Landlord just sent me a £2000 utility bill that I didn't know existed

Aylesbury_Duck

Sounds like you're doing all the right things.  And yes, I would agree that it would not be a good idea to complete the PDF you've been sent.  At the moment the debt isn't in your name and until you've established exactly how it's broken down and accepted what you are actually liable for, it would be foolish to willingly assume the debt.

nyermen

As said - dont sign / agree anything.  Something smells wrong here, from the "outstanding bill with no detailed breakdown" (just new bill, etc.
Btw, whatever EDF say, £65 - £70 a month not including hot water/heating seems high to me?  Every house is different I get that.  I'm dual fuel to be fair, but my 3 bed semi is about £50 a month, and my credit balance is growing.  (Smart meter with daily readings).  Use minimal heating, so thats gas hot water and cooking plus electrics.  Adding both your current bill and that bill together is £1700 a year?

Aylesbury_Duck

nyermen said:

Btw, whatever EDF say, £65 - £70 a month not including hot water/heating seems high to me?  Every house is different I get that.  I'm dual fuel to be fair, but my 3 bed semi is about £50 a month, and my credit balance is growing.  (Smart meter with daily readings).  Use minimal heating, so thats gas hot water and cooking plus electrics.  Adding both your current bill and that bill together is £1700 a year?

I thought the same.  I have a four-bed detached house, four adult occupants and our overall gas and electricity cost is £75 a month.  How is OP running up £65-70 a month on electricity for one person in a two-bed flat when heating and hot water is billed separately? Especially in a new-build where all the lighting will be LED.

Jimbo, are you locked into a particular tariff with EDF?  It sounds like a very expensive one.

Jimbo8x8x

nyermen said:

Adding both your current bill and that bill together is £1700 a year?

My monthly direct debit for EDF is actually £57. It was £71 for quite a while, but I was in credit and they recently changed it to £57. But yeah with that other bill, currently looking at around £65 a month based on the outstanding balance, it's looking like £1500-£1700 a year... which is crazy.

I'm just looking at my last EDF bill online and the readings are all estimates. I'm not sure why, because I have a smart meter and it should be giving them regular data. I'll call them and ask.

Aylesbury_Duck

Definitely worth doing.  I very much suspect you actually have a large credit balance because I'd be amazed if you have run up £57 a month in electricity costs on lighting and appliances.  I bet they've over-estimated your readings every quarter and it's just built up.

Jimbo8x8x

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Definitely worth doing.  I very much suspect you actually have a large credit balance because I'd be amazed if you have run up £57 a month in electricity costs on lighting and appliances.  I bet they've over-estimated your readings every quarter and it's just built up.

EDF just said that my Smart Meter hasn't sent them a reading for months and months... hence the estimates.
I've just given them the latest reading and they've run it through their system, offset from the last automatic reading they managed to get. I'm in credit, but not by much... only £40 or so.

Jimbo8x8x

From the FAQ on East London Energy (providing only heating and hot water)...
"... average winter bills so far for heating and hot water are in the region of £70 per month."
The bill I have (with zero historical detail on it) is £1911 and my tenancy spans 28 months = £68.25 a month on average.
It's clearly too high.
I'll just wait until they can provide a breakdown of costs... if I can even contact them to obtain them.
I won't sign anything until then.

DoaM

As above, until and unless the account is in your name, the debt is not yours.

You may want to ask a board guide to move this to the House Buying, Renting & Selling board - they're much more clued up on things like this.

steampowered

I had a very similar situation when I bought my first property, a flat in central London which was built 3 years before I bought it. 

About a year after moving in, I got an unexpected bill for about £1,500 for the heating and hot water. The property was a BTL before and the letting agents who rented it out had been ignoring the bills. I had changed over my electric. The energy company told me there was no heating arrangement in place - I wasn't aware of the district heating scheme.

It was really annoying but I ended up paying, after checking that the bill only covered heating during my period of ownership.

You might find that there is statutory liability to pay the bill as the occupier of the property regardless of whether you have a contract with the energy company or not - this certainly the case with water, I'm not sure about heating.

DCFC79

Did you ring the number on the website rather than a number say on the pdf you were sent ?