OVO Energy: Pursued for someone else's debt

debw70

I'm at a bit of a loss as to my rights and what to do next. 
I was contacted by OVO Energy by post and the letter stated Notice of Intended action of £520.97. The bill had my name but was for a top floor flat in the building. I live on the ground floor.  The letter also stated that they had tried to contact me several times which is not true, this was the first contact. 
I contacted OVO Energy by telephone and was told they would call me back. This didn't happen so I emailed the CEO. I was contacted by the Senior Complaint Resolution Expert  who said I would need to prove I did not live in the top floor flat. 
I then received an email from the Senior Complaint Resolution Expert stating 'I have spoken to the collections department and they have confirmed that they will require evidence that you own your property to resolve the issues raised. Therefore, please forward me a copy of the completion paperwork that you received when purchasing the property.' 

Whilst this was ongoing I received a telephone call from a company called Oriel Collections stating that the debt had been referred to them for collection and was now £550.97. I explained that the debt was not mine and they said they would contact OVO Energy collections but that the debt was not on hold. 

I emailed the Senior Complaint Resolution Expert at OVO and stated that I have lived in my flat for 20 years and but I didn't want to supply any further personal details to OVO. I sent a written Subject Access Request for OVO to supply any personal data they may hold. 
The OVO Senior Complaint Resolution Expert responded by asking for my current council tax bill to prove I didn't live at the Top Floor address. As far as I was aware, it was up to OVO Energy to prove the debt was mine and that I entered into a contract with them but this did not seem to be the case. I emailed and asked for a deadlock letter. 

OVO Energy Senior Complaint Resolution Expert then emailed me and said 'If we were to refer this to the ombudsman, any collections holds will be reversed until they have conducted their investigations. This can take up to 10 weeks and they are likely to ask you to provide evidence that you do not live at the address. I appreciate this is frustrating and causing distress, I have requested evidence that you do not live at the address to reduce the effects this has on you and to resolve the issues raised as promptly as possible.' 
They essentially threatened that if I pursued this with the Ombudsman they, and I assume their debt collectors, would continue chasing me for the debt for the 10 weeks it took  for any investigation by the Ombudsman.
When I did not respond I received a second threat  'Following my email sent last week I am contacting you today as we are yet to receive evidence that you do not live at TLI appreciate you may not have had the time to look at this yet but we are unable to progress our investigation into your complaint without this information. If we have not received this within the next 5 working days we will look to close the complaint. '
I run my business from my home address and this has taken a lot of my time over the last 3 weeks so I decided to send a copy of my council tax bill to avoid any impact on my credit rating. 
I have since received an email from the Senior Complaint Resolution Expert  stating  'I have referred the information you have sent to us to the collections department. They are happy to accept the information you have sent in and have removed your name from the account.  From my investigations, we ran a credit check on the property using Experian. The data provided by Experian stated you were 80% or more likely to be living in this supply address. Due to no contact from the liable party we added your name to the account, which is standard practice within the energy industry. '

I am now left wondering whether this is standard practice or if there are authorities that I should be reporting this to. I am assuming that since I was forced to supply the council tax bill I can not continue with a complaint to the Ombudsman. This has taken a lot of time and has caused a lot of distress. 

 

sithmaster

Check your credit report, is that address linked to you? 
If not ask them how that link has been established when there is no record of it on your report. 
Also I gather the other flat has a different number to yours how did you receive this notice other than having your name on it?
I would send them a headed bill that is linked to your report ie phone, bank via email minus any sensitive information other than your name and address and the date it was produced. 
If they refuse to accept that demand proof that you owe this amount and go to the ombudsman.
An 80% link to you via Expedia is not proof you owe it.