Eon debt

Dorissalad

Good afternoon to you all. My first time here so please bare with me. My daughter and husband split up at Easter time. They had an eon account which was in his name. There is a huge debt as he never paid nor contacted them and they would t speak to my daughter as his acct. she has been paying as she stayed in the house when he moved out, but not enough to clear usage and the debt.
Eon are now saying that all the debt naturally passes to her as she is in the property and he is no longer liable? It is nearly 2k!
He is now unemployed so doesn’t pay anything.
Can this debt be automatically just passed to her?
The majority of the debt was pre seperation
Please help

sourcrates

Hi,

Was it the EON call handler that told you the debt passes to you ?

Utility bill accounts are in an individuals name normally, whoever is named on the bill, is usually responsible for payment.
Debts do not transfer between people, the account holder remains 100% liable for the debt, I assume utilities are the same.

Because they cannot find him, they are trying to pin it on her, hoping she will pay.

PixelPound

Ofgem rules state any adult at the property can be deemed liable, so if they have been unable to get it from the account holder they may go for others living there. Was she living there for the whole amount of the time the bill is for? Is Eon still the same supplier or has it been changed? Is it Eon you are dealing with?

sourcrates

This is from the EON website :

“Where the person who was responsible for paying the bills has left their partner with an unpaid bill, we’ll continue to supply the partner and seek payment of the unpaid bill from the person the bill was addressed to”.

Dorissalad

Thanks for your replies. Yes she was told by the call handler. She spent hours on the phone yesterday with them. They gave her 28 days to decide on how she wanted to proceed. She got in from work today to find a new meter had been installed without her knowledge. How the hell can they just let themselves in to an empty house. She is distraught. The meter is so high she can’t even read it. It needs a ladder. Yes she was with Eon then and living there for the duration

WhenIam64

She got in from work today to find a new meter had been installed without her knowledge. How the hell can they just let themselves in to an empty house.

They have the right, subject to Magistrates approval, to seek entry to change meters. They would have given notice they were going to the Magistrates and further notice that they had the Magistrates approval. It will be in the paperwork somewhere.

Is it a credit meter? Has the debt been added? She'll need to make another phone call.

Dorissalad

She was assured on the phone that nothing would happen at no stage did they say it was happening next day. Her husbands name is on the paperwork they left. They have his address where he now lives. They have had it since May!
She can’t even read the meter

D_M_E

She needs to stay off the phone and write a letter to EoN and head it COMPLAINT in big bold letters.

In it, quote the wording from their website posted by Sourcrates above and state that she has been resposible for the bills as from xxx date when he moved out.

Therefore, as all previous bills were in his name and his name only, she is not and never will be responsible for any debt accrued in his name prior to that date.

As for the meter change, state that they had no right to change the meter because they knew he did not live at the address, and point out in the strongest terms that they have installed the new meter in an inaccessible location and it cannot now be read and, if it's a prepay meter - which it most likely is - she has no means by which to feed it.

Papers for the meter change were all in his name and new address so therefore the current occupier - her - had no knowledge of any court case nor any opportunity to attend court and contest their application to fit new meters to collect a debt she does not owe.

As well as writing, she needs to see a solicitor - find one that gives a free half hour session - and find out what they reccommend going forward.

EDIT send the letter by post and also by email as a bckup and also state in it that any discussions about the matter will only be conducted in writing, not by email, not by phone, writing only so she has a paper trail.

If they do try and phone, be polite and point out that you have requested writing only as correspondence and end the call without any further discussion.

D_M_E

You could also try posting in the Energy nforum https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=13

or asking one of the mods to move this thread there.

Dorissalad

Thank you so much for your help am not sure how to move the thread sorry. If a moderator sees this could you please help

sourcrates

I’ll move it for you.