Erroneous transfer nightmare

Robin9

Whoever its been billed to is irrelevant  - you used it, you pay.

Just write a letter of Complaint to SO -  enclose a copy of the Council Tax Notice and politely request them to transfer the account to your name and to send you a bill. If they maintain their stance escalate to the CEO

[Deleted User]

It would seem that So, as the present supplier, has the correct MPRN and meter serial number for your property address. It is the name on the account that is wrong. All they are asking for is proof that you are the owner of the property along with the date that you became responsible for it. They will then look at your usage and come up with an estimated supply start reading. A statement should then follow. What they do about the named person on the account is So’s problem.

migtyg81

Ok am I right in concluding that its definitely not a erroneous transfer and nothing in my favour and ive to pay all the balance as everyone thinks I had free gas for 21 months 

migtyg81

[Deleted User] said:

It would seem that So, as the present supplier, has the correct MPRN and meter serial number for your property address. It is the name on the account that is wrong. All they are asking for is proof that you are the owner of the property along with the date that you became responsible for it. They will then look at your usage and come up with an estimated supply start reading. A statement should then follow. What they do about the named person on the account is So’s problem.

Just out of curiosity Would it be an issue if meter details were incorrect(as i did resolve prepayment to credit meter issue when I took over with npower property has credit meter but national database showed prepayment, it was resolved but just wondering would that have made any difference to my case) ?

MWT

It doesn't really matter if it was an erroneous transfer or not, you'd still have to pay for what you have used.

There is no permutation of the details you've provided here that doesn't end up with you paying for the gas as far as I can see.

migtyg81

MWT said:

It doesn't really matter if it was an erroneous transfer or not, you'd still have to pay for what you have used.

There is no permutation of the details you've provided here that doesn't end up with you paying for the gas as far as I can see.

I am not worried about paying trying to understand what is definition of erroneous transfer then and when these come into practice?? And are there any time limits as well as ive been told more than 12 months? 

Robin9

www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-energy-back-billing-rules


www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/erroneous-transfer-customer-charter


Just write that COMPLAINT letter to So - enclose your Council Tax Notification - photo of the opening read - then move on

Reed_Richards

Ovo have a section on Erroneous Transfer here: https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/erroneous-transfers

If it was an erroneous transfer you would end up back with Npower (now taken over by Eon) with a big bill to pay them for gas used over 21 months and £30 compensation from So if they were able to move you back promptly.  A more financially significant issue may be what rate you are charged for your Gas since this was not of your choosing.  With Npower you were probably being charged at their standard rate which is usually relatively expensive so you could end up paying for another 21 months at their standard rate if you managed to undo the transfer.  With So who knows?  You might try to argue that So should bill you at whatever rate (of those they offer) would have been the cheapest.

My point is that even if you could prove an erroneous transfer had taken place, after 21 months it might not be in your financial best interests to do so.       

[Deleted User]

Unless the OP can demonstrate that he was a BG gas customer in the past 21 months then no erroneous transfer of supply has taken place as far as he is concerned. A more credible scenario is that the erroneous transfer took place before the OP became responsible for the property. 

What tends to happen in these situations is that the consumer receives an unexpected ‘Sorry you are leaving us’ message from his supplier, or the consumer notices that he is not being billed for a particular utility. A Final Bill would also be raised for the switched commodity. The consumer then calls his supplier and the Erroneous Transfer regulations are invoked: the basic principle being that the consumer is put back into the position that he was in had the erroneous transfer not taken place. None of the above appears to have happened. If the transfer to BG for gas never took place, then So is correct that the Erroneous Transfer Regulations do not apply as far as the OP is concerned.

The OP now needs to regularise the situation with So then switch to a supplier of his choice.

Reed_Richards

@[Deleted User] the OP is adamant that when they took over the property both gas and electricity were with Npower.  I agree that there is no evidence that their gas supply was ever with BG but the OP believes that the error occurred at the time they switched their supplier and that their gas ended up with So (under a different name) whilst the electricity was switched to BG as intended.  I myself don't see how that could have happened if the OP was directly responsible for the switch and so made direct contact with BG but if they used some third party then maybe an error like that could happen.  The OP has not given details about how they initiated the switch.