Erroneous readings from bust suppliers

heyhoo

TL/DR version

My electricity supplier is using a debt from previous suppliers that have gone bust (toto and solarplicity) to calculate my bill. The debt was (at least partially) accrued before I moved in and seems to be based on years of estimated readings. Records may be hard to access or lost entirely. Any advice? 

Full Version 

I moved into my property in February 2019, and I contacted Octopus energy to take over my gas and electricity. 

7 months later (November 2019) I realised that my electricity readings were not being accepted by Octopus and when I rang to check they said they were only supplying my gas and that my electricity supplier was EDF and I couldn’t switch as there was a large debt on the account. 

I contacted EDF and they started to send me bills. Then I got a letter from a debt collection agency saying I owed £2000 to EDF. 

When I rang EDF, they said that if I didn’t agree to a payment plan there and then, they would send in the bailiffs and I would get a bad credit rating etc. I told them it wasn’t my debt. They confirmed that both Toto (went bust October 2019)
and Solarplicity (went bust August 2019) had previously supplied the property but both had gone bust. There had been a lot of post for the previous occupants but all
this I had “returned to sender” and not opened. I had only opened letters addressed to me. I asked EDF for meter readings from those previous suppliers, they didn’t have them. They put so much pressure on me that I signed up to their repayment plan. I’m a single parent with disabled children and I’m on benefits and I had a lot of stress to deal with and couldn’t cope with this debt as well. I was crying on the phone and telling them it wasn’t my debt. 

A couple of months later, I realised that the readings on the bills were estimated and were much higher than on the meter. I rang them up and they said it would have to go to a special team. I didn’t hear anything. 

I kept updating the meter readings on the app and website and after a few days it would reject the readings for not being “in line”. 

I rang customer services who recently (months later) sent me a new bill, saying that they have cancelled over £1000 of charges but that they will take £544 on 11th March, then my bill will drop to £1 a month. This makes no sense to me. 

They are now saying that I have used £301.13 of electricity (including standing charges and VAT) 
That I have paid £928, but they have kept an “amount owing to previous supplier” of £1072.22 (presumably based on estimated readings) on the bill and with my next payment I owe them £544. 

How do I get them to stop charging me this £1072.22 from the previous supplier when records may have been lost due to two suppliers going bust in a matter of months? 

Thanks 

MWT

Do you still have the meter readings from the day you moved into the property?

Can you prove that you only move there in Feb '19 and that you were not responsible for the property before that date (tenancy agreement, purchase etc.) ?

If so then you need to make a complaint and state clearly that you are only liable for the amounts used since that first meter reading...

MWT

heyhoo said:

How do I get them to stop charging me this £1072.22 from the previous supplier when records may have been lost due to two suppliers going bust in a matter of months? 

The records of the previous suppliers are irrelevant if you were not occupying or the owner of the property at the time.

Given that you keep mentioning that the two suppliers went bust and records may have been lost, is there any reason why EDF might believe you were in some way responsible for the property at the time?

I'm assuming not, but it is an odd situation if your name was not in some way associated with the property during those periods it should never have been linked to your new account...

heyhoo

MWT said:

Do you still have the meter readings from the day you moved into the property?

Can you prove that you only move there in Feb '19 and that you were not responsible for the property before that date (tenancy agreement, purchase etc.) ?

If so then you need to make a complaint and state clearly that you are only liable for the amounts used since that first meter reading...

I did have the meter reading and gave it to Octopus when I moved in, but I didn’t keep a copy and Octopus don’t have a record as they didn’t use it due to EDF refusing to let me switch. 

heyhoo

MWT said:

heyhoo said:

How do I get them to stop charging me this £1072.22 from the previous supplier when records may have been lost due to two suppliers going bust in a matter of months? 

The records of the previous suppliers are irrelevant if you were not occupying or the owner of the property at the time.

Given that you keep mentioning that the two suppliers went bust and records may have been lost, is there any reason why EDF might believe you were in some way responsible for the property at the time?

I'm assuming not, but it is an odd situation if your name was not in some way associated with the property during those periods it should never have been linked to your new account...

I bought the property in February 2019. It had been empty for a while prior to this and previously rented out (it was a tied/worker’s property) I can prove this. I didn’t occupy it until October 2019 as it needed work doing. 

heyhoo

Sorry posted too soon.
I bought it in February 2019. Gave meter reading to octopus and was making regular payments to them. I assumed they were my supplier. 

Solarplicity went bust in August 2019.
They were taken over by Toto who went bust in October 2019. 

After I’d moved in, (by this time it was Nov 2019) I realised that octopus wasn’t accepting my readings, queried it and was told EDF were my supplier. EDF then said they had taken over from Toto who had taken over from Solarplicity. So while I owned the property, from
March to August 2019, while I was paying octopus and the house was empty so no real usage, it was actually Solarplicity supplying my electricity, then from August to October it was the same for Toto. 

MWT

OK, that is clearer and it is easy to see the problem.

From what you've said, you didn't set up an account with the existing supplier (Solarplicity) before trying to switch to Octopus and the switch for the electricity failed because of that.

... and you don't now have a meter reading from the day you took ownership of the property in Feb '19.

Do you have a bill from EDF that shows an estimated reading for around the date you became the owner of the property?

Have you tried asking Octopus if they have a record of the reading you gave them at the time? (also check your emails as I can't recall if they confirm the reading back to you when you give it to them during a switch...)

heyhoo

My first bill from EDF is from November 2019, their estimated reading was 28094.  

Moving on over a year and the meter is still not that high. Their latest estimated reading, was 34931 while the actual reading is 21145.
I didn’t contact Solarplicity because by the time I heard their name, they had gone bust. Octopus told me to submit the readings on getting the keys and they would take over, without me needing to know who supplied me. This worked for gas because there was no “debt” on the account. Octopus don’t have the original electricity reading. 

When I queried it EDF said it looked like their reading from Toto was estimated, and presumably the reading that Solarplicity gave to Toto was also estimated, but despite reducing their charges for billed electricity, they are still carrying over the -£1072.22 from Toto/Solarplicity. I can’t seem to prove that I didn’t use it, even though no one was living here.

matelodave

Unfortunately you've made the classic mistake or not registering with the existing supplier and giving them a reading when you moved in. Likewise you have not kept details of any meter readings and other documentation. Nor have you been checking your accounts to ensure that everything went smoothly. 
This makes it really difficult to try and unravel the situation, especially if there's a bust energy company thrown in for good measure.

If you take readings,send them in and CHECK your bills every month then these problems should manifest themselves within a month or two rather than after a year a or so. You could have/should have queried why your readings weren't being used. which makes it so much easier to pick the bones out of the problem a year or so ago.

Proving when you became responsible for the property will help but I guess you'll have a big fight trying to determine what a equitable reading was two years ago.

rp1974

So as you can't prove you didn't use it,can EDF prove that you did?.

Octopus told you nonsense,you must register with whoever the current supplier is and then start a switch elsewhere.

As you say you receive benefits that will provide a date which could help by being used to prove when you moved in,I'd start a complaint with EDF,moving on to the ombudsman if required.

Why are EDF still sending you estimated readings?,I assume you mean bills.

Anything used before February 2019 is not your responsibility,do also contact Citizens Advice who may be able to help.

MWT

heyhoo said:

My first bill from EDF is from November 2019, their estimated reading was 28094.  

Moving on over a year and the meter is still not that high. Their latest estimated reading, was 34931 while the actual reading is 21145.

Let's start there then, can you post a photo of your electricity meter here please, just to make sure you are reading the meter correctly as with some it is easy to get them wrong.

Also a list of meter readings you have taken since moving in along with the date they were taken would help.