Threatening letter from very old energy supplier

empireoftheclouds

Hi all, hope this is ok to ask and in the right place!

Today i received a letter from an energy supplier (that the people who owned my property before me used) saying i owe a balance and it will be sold to debt collectors if i do not pay it within 7 days. I bought my propert a little under 2 years ago and switched to bristol energy straight away, no problems at all. I have a letter from 'tonik energy' demanding payment of an unspecified balance in letter address to 'the occupier'

As far as i am aware this is the first corrospondance ive have from tonik, and since they dont seem to have any of my personal details i am wary of calling the number in the letter for any explaination or to sort things out. Was there not a new rule back in 2018 saying that energy companies cannot demand payments that are over a year old?

Just seems strange this letter has appeared out of the blue!

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Gerry1

Did you read the meters and register with Tonik as soon as you moved in, and pay for your usage until Bristol Energy took over?

If not, then you owe Tonik for the relevant period of usage, and it will be on an expensive deemed tariff.

empireoftheclouds

I dont remember registering with tonik, i know i switched to bristol/read meters the day i got the keys and am pretty sure i was asked what date i moved in as so to be charged from that date (I was a first time buyer so had no accounts to switch from). As far as i recall i had no corrospondance from tonik at all. I do remember my first bristol bill being high and i just assumed this covered the switch time as i didnt receive any final bill or anything from tonik.

Cardew

When you move into a property you are immediately placed on a legally binding 'Deemed Contract' with the existing supplier of gas/electricity to that property. So you should have contacted Tonik and given them the initial meter readings for the day you occupied. Failure to do this could mean that you will be paying for the consumption of the previous occupants. After two years you will not be able to get the previous occupants to pay.

You can then set in motion a switch to your chosen supplier, but are liable for the the bills until the date Bristol Energy took over your account. Bristol Energy know the procedure and it is surprising that they didn't explain it to you; especially as they have to agree meter readings with Tonik on the day they take over the account.

The 12 month 'backbilling' clause does not apply in your case.

You are not alone in making this mistake

empireoftheclouds

Cardew said:

When you move into a property you are immediately placed on a legally binding 'Deemed Contract' with the existing supplier of gas/electricity to that property. So you should have contacted Tonik and given them the initial meter readings for the day you occupied. Failure to do this could mean that you will be paying for the consumption of the previous occupants. After two years you will not be able to get the previous occupants to pay.

You can then set in motion a switch to your chosen supplier, but are liable for the the bills until the date Bristol Energy took over your account. Bristol Energy know the procedure and it is surprising that they didn't explain it to you; especially as they have to agree meter readings with Tonik on the day they take over the account.

The 12 month 'backbilling' clause does not apply in your case.

You are not alone in making this mistake

Fair enough if its a mistake on my part. Bristol said nothing about this when i switched, and since switching energy companies has been advertised as being so easy and seemingly done entirely by the companies themselves i guess i assumed it'd all sort itself out.

I guess i should give tonik a call then, a bit scared now of a whopping great bill!

Thanks for your help guys

dogshome

If you have been with Tonic since you moved in, and it certainly looks like that's the case, you owe them for all the energy you have used.

The upside is that Bristol have to return to you all the money you have paid to them, and you have their bills showing your Start Reading and all those since

MWT

I would suggest finding out who your actual energy supplier is before you call...

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/connections-and-moving-home/who-my-gas-or-electricity-supplier

The problems come when people don't register with the incumbent supplier before switching then the switch fails and the new supplier doesn't notice...

empireoftheclouds

Like I say, I've had no correspondence at all from tonik in 23 months other than this letter that arrived today, and I've since switched from Bristol energy to octopus about 4 months ago. Everything was online with Bristol and same now with octopus so I don't know how I'd go about proving any readings

empireoftheclouds

MWT said:

I would suggest finding out who your actual energy supplier is before you call...

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/connections-and-moving-home/who-my-gas-or-electricity-supplier

The problems come when people don't register with the incumbent supplier before switching then the switch fails and the new supplier doesn't notice...

A search in this site indeed states that octopus is my energy supplier