Debt demand following gas acct transfer error from Avro to Octopus in Sept 2021

beefheart1

In Sept 2021, Octopus Energy informed me that my Avro Energy account was moving to them. I did not have to do anything, the payments would stay the same and I would not have to fill in a new direct debit. I was happy to proceed with this.

They sent me a link to submit Final Avro Gas & Electricity meter readings, but I informed them that there was no option for submitting a Final Gas reading. I explained that with Avro, for the previous couple of months, there had been an issue with them being unable to recognise my gas meter, which hadn’t been resolved. So, I sent photos of both the final electric and gas meter readings, just so that they had them anyway.

Octopus replied advising me not to worry and that they would resolve the matter once they had all the details from Avro.

I was then set up with an Octopus account, with the first statement showing a Final Gas & Electricity Bill statement from Avro and assumed that everything was set up for Gas & Electricity.

Recently, I rang Octopus about a query on my gas account, only to be told that they did not hold my gas account. I was shocked and explained that I transferred to from Avro etc, but they were adamant that the they only held my  electricity account. 

Obviously, I was very concerned and in trying to find out who my gas provider was, I went onto the Ofgem website and found a Find My Supplier link. When I entered my address, it stated that my gas supplier was in fact Scottish Power.

I contacted them, gave them the meter number, explained the situation, and they confirmed that they had been the gas suppliers since July 2021 and that there was a debt of £3482.29 owing up to 29/06/23, which they are now demanding.

I’ve never had an account with Scottish Power and they never sent me a demand or bill during the debt period. I just assumed that I was paying my gas to Octopus all that time.

I’ve informed Octopus, who have admitted a major failing in not checking the industry national database to see if Avro was my supplier at the time of the account transfer, but have not accepted responsibility for the debt amount and have offered to refund the difference between their unit rates & Avro’s and look at an additional goodwill for the error on their part of not carrying out the proper investigation at the time of transfer resulting in this large bill.

I have contacted the Energy Ombudsman, but they can’t get involved for another 4 weeks and the Energy Consumer helpline has suggested that this could be a case of Erroneous Transfer and that any debt repayment should be subject to back billing anyway. 

So, before I go back to both companies I was wondering whether there is anyone who could kindly shed some light on my situation regarding my rights, whether this is an erroneous transfer, and where the liability for this debt lies. 

Thanking you in advance

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

Avro Energy went bust in September 2021. If SP have been supplying you since July 2021, the transfer happened while you were still an Avro customer and is not related to Avro's insolvency. (This might also explain the problems you had with Avro's gas billing for those months.).

Scottish Power's standard variable rates for gas have not been significantly different to Octopus's for the majority of time that you have been an unwitting SP customer. You are unlikely to be any worse off as a result of this transfer. I agree that you should also be protected by the back billing rules, and should onle expect to be charged for the past 12 months of gas use.

Are you looking for anything else at this time?

CSI_Yorkshire

Responsibility for the debt?  You.

You used the gas, which you haven't paid for.

You're likely to get away without paying for most of it because SP and Octopus have both messed up though.

beefheart1

Thanks so much, that really helps. I will contact SP and push to proceed on a back billing basis. I understand that this gas has hasn’t been paid for, but I thought that it was being paid for. If I would’ve been made aware of this situation during the early stages following the transfer, then I could’ve have budgeted accordingly to accommodate the increase. I just didn’t know.  

Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate your time. 

[Deleted User]

I agree that you should also be protected by the back billing rules, and should onle expect to be charged for the past 12 months of gas use.

If SP has taken over the account in good faith then it is clearly billing someone - albeit, not the correct consumer. I am not sure that BB would apply. The ‘normal’ rules on erroneous transfers is that the account should be transferred back to the correct supplier, and the consumer should be charged as if he/she had never left. However, the time elapsed since the erroneous transfer might be a factor. 

badger09

beefheart1 said:

Thanks so much, that really helps. I will contact SP and push to proceed on a back billing basis. I understand that this gas has hasn’t been paid for, but I thought that it was being paid for. If I would’ve been made aware of this situation during the early stages following the transfer, then I could’ve have budgeted accordingly to accommodate the increase. I just didn’t know.  

Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate your time. 

Clearly there has been some error if you were unaware of your gas switch to Scottish Power in July 2021. 

However I find it incredible that, between then and your ‘recent’ call to Octopus, you didn’t notice that there were no charges whatsoever for your gas consumption. 

Incidentally, what was the nature of your query on your, non existent, gas account?