Question regarding reasonable effort to contact bill supplier

Blender9901

I have recently moved house. 
Prior to the move, I informed my energy provider of the change of address and subsequently, have carried them across.
The new address is listed against my account with that provider. 
It is also actively in credit, with the ongoing government energy grant being paid into the account. 
 
I am now two months into our occupancy and we have yet to receive an energy bill for the address.
We have instead received only one request to enter our meter readings at the start of this two month period, due to a 'failed Smart meter reading'. 
If a smart meter was present, it was removed by the prior owner. 
In any case, my online account does not allow us to enter a manual meter reading digitally.
As far as we are aware, no utilities are currently associated with the account, thus no readings can be added. 

Attempts have been made to contact the supplier to inform them of this. 
So far, they have failed to answer multiple calls within a reasonable time frame (Numerous hours on hold) and once after a lengthy waiting period, hung up on me. 

Following this, i have instead submitted an email to the supplier, highlighting the above information and basically stating that I will be wasting no more time or effort trying to get them to bill me.

This email has been CC'd to both the prior supplier and the Ombudsmen for the sack of creating a paper trail. 
The former has clarified that the house is no longer under there stewardship and that our bill is not being picked up by the prior owner. 
The latter requires further information to open a complaint, however at this stage i am content that they have a record of the email. 
My provider has still not responded. 

My question thus pertains to reasonable effort.  
I believe the above constitutes it. An opinion coloured by the fact that I am also sick to death of the hold music. 
I am now planning on tucking the estimated cost into a savings account for the foreseeable and will wait for the bill to drop through the letterbox, either next week or preferably, outside of 12 months. We have our initial meter readings noted for when this occurs..


So, with that in mind:
Is there any rationale against following this course and instead attempting further contact. 


Cheers in advance. 



 

MorningcoffeeIV

The previous owner won't have removed the smart meter. Look for it under the stairs or outside on the wall. You'll find it somewhere. 

When you find it, send them the readings they asked for by whatever means are available (you should have also taken readings when you moved in - otherwise, you're reliant on the previous owner's readings.  That will help resolve things.

Blender9901

MorningcoffeeIV said:

The previous owner won't have removed the smart meter. Look for it under the stairs or outside on the wall. You'll find it somewhere. 

When you find it, send them the readings they asked for by whatever means are available (you should have also taken readings when you moved in - otherwise, you're reliant on the previous owner's readings.  That will help resolve things.

To clarify this, there is nothing within our fuse box or meter that appears to have been installed after the 1990's.  
I doubt a smart meter was ever present. 

TheMilkmansDad

Did you register with the current supplier when you moved in? If not, then I'd suggest you contact them with dates and opening meter reads. Do no not rely on your previous supplier to transfer your tariff over (not many do so this in itself is a concern). You will not have been billed probably because the existing supplier has blocked the transfer as you had not registered with them - you'll still need to pay them until the transfer has completed.

Just also to clarify - is this gas and electric suppliers or just electric?

[Deleted User]

MorningcoffeeIV said:

The previous owner won't have removed the smart meter. Look for it under the stairs or outside on the wall. You'll find it somewhere. 

Don’t be too sure. I was chatting to an Octopus installer last week who, until recently, worked for E.oN’s Revenue Protection team. He was telling me that suppliers are now increasing numbers of smart meters for sale on auction sites - along with numerous IHDs.

Blender9901

This is for both Gas and Electricity 

And, as stated, the prior supplier has been contacted and has confirmed that they hold no interest in the property. 
They have also confirmed that the current supplier is listed as my prior. 
I have zero doubt this is the case. 

To reiterate, my current supplier have asked for a meter reading, which due to limitations in there communications and online profile, I have been unable to provide.  

TheMilkmansDad

Blender9901 said:

This is for both Gas and Electricity 

And, as stated, the prior supplier has been contacted and has confirmed that they hold no interest in the property. 
They have also confirmed that the current supplier is listed as my prior. 
I have zero doubt this is the case. 

To reiterate, my current supplier have asked for a meter reading, which due to limitations in there communications and online profile, I have been unable to provide.  

So you do have a meter read you just can't get it to them? Who is the supplier in question, this might help in how to resolve the situation.

[Deleted User]

If the supplier has requested a meter reading, then it has met its Licence Conditions and BackBilling will not apply. 

Which supplier is it? Someone might be able to help you post your meter readings.

Blender9901

The supplier is EON. 

Blender9901

Dolor said:

If the supplier has requested a meter reading, then it has met its Licence Conditions and BackBilling will not apply. 

Which supplier is it? Someone might be able to help you post your meter readings.

I am resending the original complaint/statement email periodically. 
Will ensure to update this to include both the initial and current readings. 
Presumably that will fulfil my counter obligation to provide them. 

mr_stripey

I am sure you are already doing this but it would be prudent to put aside a chunk of money each month for when you eventually do get billed.

I had a similar issue where my supplier did not bill me for over six months after taking over the property. I allocated £100 or so per month (it was a while ago) so when they finally did "collect" £ 900 in one lump it wasn't an issue