No bills for energy since Symbio went bust

MultiFuelBurner

Anyone else got no bills since Symbio went?

From my records they went bust October 2021 and I have lots of emails from Eon Next and nothing since.

jbuchanangb

My transfer from Symbio to E.ON Next went OK. I hope you have been stashing some funds away to pay for your electricity. You should contact E.ON Next and get it sorted out.

MultiFuelBurner

We are not a heavy electricity user so don't think it will be a great deal of money. Our heat and hot water comes from the stove back boiler. We have three stoves around the house and a cheap supply of wood.

Part of me just wants to see how this plays out and for how long. What are the laws on this for me am I liable for not making contact?

macman

No, you are merely liable for any amount still owing, for up to 6 years. It's not up to you to chase the billing, that's the job of the administrators or whoever Symbio was SoLR'd to.
Assuming you took reads at the date they ceased trading, you should be able to work out approx how much you owe them, or they owe you.

Reed_Richards

macman said:

No, you are merely liable for any amount still owing, for up to 6 years. It's not up to you to chase the billing, that's the job of the administrators or whoever Symbio was SoLR'd to.
Assuming you took reads at the date they ceased trading, you should be able to work out approx how much you owe them, or they owe you.

Symbio customers were transferred to E.onNext.  The problem with working out how much you owe will be that the unit price of electricity keeps changing.  You might also find that you have lost the £400 Government subsidy that you would have received had you been getting bills. 

macman

Symbio went under in September '21, long before prices started to soar.  My reading of the OP is that they are being billed now by Eon, but have never received a final billing from Symbio? Are Eon taking a DD? In which case all their EBSS credits should have been made by Eon. Perhaps the OP can clarify.

MultiFuelBurner

A bit more info when we first heard Symbio were going under we didn't follow their advice and leave the DD in place we left it and ended up owing them £33 when they finally went bust.

Since then no DD or bill from Eon.

Newcad

If there hasn't been any billing ("Charge recovery action") at all then you might be interested in The Electricity Act 1989 Standard conditions of electricity supply licence, section 21BA (1)(a)(b)

Ofgem consolidated conditions, see page 149: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/2020/07/electricity_supply_standard_license_conditions.pdf

"Condition 21BA. Backbilling

Part A: application to Domestic Customers

Prohibition

21BA.1 Subject to paragraph 21BA.2, where the licensee or any Representative Issues a Bill to a Domestic
Customer or otherwise seeks to recover (including via a Prepayment Meter) Charges for the Supply of Electricity
from that customer (hereafter a “charge recovery action”), they must only do so in respect of:

(a) units of electricity which could reasonably be considered to have been consumed within the 12 months preceding the date the charge recovery action was taken; and

(b) where applicable, amounts in respect of a Standing Charge or any other type of supply charge accrued within the 12 months preceding the date the charge recovery action was taken."

Which means that if they haven't been billing for more than 12 months then when they do eventually bill they can only bill for the previous 12 months before the date of that bill.

I'm currently in dispute with my previous supplier (Scottish Power) over this point.
They hadn't been billing for years and were quick to acknowledge that they are not allowed to back-bill for more than 12 months in such situations, but they are still trying to back-bill me for 22 months before a bill was produced.

TheMilkmansDad

I think I'm right in saying that back billing only applies if you have made reasonable attempts to contact the supplier, judging by the above I think this has not happened.

OP needs to contact Eon and get the ball rolling, the longer you leave it he more potential problems may arise.

MultiFuelBurner

Newcad said:

If there hasn't been any billing ("Charge recovery action") at all then you might be interested in The Electricity Act 1989 Standard conditions of electricity supply licence, section 21BA (1)(a)(b)

Ofgem consolidated conditions, see page 149: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/2020/07/electricity_supply_standard_license_conditions.pdf

"Condition 21BA. Backbilling

Part A: application to Domestic Customers

Prohibition

21BA.1 Subject to paragraph 21BA.2, where the licensee or any Representative Issues a Bill to a Domestic
Customer or otherwise seeks to recover (including via a Prepayment Meter) Charges for the Supply of Electricity
from that customer (hereafter a “charge recovery action”), they must only do so in respect of:

(a) units of electricity which could reasonably be considered to have been consumed within the 12 months preceding the date the charge recovery action was taken; and

(b) where applicable, amounts in respect of a Standing Charge or any other type of supply charge accrued within the 12 months preceding the date the charge recovery action was taken."

Which means that if they haven't been billing for more than 12 months then when they do eventually bill they can only bill for the previous 12 months before the date of that bill.

I'm currently in dispute with my previous supplier (Scottish Power) over this point.
They hadn't been billing for years and were quick to acknowledge that they are not allowed to back-bill for more than 12 months in such situations, but they are still trying to back-bill me for 22 months before a bill was produced.

That's very interesting thanks for this information.

So one might suggest as someone else appointed Eon Next to take over Symbio customers it's not for me to make that contact. This should have been part of another process?

I think I will just sit tight and smile every month that ticks by

SAC2334

MultiFuelBurner said:

Newcad said:

If there hasn't been any billing ("Charge recovery action") at all then you might be interested in The Electricity Act 1989 Standard conditions of electricity supply licence, section 21BA (1)(a)(b)

Ofgem consolidated conditions, see page 149: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/2020/07/electricity_supply_standard_license_conditions.pdf

"Condition 21BA. Backbilling

Part A: application to Domestic Customers

Prohibition

21BA.1 Subject to paragraph 21BA.2, where the licensee or any Representative Issues a Bill to a Domestic
Customer or otherwise seeks to recover (including via a Prepayment Meter) Charges for the Supply of Electricity
from that customer (hereafter a “charge recovery action”), they must only do so in respect of:

(a) units of electricity which could reasonably be considered to have been consumed within the 12 months preceding the date the charge recovery action was taken; and

(b) where applicable, amounts in respect of a Standing Charge or any other type of supply charge accrued within the 12 months preceding the date the charge recovery action was taken."

Which means that if they haven't been billing for more than 12 months then when they do eventually bill they can only bill for the previous 12 months before the date of that bill.

I'm currently in dispute with my previous supplier (Scottish Power) over this point.
They hadn't been billing for years and were quick to acknowledge that they are not allowed to back-bill for more than 12 months in such situations, but they are still trying to back-bill me for 22 months before a bill was produced.

That's very interesting thanks for this information.

So one might suggest as someone else appointed Eon Next to take over Symbio customers it's not for me to make that contact. This should have been part of another process?

I think I will just sit tight and smile every month that ticks by

IMO you are not making a "reasonable effort " to get correct billing . This will probably stop the 12 month back billing from operating as this back billing is not a rule set in stone . 
 . Sitting back and smiling every month could go on for a decade .
 I  have seen occupiers evading billing for over  10 years . Is that acceptable to you ? The suppliers are so badly run and dopey thats what can happen .