Ltd Company now dissolved - received a backdated utility bill

tightauldgit

I run a small business which started life as a sole trader then switched to a Ltd company and then back to a sole trader. I was the director of the Ltd company initially along with my wife, who then resigned as director leaving me as the sole director. I dissolved the ltd company back in 2020 as I felt it wasn't worth the hassle of reporting etc. 

I've recently received a surprise and very substantial utility bill which is backdated to 2018/19. I don't have the funds to pay it personally and the dates which it covers relates to the period when the business was run by the Ltd company.

I haven't had the opportunity to confirm whether the bill seems correct (I suspect it isn't as there seems to have been some kind of !!!!!! up at the supplier hence why it took so long to get the bill to me).   

It seems to me that the obvious response to this bill is to write to the supplier and inform them that the period in question relates to when the Ltd company was running the business and that this business has now been dissolved and is no longer trading. 

Would I be opening myself up to any negative consequences if that was the route I pursued?

Jeremy535897

Did you inform the utility company when the business moved to the limited company, and when it moved back to you? Who is the bill addressed to, you or the limited company? Does the utility company continue to supply your sole trader business? Why was the gap in utility bills not spotted earlier?

tightauldgit

We switched suppliers before the ltd company had been dissolved so no this particular supplier was only ever contracted with by the Ltd company. They no longer supply our premises.  

The bill is addressed weirdly to an incorrect variant of the trading name of the business (not to the limited company and not to me personally) which leads me to believe that there is some kind of paperwork !!!!!!-up involved in this at the supplier end. It also looks like they are billing me based on estimates and deemed supply but there should be a contract with the Ltd Company to which the supply relates as I specifically remember that we had a nightmare making the switch with the previous supplier objecting to the switch. I'll have to see what paperwork if any I have relating to all of this. 

I'd have to go back and check my records (as such as they exist) to see if there is a genuine gap in the utility bills or not - without going in to all the gory details there was rather a lot going on in my life during this period and record keeping wasn't always the best. 

I could do without the stress and expense of this at the minute as the business is struggling as it is and I haven't taken a salary from it for some time. At the very least it seems like the supplier need to tie up their records with the Ltd company and the contract that they were on but if the company has already been dissolved then I wonder if there is any need for me to go beyond informing them of that? 
 

Jeremy535897

If this supplier only ever contracted with the limited company, you can explain that the limited company has been dissolved. However, it is open to a creditor to seek to restore a limited company if it believes that this may be a way of getting paid. Did the company have assets that it distributed to members when it was dissolved? It may be best to seek specialist advice.

tightauldgit

It's a weird one.. I don't quite understand why it's taken this long to get a bill or why it's billed to who it's billed to and why it's on an assumed supply rather than a contracted tariff. I think the best first step is to write to the supplier and explain the situation and see if they can make sense of it and provide some clarity. 

Jeremy535897

The only problem with that approach is that you might inadvertently put yourself in a worse position. It might be worth contacting one of the free debt advice companies, or posting on the debt section here. Don't leave it too long, though. It only ever gets worse if left.

tightauldgit

Yes I'll maybe give someone a call on Monday morning. I'm also seeing that a microbusiness can't be billed for energy used more than 12 months ago, so that may also be useful. 

Jeremy535897

If you meet the conditions, see:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/check-energy-back-billing-rules
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/your-small-businesss-energy-supply/your-small-business-cant-afford-its-energy-bills/

tifo

Jeremy535897 said:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/check-energy-back-billing-rules

"You can’t be charged for gas or electricity used more than 12 months ago if you have not been correctly billed for it, or informed about it via a statement of account, before" and "The rules apply to household and small business energy customers" might be useful.

tightauldgit

So I went through challenging this with the supplier on two grounds 1) that it was backbilling and 2) that the company had ceased trading. In response we got the following results:

1) Supplier deemed it not to be back billing, for reasons that they didn't clarify
2) Supplier checked that the company had been dissolved and wrote off the bill!

So that was a result!