Seemingly crazy SSE gas bill.

Alnat1

Does you first bill from SSE show an opening balance of zero or have you taken on your neighbours debt/credit? The fact that there is no named account holder (the occupier) could also be important.

Can you legally be responsible for an energy account that is not in your name and was opened by someone else?

Alnat1

Surely you can only be responsible for any usage from SSE from the date you received the meter key from them? Have you any copies of the paperwork that came with it?

Can you access your SSE account online and see if records go back before you got the key? Is there a meter reading around the time?

GeoffreyDee

Alnat1 said:

Surely you can only be responsible for any usage from SSE from the date you received the meter key from them? Have you any copies of the paperwork that came with it?

Can you access your SSE account online and see if records go back before you got the key? Is there a meter reading around the time?

The furthest back that the SSE account goes is to Jan 2021. I couldn't even access that information until recently because I had given up trying to engage with SSE. Every time I called or messaged them, they asked for my name, discovered that they didn't have my name on their system and stopped talking to me. Instead they wanted to talk to the mysterious 'occupier'. Only when I put my name as The Occupier on their website did it let see what I owed and the list of estimate readings. I have a complete set of annual bills from SSE (one for each quarter) 

As I've said before, I was both totally confused about how utilities worked and behind on paying them, but there is a difference between 500 pounds behind for three guys and 3700 behind. Especially given that I never interacted with SSE or asked for an account with them. 

GeoffreyDee

GeoffreyDee said:

Alnat1 said:

Surely you can only be responsible for any usage from SSE from the date you received the meter key from them? Have you any copies of the paperwork that came with it?

Can you access your SSE account online and see if records go back before you got the key? Is there a meter reading around the time?

The furthest back that the SSE account goes is to Jan 2021. I couldn't even access that information until recently because I had given up trying to engage with SSE. Every time I called or messaged them, they asked for my name, discovered that they didn't have my name on their system and stopped talking to me. Instead they wanted to talk to the mysterious 'occupier'. Only when I put my name as The Occupier on their website did it let see what I owed and the list of estimate readings. I have a complete set of annual bills from SSE (one for each quarter) 

As I've said before, I was both totally confused about how utilities worked and behind on paying them, but there is a difference between 500 pounds behind for three guys and 3700 behind. Especially given that I never interacted with SSE or asked for an account with them. 

The first bit of bill I've got is from 5th Nov 2020 to 19th Jan 2021. I definitely was not with SSE at that time - I was with spark until the 30th of Dec 2020. 

Gerry1

GeoffreyDee said:

Thanks Gerry. My meter is actually at the bottom of a boiler cupboard inside my bedroom. This contributed to my laxity regarding checking what it was or what it did (Diagnosis: 20 yr old) but would it be worth still running the check you mentioned even though it's not publicly accessible?

There's less risk that the meter is supplying a different flat, but it's no bad thing to satisfy yourself that the meter isn't clocking up usage when it shouldn't, that it's not wildly inaccurate and to familiarise yourself with the metrology light that flashes according to the instantaneous usage.

QrizB

One more question from me.

When you took out the tenancy in June 2019, did you agree opening meter readings with you landlord/agent? They could be recorded on your tenancy agreement or inventory. If they aren't recorded, would you be able to contact your landlord/agent and ask for them?

GeoffreyDee

QrizB said:

One more question from me.

When you took out the tenancy in June 2019, did you agree opening meter readings with you landlord/agent? They could be recorded on your tenancy agreement or inventory. If they aren't recorded, would you be able to contact your landlord/agent and ask for them?

The inventory in the flat appears to only pertain to the physical stuff like chairs and carpets rather than utility details. When I moved in the electricity meter was about £50 in debt and I couldn't work out how to turn it on, so had no lights or energy for the first day until the property company came out and paid it off. I signed up with some sort of joint (cross selling mischief) deal left on the table by the landlord which included Spark for energy and Home Telecom for broadband (which turned into an expensive joke) 

I will email my letting agency and see if they have any records at all. 

GeoffreyDee

QrizB said:

One more question from me.

When you took out the tenancy in June 2019, did you agree opening meter readings with you landlord/agent? They could be recorded on your tenancy agreement or inventory. If they aren't recorded, would you be able to contact your landlord/agent and ask for them?

I've gone through my email archives and found one from Spark. I signed up with them on the 9th of June 2019 for a monthly billed gas and pay as you go electricity meter. Do you think it is likely that they have data stored on my account number which they could send me? A final bill or summary of charges or something like that? 

QrizB

GeoffreyDee said:

QrizB said:

One more question from me.

When you took out the tenancy in June 2019, did you agree opening meter readings with you landlord/agent? They could be recorded on your tenancy agreement or inventory. If they aren't recorded, would you be able to contact your landlord/agent and ask for them?

I've gone through my email archives and found one from Spark. I signed up with them on the 9th of June 2019 for a monthly billed gas and pay as you go electricity meter. Do you think it is likely that they have data stored on my account number which they could send me? A final bill or summary of charges or something like that? 

You can certainly ask them; they should have records of your account, including the meter readings it was opened and closed on. You could go so far as to ask for copies of all your bills from the time you were with them.