Help needed on Erroneous transfer of electricity supplier.

sandeepamar

Just before Xmas 2020 I received a letter at home from a company called Octopus Energy stating that my electricity bill was outstanding and I owed over £500.  The letter went on to say that failure to pay could lead to debt collectors and legal action.  Although the letter was intended for my address, the intended recipient named on the letter was someone I have never heard of, lets call him Mr X.  I investigated further and it seems as if an erroneous transfer has happened but shockingly the transfer happened in June 2019.  My electric has been with Souther Electric for many many years on a direct debit payment.  I've gone through my bank statements and i can see the electricity direct debit actually stopped in June 2019, I genuinely had no idea, it's one of those bills in life that's a constant.

More information:
-Up until receiving the above stated letter in December 2020, I had never heard of Octopus Energy.
-I received no correspondence from either supplier about a transfer.  As far as I knew I was with Southern Electric.
-Octopus Energy are supplying my property but have not told me what the arrangement/bill package is with the property as the account is not in my name, it's in Mr X's name.
-I do not know Mr X, he has nothing to do with my property.
-I have been in my property for decades.
-I have contacted both suppliers.  Southern couldn't see anything on their system except the last bill date of June 2019, they confirmed there was no letter to confirm a transfer or a request for transfer from me on their system.
-Octopus have confirmed they are supplying my property but are suggesting they would have contacted Mr X at my property when the transfer happened.  That's definitely not what happened as I would have seen the letter in June 2019.
-I currently have no agreement or contract with either supplier, although my property is being supplied by Octopus.
-Octopus have suggested i contact Southern and ask them to switch it back if l like, they can't request that as it's been over one year.  Octopus have not tried to take me on as a customer and have not mentioned anything about future supply of my property or a future agreement.
-To make matters even worse, I have my elderly father with me who opened the letter and the thought of debt collectors, payment demand and courts through him into an incredible state of panic.
-It took a few emails to Octopus Energy before it felt like they were making an effort to investigate the matter.  
-Octopus say they can't stop the payment demand/debt collection letters, (two so far), because they get generated automatically.  They also said not to worry as the letters aren't in my name.  

At this stage I'm actually a little confused about how to progress with this, especially as the transfer happensed so long ago.  I don't feel like Octopus are suggesting a way to deal with this and move forward.  I will contact Southern again to see what they can do.   If anyone can advise on this, I would be very grateful.  Thanks for your time.

pallyman

So who were you sending your energy readings to.

sandeepamar

pallyman said:

So who were you sending your energy readings to.

Wasn't sending readings to anyone.  Nothing at all.  Didn't even realise the paper bills stopped coming.   I'm used to the knock on the door to read the meter..... both gas and electric.   I know that's happened in the last 18 months (before the lockdown chaos), but with what I know now, most probably not for electricity.  To be clear, I haven't paid any electric since June 2019.  Forgot to mention above, since speaking to Octopus I have sent them a photograph of my meter, on their request, to confirm they were actually supplying my property.

Phones4Chris

sandeepamar said:

................-It took a few emails to Octopus Energy before it felt like they were making an effort to investigate the matter.  
-Octopus say they can't stop the payment demand/debt collection letters, (two so far), because they get generated automatically.  They also said not to worry as the letters aren't in my name.  

At this stage I'm actually a little confused about how to progress with this, especially as the transfer happensed so long ago.  I don't feel like Octopus are suggesting a way to deal with this and move forward.  I will contact Southern again to see what they can do.   If anyone can advise on this, I would be very grateful.  Thanks for your time.

I would email Octopus energy again and advise that very clearly that you are in dispute with them, not only over a bill not in your name, but the fact that Mr.X has nothing to do with your property and that you do not know who he is, nor did you authorise or agree any change in supply to Octopus energy.
They are quite capable of stopping the letters. Tell them that if they don't stop forthwith (you are in dispute with them), you will instigate legal action against them for Malicious Communication. Secondly, if they aren't prepared to investigate the matter properly and provide you with full details and progress of the investigation then they'd better send a Deadlock letter immediately and you'll refer it to the Ombudsman immediately, which you'll in any event do if they don't stop the letters and investigate properly. Tell them you will also be reporting the details to OFGEM (this latter bit just scary talk as i doubt OFGEM will take any interest at this stage!)

I would contact Southern again and ask for full details of the precise date the transfer took place and who instigated it if you haven't already got them.
As an aside, you should have got a "final bill" from Southern, what happened to that?
One final point, whatever the resultant outcome of who the supplier is and the tariff, they cannot bill you for more than 12 months energy - OFGEM's Back Billing rule.

jbuchanangb

The mind boggles that you are so laid back about your energy bills and your finances that you are one of that silent majority who never thinks about energy costs, never contacts their energy supplier, never looks at bills etc. I suppose that your DD was one of those where the bill amount was paid in full every time, and that when Mr X transferred you from Southern to Octopus, Southern issued a final bill, took a final DD payment and that was that.

Of course the correct action when a letter arrived at your address addressed to someone you've never heard of would have been to mark it "not Known" and send it back to wherever it came from. I don't know whether your father has done you a favour by opening it or not.

100% agree that you should ask Southern for a copy of your final bill. You should read your meter today and make a note. Then you will know how much energy you have not paid for.

You need to decide whether you are going to request the erroneous transfer be reversed, and get back to Southern as your supplier, or whether you are going to accept Octopus Energy as your supplier. I think I would go for the former. You have no business relationship with Octopus and are not seeking one. You are not even in dispute with them. They have an issue with Mr. X. You are doing them a favour by informing them that he does not live at your address. Return any future correspondence addressed to him without opening it.

From this experience you can learn that it is good practice to read your energy meters monthly and inform your supplier. That way they will calculate bills accurately and you will pay the right amount.

When this is orted out, you will be in a good position to use a comparison site to find out whether you could buy your energy more cheaply from someone else.

sandeepamar

Phones4Chris said:

sandeepamar said:

................-It took a few emails to Octopus Energy before it felt like they were making an effort to investigate the matter.  
-Octopus say they can't stop the payment demand/debt collection letters, (two so far), because they get generated automatically.  They also said not to worry as the letters aren't in my name.  

At this stage I'm actually a little confused about how to progress with this, especially as the transfer happensed so long ago.  I don't feel like Octopus are suggesting a way to deal with this and move forward.  I will contact Southern again to see what they can do.   If anyone can advise on this, I would be very grateful.  Thanks for your time.

I would email Octopus energy again and advise that very clearly that you are in dispute with them, not only over a bill not in your name, but the fact that Mr.X has nothing to do with your property and that you do not know who he is, nor did you authorise or agree any change in supply to Octopus energy.
They are quite capable of stopping the letters. Tell them that if they don't stop forthwith (you are in dispute with them), you will instigate legal action against them for Malicious Communication. Secondly, if they aren't prepared to investigate the matter properly and provide you with full details and progress of the investigation then they'd better send a Deadlock letter immediately and you'll refer it to the Ombudsman immediately, which you'll in any event do if they don't stop the letters and investigate properly. Tell them you will also be reporting the details to OFGEM (this latter bit just scary talk as i doubt OFGEM will take any interest at this stage!)

I would contact Southern again and ask for full details of the precise date the transfer took place and who instigated it if you haven't already got them.
As an aside, you should have got a "final bill" from Southern, what happened to that?
One final point, whatever the resultant outcome of who the supplier is and the tariff, they cannot bill you for more than 12 months energy - OFGEM's Back Billing rule.

Thanks for the advice.  I have the final bill, just never realised it was a 'final bill'.  

sandeepamar

jbuchanangb said:

The mind boggles that you are so laid back about your energy bills and your finances that you are one of that silent majority who never thinks about energy costs, never contacts their energy supplier, never looks at bills etc. I suppose that your DD was one of those where the bill amount was paid in full every time, and that when Mr X transferred you from Southern to Octopus, Southern issued a final bill, took a final DD payment and that was that.

Of course the correct action when a letter arrived at your address addressed to someone you've never heard of would have been to mark it "not Known" and send it back to wherever it came from. I don't know whether your father has done you a favour by opening it or not.

100% agree that you should ask Southern for a copy of your final bill. You should read your meter today and make a note. Then you will know how much energy you have not paid for.

You need to decide whether you are going to request the erroneous transfer be reversed, and get back to Southern as your supplier, or whether you are going to accept Octopus Energy as your supplier. I think I would go for the former. You have no business relationship with Octopus and are not seeking one. You are not even in dispute with them. They have an issue with Mr. X. You are doing them a favour by informing them that he does not live at your address. Return any future correspondence addressed to him without opening it.

From this experience you can learn that it is good practice to read your energy meters monthly and inform your supplier. That way they will calculate bills accurately and you will pay the right amount.

When this is orted out, you will be in a good position to use a comparison site to find out whether you could buy your energy more cheaply from someone else.

Thanks for your message.  Granted I should be more on top of it, and yes it's always paid in full.  I have the final bill with me and  the final DD with Southern was taken June 2019, since then I haven't paid an electricity bill for approximately 18 months.  The two letters Octopus sent came in a window envelope where you can only see the address, you can not see a name.  So one would naturally open it and it's at that point you see Mr X.   Do you have any suggestions on how to stop Octopus sending letters to my address for Mr X?  I am concerned when I see the threat of debt collectors and court even though it's not addressed to me, it is in relation to my property.  Thanks in advance.

sandeepamar

UPDATE:
Spoke to SSE, they can transfer me back to SSE but they will expect payment for electricity usage for the 18 months that have passed since the erroneous transfer, this will be on the tariff I had before.  They say the ofgem back billing rule doesn't apply with erroneous transfers.  Based on the DD I use to pay, I would need to pay SSE approximately £800.  Octopus say the balance outstanding on my address is £550 but I don't know the exact dates/period that is for.  It might be in my favour to shop around for a better price and request a switch to a new supplier.  Or I could ask Octopus to quote me a new tariff, as a new customer?  What I mustn't have happen is a transfer back to SSE where I pay the last 18 months but still receive letters at my address for Mr X from Octopus for amounts due.  Any thoughts?

spiro

sandeepamar said:

UPDATE:
Spoke to SSE, they can transfer me back to SSE but they will expect payment for electricity usage for the 18 months that have passed since the erroneous transfer, this will be on the tariff I had before.  They say the OFgem back billing rule doesn't apply with erroneous transfers.  Based on the DD I use to pay, I would need to pay SSE approximately £800.  Octopus say the balance outstanding on my address is £550 but I don't know the exact dates/perios is for this billing amount.  It might be in my favour to shop around for a better price and request a switch to a new supplier.  Or I could ask Octopus to quote me a new tariff, as a new customer?  Any thoughts?

We as you haven't been paying the SSE DD for over a year paying back the outstanding amount shouldn't be an issue. If you've spent the money (why) then ask to pay it back over say 12 months by paying twice the amount on your DD.

sandeepamar

spiro said:

sandeepamar said:

UPDATE:
Spoke to SSE, they can transfer me back to SSE but they will expect payment for electricity usage for the 18 months that have passed since the erroneous transfer, this will be on the tariff I had before.  They say the OFgem back billing rule doesn't apply with erroneous transfers.  Based on the DD I use to pay, I would need to pay SSE approximately £800.  Octopus say the balance outstanding on my address is £550 but I don't know the exact dates/perios is for this billing amount.  It might be in my favour to shop around for a better price and request a switch to a new supplier.  Or I could ask Octopus to quote me a new tariff, as a new customer?  Any thoughts?

We as you haven't been paying the SSE DD for over a year paying back the outstanding amount shouldn't be an issue. If you've spent the money (why) then ask to pay it back over say 12 months by paying twice the amount on your DD.

No problem paying what is owed but potentially the tariff (my old tariff) of SSE is much higher of Octopus or another supplier let's say.  And of course there is the due amounts that Octopus are chasing, not in my name, how does that get dealt with?

Phones4Chris

Hmm. I'd be inclined to look at initially going with Octopus once you get to the bottom of what's going on as they are cheaper BUT only after this is resolved. Also look at other suppliers and get the best deal.

It would be worth checking out what the Network Operator's site says for who the supplier is for your address and that the meter details/serial number are showing correctly. Go to https://www.energynetworks.org/operating-the-networks/whos-my-network-operator to find out who the operator is.  No need to ring them, most have a webpage and with some (all?) you can them request the details be sent in an email to you.

As for SSE saying that the Back Billing doesn't apply, I don't know how they justify that , sounds like Bull to me. See  https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/who-contact-if-its-difficult-paying-energy-bills/energy-back-billing-guide-your-rights
The same would apply to Octopus if you subsequently accept them as your supplier.

SSE are probably the innocent parity in this erroneous transfer, but I'd still steer clear of them atm until this is resolved.
Have you got back to Octopus to tell them to stop the letters and investigate or else?

Edit: You might also like to tell Octopus that they can check the Electoral Roll to see that Mr.X has nothing to do with your address.
2nd Edit: correct typo - Electoral Roll not Role