Help! Energy provider switched without my approval and in a different name - now a huge bill

avijendr

Hi - I’ve been with EON since I bought my home in 2013. Last month someone came to check the meter and told we are with utilita. Ive been receiving letters from Utilita to my address (But on a different name, whom I don’t know) so had been ignoring them. Now when I checked my bank statements EON have not taken any payment since March 2019. Now when I opened the last utility letter, it says there is a debt of £3k. Calculating the bill, it is way more than Ive been paying EON. EON average £75 where as Utilita averages £106. I called Eon and they said I need to talk to Utilita. I called Utilita and they were not too helpful. They kept asking me I need to show them my tenancy agreement when I kept on saying I own the house. Now I got a letter from engage saying they going to come in to Disconnect.

Note: I never noticed that EON stopped taking money as I was only checking my outgoings, and moreover the letters were addressed to a different name.

What are my options?

#I am happy to pay this - but 3k is 30% more than my usual bill - Can I ask them to reduce this?
#I  am buying a new home and I can’t pay this 3k (Which is way too much) in one go. 

While typing this - I am on the waiting list of 45 mins trying to speak with utilita customer service.

LippyDoodle

I think you need to contact citizens advice. They will tell you what you need to do. Don't waste any time in contacting them. 

Never ignore letters that come to you especially in a different name. I know it don't make a great deal of sense but someone could have been using your address and someone elses name as a way of creating a realistic credit file and steeling identities. 18 months before my mum passed she was getting alsorts of things coming throught the post. Magazine subscriptions, pre-approved credit cards, sim card, a courier turned up one day with a router from BT and I lost count the amount of times I had to stop her gas and electric being switched. I was for ever on the phone trying to get things stopped. I couldn't understand what they were achieving by doing this until I had to phone Tesco's credit card department. They were the only one's who really took this seriously along with the AA Insurance and said what the person/s were trying to do was create a realistic credit file so not to look suspicious when applying for credit further down the line. We were so greatful they didn't have mum's bank details.

Streaky_Bacon

All very strange. Could be an erroneous switch (e.g. somebody genuinely signed up for Utilita, but put in the wrong address) or could be something else.

Look back at the last communications/bills you received from EON and see if it mentions a switch.

To have this resolved, you should really be moved back to EON and then billed by them for the usage. You should not have any liability to Utilita if you did not consent to switch to them/

Have you taken any meter readings since March 2019?

I would make sure to send a complaint to Utilita (via the Resolver website) telling them that you never signed up with them, and that they need to stop any enforcement action until they deal with your complaint.

Curiousgirl1

It looks like an erroneous transfer although I find it very hard to believe you did not notice that no payments were being taken by Eon for 2 1/2 yrs or that you hadn’t had a bill from them in that time. 

Contact EON and ask them to raise the ET on the basis that the name on the Utilita contract is different to the one they had for your account, however with it being so long ago I’m not sure whether it will be accepted. 

Utilita are perfectly reasonable in asking you for proof of tenancy/ownership. As far as they are concerned they have a customer who signed up to them who now owes them 3k & now someone is saying it’s not them after sending bills, follow up letters & whatever else to the address & having no contact in that whole time. 

Im sure if I started getting letters from an energy company 6 years after I moved into a property in a different name I would be straight on the phone. 

theoretica

Energy costs have been rising over the last few years, not just these last few months, so you will owe more for the energy used than your early 2019 payments.

avijendr

****Update****

Thank you all for the responses. I finally  spoke to someone sensible in Utilita and we spoke for about 30 mins(in between the call got disconnected, but he called me back). He tracked down that someone did a door sales to the person (in who’s name I was getting the posts). He told its an erroneous switch and raised a complaint with the complaints department. As they were not available today, he promised me to call me back on Monday 10:30 to update me and then talk to them. 

He told me usually I don’t need to pay anything but because of this larger sum, he is not sure. He was so apologetic and promised me to resolve this. He told me to call Engage and tell them the update so it would all be fine as there is a record the whole history now. 

I’ll give you all updates on the progress as and when it happens.  

Best regards

avijendr

Utilita are perfectly reasonable in asking you for proof of tenancy/ownership. As far as they are concerned they have a customer who signed up to them who now owes them 3k & now someone is saying it’s not them after sending bills, follow up letters & whatever else to the address & having no contact in that whole time

The guy in Utilita told me when I spoke to them before, the agent didn’t really grasp it well that’s why they asked the tenancy as I told I am the owner and lived here since 2013. He also figured out that EOnwas providing electricity and gas since 2003 in this property. 

To be honest I didn’t even know there was company  called Utilita and I still get letters from the previous owners so I just ignored. It’s difficult for you to notice when money is not being taken from you. 

avijendr

Energy costs have been rising over the last few years, not just these last few months, so you will owe more for the energy used than your early 2019 payments.

Yes that’s true. 

worrywart_3

I hope it gets sorted. But I for one would notice straight away I submit regular meter readings and check my energy usage frequently on the app and check my bank statements daily 🤣

wiseonesomeofthetime

avijendr said:

Utilita are perfectly reasonable in asking you for proof of tenancy/ownership. As far as they are concerned they have a customer who signed up to them who now owes them 3k & now someone is saying it’s not them after sending bills, follow up letters & whatever else to the address & having no contact in that whole time

The guy in Utilita told me when I spoke to them before, the agent didn’t really grasp it well that’s why they asked the tenancy as I told I am the owner and lived here since 2013. He also figured out that EOnwas providing electricity and gas since 2003 in this property. 

To be honest I didn’t even know there was company  called Utilita and I still get letters from the previous owners so I just ignored. It’s difficult for you to notice when money is not being taken from you. 

I would strongly disagree with this statement.

While I am glad you are getting it sorted, I would definitely know if any of my direct debits had not left the account and there were extra funds in there.

Perhaps you're richer than I.

Curiousgirl1

avijendr said:

****Update****

Thank you all for the responses. I finally  spoke to someone sensible in Utilita and we spoke for about 30 mins(in between the call got disconnected, but he called me back). He tracked down that someone did a door sales to the person (in who’s name I was getting the posts). He told its an erroneous switch and raised a complaint with the complaints department. As they were not available today, he promised me to call me back on Monday 10:30 to update me and then talk to them. 

He told me usually I don’t need to pay anything but because of this larger sum, he is not sure. He was so apologetic and promised me to resolve this. He told me to call Engage and tell them the update so it would all be fine as there is a record the whole history now. 

I’ll give you all updates on the progress as and when it happens.  

Best regards

If it goes back to EON on an ET you won’t pay Utilita anything but you will have to pay EON. 
The way it works is that EON will bill you for all of the usage & your initial reads will be the same as the closing reads in 2019 but you won’t get charged the standing charge between the date the supply left & restarts with EON if that makes sense. They then should be able to arrange a payment plan for you.