother in law to let her know and because the contract had been cancelled (which we knew about as we paid the amount for the month) she wouldn't take responsibility and that we had to sort it as it couldn't have got that high when she was living with us.

At present we are with EON, have been for about a month now, we always paid the power bill when she received it, she told us the amount and we gave her the money.

So I am a little shocked and confused as to how we have an outstanding balance with them. I must admit its the first time myself or my partner have had to deal with energy bills so we're both a little blind at this stage

Plus due to my mother in law not wishing to deal with it Scottish Power will not tell us the details of how it got so high.

My partner and I feel like we should pay it just to avoid any family hassle or debt collectors, but is it the right thing to do? And how have they worked out we owe them over £1000?

footyguy

Ariakira113 wrote: »

So myself and my partner arrive home tonight to find an energy bill addressed to my mother in law (which we opened as at one stage all 3 of us lived together and the bills were in her name)

Upon opening the letter (dated 12th May) we are a little shocked to see a bill for an outstanding balance of over £1000 from Scottish Power

We therefore phoned my mother in law to let her know and because the contract had been cancelled (which we knew about as we paid the amount for the month) she wouldn't take responsibility and that we had to sort it as it couldn't have got that high when she was living with us.

At present we are with EON, have been for about a month now, we always paid the power bill when she received it, she told us the amount and we gave her the money.

So I am a little shocked and confused as to how we have an outstanding balance with them. I must admit its the first time myself or my partner have had to deal with energy bills so we're both a little blind at this stage

Plus due to my mother in law not wishing to deal with it Scottish Power will not tell us the details of how it got so high.

My partner and I feel like we should pay it just to avoid any family hassle or debt collectors, but is it the right thing to do? And how have they worked out we owe them over £1000?

Yes it's the right thing that you or your MIL pay it. (assuming there is no dispute on the amount owed)

If you don't, then it means others unrelated have to pay your familiy's debts.

It's good to talk

Good luck!

macman

If this is a final bill, then what has probably happened is that you have failed to supply meter readings over a long period, maybe two years. Then you would have eventually supplied them when you switched. All your previous bills have therefore been estimated, and the bills would clearly show them as estimated.
You have been using more electricity than your DD was set up to pay for, and so the debt has gradually built up. If the final reading is correct, then the bill is valid and has to be paid.
In future read your meters at least quarterly to avoid these big catch up bills.
And obviously you need to see the old bills. From what you say, you just paid what she asked you to, so is it possible that she took your money but did not settle the bills?

Ariakira113

In response to my MIL paying it, that is very unlikely as she wants nothing to do with it and claims that it is not her responsibility despite having lived with us for 2 years

In regards to energy readings, we did supply them with the readings when they had asked for them, probably haven't been asked to supply one in the last 6 months though. My fear is that she may have done just that, asked us for the money and then not paid it but supposedly she had always had the bill through when we were asked for the money

My partner does want any fights, so he's prepared to pay it just to have it over and done with.

But surely when you call up to pay the months bills and then cancel in the same call they should tell you if you have outstanding balance?

Thanks for the advice though

macman

Until you take ownership of the account you are not going to sort this out. Check the bill and see if the final readings match those that you took when you switched.
I don't understand what you mean by 'cancelling'? When you switch, the new supplier arranges that, and you give them the final readings-not the outgoing supplier.
They cannot tell you the final balance until you switch and supply readings, which typically would be 3 to 4 weeks on from your application to switch. You can't just ring up and 'cancel'.
Are you not on a monthly DD?

Ariakira113

So last night my partner made the decision to just pay it. Unfortuntly they wouldnt allow us to make direct debt payments as it was not our account so we had to pay the balance off in one go. There goes most of our savings now.

Thankfully we are the account holders for the new energy company we are with so hopefully so more issues like this in future

In regards to the bills my MIL recieved everything as it was in her name and she would just text us for the money due. Last payment before we switched was roughly £200 which we paid and then switched company. As I said, I dont think we had provided meter readings for them in roughly 6 months. We have provided the new energy company with one as they asked as we were switching

Back to the monthly direct debit, my MIL was with scottish power but when the bill came through for the month before we swapped she cancelled the durect debit and said she wasnt paying the £200 which left us trying to convincr scottish power to pay it instead which they did. That was the last payment to them before we switched