£122k Electricity Invoice for late bar Help Needed

Clubowner83

Hi Folks, 

I joined today as really need some help with a large invoice received.

Me & My brother used our inheritance and savings to open a late bar and club back in December 2017.Well we signed the lease in 2017 but  we opened April 2018 after a total refurb and only trade Friday, Saturday and Sunday if a bank holiday, opening 9.30pm to 4.00am.

The electricity company was sending bills addressed to the Occupiers, we paid them at the local pay point using Cash, the invoices only amounted to around £29 a month. We never updated the company to be honest and I know that was a stupid thing to do. 

We had cards from meter readers, letters etc but the site was never manned during the day so they never gained access to read the meter and we just continued to pay the small bills.

A few weeks back we had a deep cleaning and a meter reader comes in, I panic and tell him I don't know where the meter is, but one of the cleaners said it's in the cupboard and took him too it. You can probably guess what happens next.

Last week we get a welcome to our company new tenant letter asking us to call them to update the details (still addressed to the Occupier) and a bill for just over £122k.

I know I have been a total idiot for not updating my details, but do the electricity company have a share of the blame here? I thought they had a duty of care to make sure the correct party is being billed? And also I thought you could not be back billed over 12 months?

Any help would be great. 

EssexHebridean

The correct party WAS being billed - they were billing "the occupier" - and you were indeed "The Occupier" were you not? 

As soon as you took possession of the premises you became their customer - whether they knew your name or not. 

Do you still by any chance have the meter reading you took on entry? 

DE_612183

You had bills addressed to the occupier which you knew were for you - as you paid them.
You knew they were too small but you did nothing.
You knew what would happen if a real reading was ever obtained which it did.

The fault lies wholly with you.

I would suggest you best way forward is to speak to the electricity company and see if you can come to some arrangement.

I would suggest you work out what your actual weekly / monthly usage is - then agree to pay that plus a set amount on top per week / month.

It looks like you have had more or less no electricity charges for 4 years, so I would hope that the company would allow you that long to pay off the amount - that should be your starting point in the conversation ( also say sorry! ).

DE_612183

One other point - you have probably had all the usage billed at "todays" rates - you may find that they should retrospectively "smooth" the usage over the whole 4 years which may save you some money - had you been registered as the customer you could have probably had a cheaper tariff as well - but I would think it's too late for that now.

Clubowner83

We did not take reads when we took over unfortunately, and yes I have checked all the invoices this weekend and we have only been billed for 18 units, standing charge and vat. So clearly the company presumed it was empty still.

I get it, we have been total idiots here. 

pochase

Back billing rules will not apply here as you made it impossible for them to get a meter reading. You were aware they sent meter readers repeatedly and did nothing about it, neither contacted them to give them access nor gave them a meter reading yourself.

If you have behaved unreasonably, your supplier could bill you for the full amount. Unreasonable behaviour includes:  

• not allowing the supplier access to read your meters without a good reason

• stealing electricity or gas

 Going from the above they are justified in asking for the full cost of the energy you used. 

As they don't have your details on the bill I assume you never gave a opening reading and opened the account?

Is the opening reading at least correct? Not that you will be able to do anything after 4 years about it.

I also assume that you are on a deemed business tariff, most likely the most expensive possible. You are been charged £2440 per month.

What are the unit rates and standing charges you are charged. You might need at least to get something cheaper than the deemed tariff now to avoid more unnecessary csot.

Clubowner83

The price plan just states Deemed E7,  looks like changed every now an again. and yes it's just from the same read as the May bill straight to the reading obtained. I will give them a call and hopefully come to an agreement on the prices and billing. Thanks for the advice everyone. Lesson learned 

glennevis

pochase said:

Back billing rules will not apply here as you made it impossible for them to get a meter reading. 

Not the only 'rule' which does not apply. As this is a business transaction consumer law does not apply.

Sea_Shell

It could've been worse..you could have been fully open and trading during Covid and have used even more electricity!!

Hopefully you can come to a payment agreement.

MWT

Clubowner83 said:

Last week we get a welcome to our company new tenant letter asking us to call them to update the details (still addressed to the Occupier) and a bill for just over £122k.

I know I have been a total idiot for not updating my details, but do the electricity company have a share of the blame here? I thought they had a duty of care to make sure the correct party is being billed? And also I thought you could not be back billed over 12 months?

Any help would be great.

This was a business account, so forget all the 'duty of care' and 'back-billing' stuff, none of that applies.

Deemed out of contract business tariffs are hideously expensive which is why you should have got your business signed up for a contract as soon as you took possession, the actual bill would have been a lot lower had you done so...

No way to sugar-coat this, you've made a hideous mistake by ducking a very basic responsibility as a new business owner and the best you can do now is check that the meter readings do actually match the readings which I sincerely hope you took when you moved in, and the current meter readings which you can check now.

About the only other person you could blame would be your accountant, didn't they ever query your obviously far too low electricity costs? ... or do you do your own accounts and file taxes...

JohnPo

Clubowner83 said:

Hi Folks, 

I joined today as really need some help with a large invoice received.

Me & My brother used our inheritance and savings to open a late bar and club back in December 2017.Well we signed the lease in 2017 but  we opened April 2018 after a total refurb and only trade Friday, Saturday and Sunday if a bank holiday, opening 9.30pm to 4.00am.

Question, what is your trading entity, partnership, limited company etc? Who signed the leases, yourselves as individuals or a trading entity - it matters as 'the occupier' is responsible.

An unexpected bill of that size could push into insolvency a startup limited company - in which case you may not be personally liable, but if you signed the leases as individuals and it was you as individuals who occupied the premises then you might need to get your own advice on the matter.