Debt Collection notice from Spark Energy

Welshy31

I rented my flat out in 2018 while I decided whether I wanted to keep it or not, then eventually sold it in 2019. This morning I received a debt collection notice on behalf of Spark Energy for £630, saying that it was outstanding debt.

Now, I haven't lived in the flat for 3 years, and I haven't owned it for 2. I'm really annoyed about this debt (that I don't owe), but I'm super nervous about whether there's still an energy account active somewhere in my name that will continue to accrue more debt. 

I tried calling Spark Energy, but they just keep saying that their lines are no longer active. I called SSE (There was an automatic reply from Spark Energy's email saying that all their customers were being transferred to SSE), but SSE said that they don't have an account there. They said that Octopus energy was now serving that flat - I called Octopus energy who said that they do have an account for that address but it wasn't under my name.

Despite Octopus energy having an account for the flat, I'm still concerned that there's an account open somewhere with Spark, or that Spark have passed onto another company that's in my name that's somehow still running up debt. Can anyone help me? This has been incredibly anxiety inducing

MaryNB

Did you take photos of the meters just before the tenants moved in and close your account? Do you have a copy of the tenancy agreement showing that you were not liable while the tenancy was in place?

Welshy31

I did not take photos of the meters, and I thought that I closed the account with the company I was with (Which wasn't Spark Energy). 

Honestly, I'm annoyed about the £600, but I'll pay it and just be unhappy if that's the cost of not handling this correctly all that time ago.

My primary concern now is that there might still be an account open with Spark Energy that I can't close because Spark have shut down and they're transferring their accounts to other companies. 

MaryNB

Welshy31 said:

I did not take photos of the meters, and I thought that I closed the account with the company I was with (Which wasn't Spark Energy). 

Honestly, I'm annoyed about the £600, but I'll pay it and just be unhappy if that's the cost of not handling this correctly all that time ago.

My primary concern now is that there might still be an account open with Spark Energy that I can't close because Spark have shut down and they're transferring their accounts to other companies. 

Have they provided the dates the debt applies to? 

Either you closed it when the tenants moved it and missed the final bill showing an negative balance of £630. Or (which I expect to be the case given the outstanding amount) the account wasn’t closed, the tenants used energy without setting up their own account and used it under your name.

When you sold the property did the new owner become the occupier? If so they would have set up an account in their name which would have in effect closed your account on the property (if you had not closed it yourself when your tenants moved in). 

Did you explain to SSE that it's an old account relating to that property? They may have misunderstood and thought you were asking about them being the current supplier.

The Octopus account will be for the property but under the new occupier's names. Nothing to do with you.
Your account for that property won't be a live account in the sense that they still should not be charging any energy to you. It will be an old account with a negative balance on it. 

molerat

Did you let the property yourself or do it through an agency ?

Welshy31

MaryNB said:

Have they provided the dates the debt applies to? 

Either you closed it when the tenants moved it and missed the final bill showing an negative balance of £630. Or (which I expect to be the case given the outstanding amount) the account wasn’t closed, the tenants used energy without setting up their own account and used it under your name.

When you sold the property did the new owner become the occupier? If so they would have set up an account in their name which would have in effect closed your account on the property (if you had not closed it yourself when your tenants moved in). 

Did you explain to SSE that it's an old account relating to that property? They may have misunderstood and thought you were asking about them being the current supplier.

The Octopus account will be for the property but under the new occupier's names. Nothing to do with you.
Your account for that property won't be a live account in the sense that they still should not be charging any energy to you. It will be an old account with a negative balance on it. 

The debt collection agency won't give me any details, just that it's an outstanding balance. They're only interested in the money, not where the debt originated. 

My suspicions are that the tenants just used energy under my name, which is something that I should have checked up on. However I was out of the country for the year that I let the flat out (I wasn't sure if I would be coming back or not, which is why I rented it rather than selling up front). 

When I sold it, the new owner did become the occupier. They still live there.

I explained the whole situation to SSE, and they said that there was no account. (Though Spark may not have transferred the account to SSE)

I'm really hoping that with Octopus saying that they have an active energy account for the new occupant, that once I resolve the debt then I don't need to worry about this any more. I'm just nervous that there's some kind of second, active account with my name on it somewhere that Spark is maintaining, even though Octopus are the energy providers for the new occupant. 

Welshy31

molerat said:

Did you let the property yourself or do it through an agency ?

I did it through an agency. I asked them about what to do, and they said that I needed to contact the energy company. They can provide me numbers for the meters, but they won't reach out to the energy companies on my behalf. The problem is that Spark Energy no longer exists and I can't contact them.

knightstyle

IMO a debt collecting agency can do nothing to enforce this debt until they take you to court. If they take you to court you will win, IMO, and probably get a small amount of expenses.
So send Spark and Bulb a SAR each and see what comes as a first step.
When you know more about the debt come back for the next step.

jbryce

Welshy31 said:

MaryNB said:

Have they provided the dates the debt applies to? 

Either you closed it when the tenants moved it and missed the final bill showing an negative balance of £630. Or (which I expect to be the case given the outstanding amount) the account wasn’t closed, the tenants used energy without setting up their own account and used it under your name.

When you sold the property did the new owner become the occupier? If so they would have set up an account in their name which would have in effect closed your account on the property (if you had not closed it yourself when your tenants moved in). 

Did you explain to SSE that it's an old account relating to that property? They may have misunderstood and thought you were asking about them being the current supplier.

The Octopus account will be for the property but under the new occupier's names. Nothing to do with you.
Your account for that property won't be a live account in the sense that they still should not be charging any energy to you. It will be an old account with a negative balance on it. 

The debt collection agency won't give me any details, just that it's an outstanding balance. They're only interested in the money, not where the debt originated. 

My suspicions are that the tenants just used energy under my name, which is something that I should have checked up on. However I was out of the country for the year that I let the flat out (I wasn't sure if I would be coming back or not, which is why I rented it rather than selling up front). 

When I sold it, the new owner did become the occupier. They still live there.

I explained the whole situation to SSE, and they said that there was no account. (Though Spark may not have transferred the account to SSE)

I'm really hoping that with Octopus saying that they have an active energy account for the new occupant, that once I resolve the debt then I don't need to worry about this any more. I'm just nervous that there's some kind of second, active account with my name on it somewhere that Spark is maintaining, even though Octopus are the energy providers for the new occupant. 

Ask for proof of everything. Make it clear that you are prepared to contest it in court. Most likely they will give up eventually. If they don't, it is very unlikely they would win in court anyway.

EssexHebridean

Firstly, if this demand has come from a DCA rather than from Spark themselves then their options beyond being obnoxious are fairly limited. It may be that there is a debt relating to the property but their letter to you is just a fishing trip to see if they can get an easy pay up purely because someone is scared of not paying. They will have likely bought the debt for pennies in the pound so will purely be interested in getting “something” back on it.

As mentioned earlier, the best first port of call is  most likely to be the “Prove it” letter that you will find in the sticky threads over on the Debt Free Wannabe board. That means you can ask the for more information without rising acknowledging the debt in error. 

wild666

Ask the debt company for which period the debt refers too if it's whilst you were the owner pay it, but contest it if the period is whilst you were not the owner of the property.