How far back? Old electric bills

dabutfinbar

I run shop that took over the premises 5 years ago. The previous tenent went bankrupt and was no connection to ourselves. We started a new company in the premises but were never contacted by the electricity supplier. The electric was still being supplied but we never recieved a bill. After a couple of years, a bailiff came to the premises to obtain payment , only to find that his paperwork was for the previous tenant and nothing to do with us. It turned out that all of the bills(in the previous tenant's name had been redirected by the post office ).
Now the electric supplier wants us to pay the whole of the 5 years that we have been there. Intruth, we owe this amount and we took a meter reading when we moved in so we can verify the amount of electric used.
However , a number of people have mentioned that the suppliers can only go back a limited time. As it has been agreed with both parties, we did recieve electricity but never reieved a bill for 4 1/2 years !

Anyone got any previous experience ? or tips ?
Many thanks

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

For domestic bills they can now(since July) only go back a year.

However I very much doubt that applies to business accounts.

Terrylw1

Hi,

It was reduced to no back billing beyond 1 year as of 2007, however if they contacted you prior to this point you would be bound by the 2 year backbilling.

Now, Ofgem's statement does not specify between domestic and business but the response to reduce it to 1 year was cleared stated as being a response to problems for domestic customers.

When I was in this sector we applied the same backbilling to both domestic & business. However, the exception would possibly be where there was a written contract in place for a deal as you would be clearly aware of your liability.

I think you have a good case beacsue a mail re-direction was in place meaning any letters sent in the name of the previous occupant was going elsewhere. Also, your consumption would be clear to the Supplier if they have had meter readers out to you (have they?). So, they are also responsible for either a) not closing the account in liquidation or b) not noticing the consumption and sending out bills addressed to the occupier to get your attention.

Now, all Suppliers know that in case of liquidation they need to write to the creditors quickly or they don't get admitted as a creditor hence are not entitled to any debt recovery via that solicitors.

You have used it and there is no way any customer can state they did not know they should or who to contact over such a long period.

However, I think you have got a pretty good case for some write off here. I guess it may depend on how much the Supplier is likely to lose.

In negogiating this I would strongly suggest that you haggle to be billed to the most recent rates if it works out cheaper or the rates as they would have been through the periods. You may end up paying more otherwise if you would have been on a contract where you had some form of reduced deal. However, remember in these times of rising prices, you could end up worse off so it's worth discussing.

I think your Supplier will try and apply the contract rule to this, but they have no business lock in deal, just the deemed contract terms. So, contact Ofgem to check on the 1 year/2 year basis to make sure it covers business customers who are on a "deemed" contract basis.

I know how my old utility group would handle you but they also introduced the 1 year backbilling policy in mid 2006 was ahead of Ofgem's formal introduction.