Energy Switch Was Rejected but I wasn't Informed

rmail2006

Hi all,

I'm after a bit of advice before taking my next steps on this situation and would appreciate any help

TLDR; New tenancy agreement and new energy supplier arrangement ended up being refused without my knowledge. Original supplier are asking me to pay the debt but I'm afraid it may be on a higher tariff than that would be on a new tariff and won't speak to me until I provide Direct Debit info.

I moved into my current property In Feb 2020 as a private Tenant.
As soon as I moved in I signed up with Together Energy to be my energy supplier. They sent me a welcome letter which stated my prices, direct debit info and I believed that they were my supplier.

After a year passed I tried switching as Together energy hiked their prices a lot so applied to EOn.

EOn rejected my switch on behalf of my supplier so I tried ringing Together energy to find out whats up. After leaving my details for them to get back a good few times I eventually got in touch with a person who said, they aren't supplying my energy as it was blocked back in Feb 2020. I've never had any communication from them other than my welcome letter to which I asked them why I didn't get informed and they had no answer.

I've since found out Avro are the property supplier and are saying I owe that period that I lived there.

This doesn't bother me as I've never been charged of Together Energy but what I'm worried about is Avro May have been on a high tariff which could 2nd up being a large debt. They say they won't discuss this with me unless I fill in an application including Direct Debit info, and I'm worried they may attempt to charge me the whole debt once I fill this in.

Any help would be appreciated.

dogshome

Sorry, but you bounced the system when you moved in and appointed Together Energy as your supplier.

When you first move into a property, you must sign up with the existing supplier to that dwelling and only after you have been fully registered with them, can you change to another supplier .

The Avro tariff won't be their cheapest as they will charge their Standard Variable Rate, but all suppliers do this in these circumstances and once you have signed up, you can change it

worrywart_3

How did you not realise you hadn’t actually paid anyone ? You say you switched again as prices hiked but how could you know this when they weren’t our supplier and can’t have been taking direct debits you didn’t do things correctly and will owe Avro for the energy you have used im afraid you must have not paid anything for a year, this is your mistake if I have read all this correctly 

niktheguru

So, you signed up to together energy for a year but didn't receive a single bill and didn't pay a single penny to them, yet you then  tried to switch as prices went up. How did you know prices went up?
Did you ever log in to your online account?

I'm afraid the other posters are right. You owe avro money for the years energy. You'll have to pay up. You can attempt to negotiate on tariff costs but it prob won't be cheap!

brewerdave

Re your original question about your account never going to Together Energy - lucky escape because TE are without doubt the worst supplier currently in the market !!

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

You say 'Together Energy hiked their prices a lot' - presumably you read that in the media as you weren't actually paying the firm anything.

As said above, when you moved in you must contact the current supplier(Avro in your case) and give them meter readings and your details; you can then apply to switch to the company of your choice and you only pay Avro for the few weeks energy until the switch happens. Your Letting Agent should have informed you of the correct  procedure.

So you do owe Avro for 14 months energy.

Did you get any letters from Avro to the previous occupant or addressed to 'current occupier'?

I fear you may have a bigger problem if the previous occupant left without paying his outstanding bill; and that is probable if a letter has not been sent to your address as 'current occupier'.

If that is the case, Avro will bill you for some of the previous occupant's energy i.e. from the last meter readings they have prior to your occupancy. As you didn't register with Avro, you have a problem.

The letting agent might throw some light on the previous occupant; but will he pay for energy used 14+ months ago?

On the face of it, as it appears you had no contact with Together Energy and were not paying them, it seems you tried to quit Together Energy and get away with not paying them for over a year.

Your best bet is to make peace with Avro, and try to get them to put you on a backdated cheaper tariff(than the standard tariff) and pay off your arrears in installments.