E.ON sent me a debt letter for electricity/gas I didn't use

streetlovin

footyguy wrote: »

Was the letter addressed to you i.e have your name on it?

Something doesn't make sense here (and we all know what Judge Judy says about that :cool:)

If it did have your name on, where did they get your name from, do you think??? :huh:
If not, why are you opening mail addressed to others? (presumably the former tenant)
(A debt simply addressed to 'The Occupier' is unenforcible)

As I understand it, you bought a property on 05-May-2017

Despite what you then claim you did or didn't do, it really would be most unusual for any energy supplier, let alone E.On to have sent you a bill, then a reminder and then made a personal visit incurring fees within just 21 days.

It just doesn't make sense.

I suggest you call E.On and sort this out.

Good luck!

It was not a letter in sealed envelope. The debt and visit was a A4 note popped through the lettrr box addressed to Occupier. Not to me. The letter to say "I am sorry you are leaving" was addressed to me because Greenstar Energy contacted them..I think they picked the supplier in the area and obviously it was E.on.

I had no letter warning that there would be a visit. When I moved in all letters were binned. So I am not responsible for any letter dated before 5th May and not this debt one either. My completion date was 5th and I moved in and took meter reading on this date.

All I am going to do is to let E.on know the meter reading for 5th and greenstar will be informed of the meter reading for 25th. Will get it sorted out today

Thank you everyone. It is a learning curve

streetlovin

matelodave wrote: »

Not strictly true - you became liable for the bill from the date you became the legal owner, not necessarily the day you moved in if that was several days or even weeks later. That's why the meter should be read on the day of completion, not the day of moving in.

I moved in on 5th May and it was my completion date. So this shouldne be an issue. Thank you very much four advice. It does not seem as bad now that I know what to do

streetlovin

Hengus wrote: »

Just to add to the excellent advice above. As the property owner, you are responsible for energy costs (usage AND standing charges) from the date of legal completion on the property) - not from when you moved in. E.oN may reasonably ask you for a copy of the Completion of Sale document so that they can re-calculate your liability. You might also wish to provide E.oN with the seller's contact details. Was the property empty for some weeks prior to the sale: if so, the Housing Assn is next in line for a bill.

Yes, the property was empty for months. So it will be housing association. i will ring E.on today to get this sorted!

Thank you so much

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

streetlovin wrote: »

Hi all,

I just bought a property and moved in on 5th May. We took gas and electricity meter readings so from that point onwards I would be responsible for the bill.

I switched to Greenstar Energy who will switched on 25th May, I submitted meter reading that I took from 5th May so they could backdate to when I moved in.

E.on sent me a letter saying they visited me today and I owe them £448.80 + £55 fee for the unsuccesful visit. And another letter to say they are sorry I am leaving and I don't need to submit a final reading to them because the new supplier will let them know and they will send me final bill.

The problem is...I was not ever with E.on, it was the previous tenant (the house was rented before I bought) or the housing association I bought it from. So they shouldn't be sending me any final bill because I was not using the electriciy/gas before 5th May.

What do I need to do? Can they keep chasing me for the money that I don't owe to them?

Thank you

streetlovin wrote: »

But I already submitted the meter reading for 5th May to Greenstar Energy.

At the time that I did it, I didn't even know who the suppliers were. The housing association literally just told me to go and speak to the new supplier I wanted to use and give them the meter reading. I rang the number that allowed me to find out who my current supplier is and they said at the time it didn't belong to anyone and it was 'independent'. That's why I didn't ring anyeon...because I couldn't.

I received E.ON letter today and that's when I found out it is E.ON. The meter reading I gave to greenstar energy is from the date that I moved in...So I am guessing I gave them the wrong number.

Will go take new meter reading now and give to Greenstar energy.

streetlovin wrote: »

Thank you so much. I can't find the electricity keys so I orderred a new one which will be delivered tomorrow. Will ring Greenstar Energy and give them meter reading as of 25th May and will ring E.on to let them know of the meter readin gthat I took on 5th May so they can calculate.

Not sure what they will do with the bill before that, though and the visit fee.... ugh. The more you learn!

Hello streetlovin and hope you've settled in to your new home. Already lots of excellent advice on here. Thanks all.

Don't worry, although this seems a bit of a mess at the moment, it can be sorted. From what you've said, it appears you took over responsibility but didn't let us know and then started a switch to another supplier. If this is the case, we'll have continued to charge the previous account holder for energy used as there wouldn't be an account for you.

The £55 is the fee we charge for a Debt Resolution Visit. These fees are applied when we need to visit a property to talk to a customer about a debt on their account. It takes a fairly long time to reach this point and comes after a series of attempts to contact the account holder by phone, letter or email. As footyguy says, this is much longer than 21 days. I suspect this fee, along with the bulk of the outstanding balance, is the responsibility of previous account holders. Your responsibility will be between the day you took over responsibility to the change of supply date on 25 May 17.

We need to set up an account to cover this period. As Hengus mentions, we'll need sight of the Completion of Sale document. No sensitive information needed, only confirmation of the date.

Did you take over on 5 May 17 or prior to this? If you did, then all's good as you have meter readings for then. If not, did you or the Housing Association take readings at the time? If not, we'll estimate these based on past usage. Don't worry about giving us a final reading. Let your new supplier have this and they'll pass it on to us as part of the change of supply process. Our final bill will follow from this. You'll only need to pay us for the period between taking over responsibility and changing supplier. All other charges will be directed towards those responsible for the property at the time the energy was used.

We've a specialist Home Moves team who deal exclusively with this type of situation (contact details are on our website). If you let them have the details as above, they'll close the previous occupier's account and open a new one for you to cover the period from when you took over responsibility to when you switched supplier.

Hope this helps point you in the right direction streetlovin. Let me know if you need any more help or advice.

Malc

streetlovin

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Hello streetlovin and hope you've settled in to your new home. Already lots of excellent advice on here. Thanks all.

Don't worry, although this seems a bit of a mess at the moment, it can be sorted. From what you've said, it appears you took over responsibility but didn't let us know and then started a switch to another supplier. If this is the case, we'll have continued to charge the previous account holder for energy used as there wouldn't be an account for you.

The £55 is the fee we charge for a Debt Resolution Visit. These fees are applied when we need to visit a property to talk to a customer about a debt on their account. It takes a fairly long time to reach this point and comes after a series of attempts to contact the account holder by phone, letter or email. As footyguy says, this is much longer than 21 days. I suspect this fee, along with the bulk of the outstanding balance, is the responsibility of previous account holders. Your responsibility will be between the day you took over responsibility to the change of supply date on 25 May 17.

We need to set up an account to cover this period. As Hengus mentions, we'll need sight of the Completion of Sale document. No sensitive information needed, only confirmation of the date.

Did you take over on 5 May 17 or prior to this? If you did, then all's good as you have meter readings for then. If not, did you or the Housing Association take readings at the time? If not, we'll estimate these based on past usage. Don't worry about giving us a final reading. Let your new supplier have this and they'll pass it on to us as part of the change of supply process. Our final bill will follow from this. You'll only need to pay us for the period between taking over responsibility and changing supplier. All other charges will be directed towards those responsible for the property at the time the energy was used.

We've a specialist Home Moves team who deal exclusively with this type of situation (contact details are on our website). If you let them have the details as above, they'll close the previous occupier's account and open a new one for you to cover the period from when you took over responsibility to when you switched supplier.

Hope this helps point you in the right direction streetlovin. Let me know if you need any more help or advice.

Malc

Wow thank you very much, your response has been extremely helpful. This is totally my fault for being so inexperienced and not thinking it through so I will be bothering E.on until this is over. ha!

My completion date was 5th May, exchanged was 26th April. So we took meter reading on 5th May which is the date that I moved in and become legal owner of the property. We should be fine. I messed up by telling Greenstar Energy the meter reading on the 5th and not from 25th so I will have to bother them too! Your dedicated team will receive a call from me today. Will also prepare the Completion of Sales and sent to E.on but I am guessing whoever I speak to will provide the contact details to me anyway.

Thank you very much for your advice. I've learnt a lot the past few weeks.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

streetlovin wrote: »

It was not a letter in sealed envelope. The debt and visit was a A4 note popped through the lettrr box addressed to Occupier. Not to me. The letter to say "I am sorry you are leaving" was addressed to me because Greenstar Energy contacted them..I think they picked the supplier in the area and obviously it was E.on.

I had no letter warning that there would be a visit. When I moved in all letters were binned. So I am not responsible for any letter dated before 5th May and not this debt one either. My completion date was 5th and I moved in and took meter reading on this date.

All I am going to do is to let E.on know the meter reading for 5th and greenstar will be informed of the meter reading for 25th. Will get it sorted out today

Thank you everyone. It is a learning curve

streetlovin wrote: »

I moved in on 5th May and it was my completion date. So this shouldne be an issue. Thank you very much four advice. It does not seem as bad now that I know what to do

streetlovin wrote: »

Yes, the property was empty for months. So it will be housing association. i will ring E.on today to get this sorted!

Thank you so much

Sorry streetlovin. Missed these comments. Think I was writing whilst you were posting.

As your completion date was 5 May 17 and the switch date was 25 May 17, this will be the period you need to pay us for. Anything before this time isn't down to you. If you're able to let us have details of the Housing Association, we'll make sure further contact about previous bills/debt go to them rather than you.

All suppliers use a national database when switching a supply. These databases hold details of all the electricity and gas meters in the country. This will have told Green Star that we were your supplier when they applied to take over the account.

Thanks streetlovin.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

streetlovin wrote: »

Wow thank you very much, your response has been extremely helpful. This is totally my fault for being so inexperienced and not thinking it through so I will be bothering E.on until this is over. ha!

My completion date was 5th May, exchanged was 26th April. So we took meter reading on 5th May which is the date that I moved in and become legal owner of the property. We should be fine. I messed up by telling Greenstar Energy the meter reading on the 5th and not from 25th so I will have to bother them too! Your dedicated team will receive a call from me today. Will also prepare the Completion of Sales and sent to E.on but I am guessing whoever I speak to will provide the contact details to me anyway.

Thank you very much for your advice. I've learnt a lot the past few weeks.

Glad it was useful streetlovin and don't worry. You're not alone in not telling us about a home move. It happens a lot and our Home Moves team are well versed in sorting these things out. They'll give you an email address where you can include an attachment with the relevant documents.

They're working until 8pm tonight and are in tomorrow from 8am to 6pm. They also have their own Live Chat team available through our website if you prefer.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

molerat wrote: »

The moment you flicked a switch you were on a deemed contract with the existing supplier of the property, E.On. You should have contacted them, given them opening readings from the date you owned the property, not from when you moved in, and then initiated a switch to the supplier of your choice. By not following the rules you have opened yourself up to a whole lot of complications.

As you say molerat, following a home move, it benefits both the customer and us if we can set up accounts quickly and accurately. Helps keep the complications you mention to a minimum.

Totally appreciate the stress involved when moving home and that people have a lot of competing demands on their time. To help, we've a specifically designed form on our website that customers can use when they're moving in or out of properties (either buying or renting). It lets them give us all the details we need to open/close accounts when they've a spare minute or two. The only thing they really need do on the day is to take meter readings. If they jot these down, they can pop them on the website form later and send them through. These forms go directly to our Home Move specialists.

Not much use to the OP as their situation has moved on from this but hope it's of interest to anyone about to move in or out of a property we currently supply.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Weewdy wrote: »

I agree with previous poster. Your contract was with eon up until 25th may when your contract started with your new supplier, you should have gave your new supplier the reading from 25th May. You owe eon usage from you moved in until the 25th.

antrobus wrote: »

But you do owe E.on money. Whether it as much as £448.80 + a £55 fee, I do not know. It seems rather a lot for just 20 days.

What you need to do is;

1. Take some meter readings now, it is the 25th May and you are on supply with Greenstar Energy

2. Submit your 5th May reading to E.on

E.on can then calculate a bill for the period 5-25 May.

You're both spot on. Given what the OP has said, their liability is between taking over responsibility and changing supplier. All that went before is down to whoever was responsible for the property at the time.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Cardew wrote: »

I suspect that you are getting billed for the previous occupant's unpaid gas/electricity. That is why there is a £55 fee. Your solicitor should have sorted this out with the Housing Association.

As said above, you were(albeit unwittingly) in a deemed contract with E-on from 5th May.

I also suspect that you are NOT in a contract with Greenstar Energy from 05 May or 25 May. This is because Eon can refuse to allow a switch when a customer owes money.

You need to sort out with Eon exactly how much you owe them. Fortunately we have 2 excellent Eon reps(Malc & Helena) who contribute to this forum and they may help you sort out the mess.

Thanks for the kind words Cardew. Really appreciated.

That's a good point you've raised. As we were unaware the OP had taken over responsibility, we may well object to a switch. We usually do this where the debt is £200 or more and is over 28 days old. As there has been a Debt Resolution Visit, I suspect the debt is much older than this. Until told differently, we'll base this decision on the existing account as we won't know streetlovin has moved in.

streetlovin - this is something to be aware of. If we do object, we'll write to let you know. Once an account has been set up for you, the picture changes and any potential objection will be withdrawn. It may mean you have to ask Green Star to apply for the account again. Not saying this will happen. It's just something to be aware of.

Malc