Eon Heat - communal heating, trying to charge me for useage 4 years ago

rikkyshh

Hello

in short, i moved out of a property back in 2020, i was there from mid 2018.
we were unaware of the heating being provided by Eon Heat. It is communal heating.
The check in and check out report did not show the meter number or reading and we were unaware that this unit provided heat to the home.

Eon are now chasing me for £1500 for a period of 18months of heating.

It was an electric only supply in the flat, no gas.

I spoke with Eon and until 2023 they had not received an actual meter reading so it seems like the estate agency did not know about it either.

where do I stand? i want to dispute these charges as the bill is only based on estimated readings. we were unaware of the unit and that heat was seperate.

They made no effort to contact me whilst I was at the property.
The estate agents made no effort to contact me regarding this since we vacated
The landlord made no effort to chase this up assuming Eon reverted back to him/her

the tenancy agreement makes no mention of who is responsible for providing meter readings

from what I understand, back billing protection may come into play here?
and an accurate actual meter reading bill must be provided at least once a year?

Brie

do you still have your tenancy agreement?  that would outline what you were responsible for.  I would guess that this might have been a business account rather than a private/personal one so different rules may apply.  

it may come down to you submitting subject access requests (SARs) to your LL, the agent and to Eon as well.  It's possible that you were never even named on the policy until some time after you left.

rikkyshh

i have the AST, they didnt even have my name. they said they only just got my mobile number.

aside from deductions to my deposit, the only other mention of utilities is as below

"If the Tenant vacates the Property during the Term apart from according to any agreed break clause

which is included within the Agreement, the Tenant will remain liable to pay Rent and any other

utilities payable under this agreement until the Term expires; or the property is re-let whichever is

earlier."

MWT

rikkyshh said:

from what I understand, back billing protection may come into play here?
and an accurate actual meter reading bill must be provided at least once a year?

Those rules are applicable only to the supply of electricity and gas, not to communal heating schemes.

They are also allowed to use estimated apportionment of the costs, they are not required to use a metered reading unless there are actually heat meters fitted...

You should check your tenancy agreement for the obligation to pay for the heating.

rikkyshh

MWT said:

rikkyshh said:

from what I understand, back billing protection may come into play here?
and an accurate actual meter reading bill must be provided at least once a year?

Those rules are applicable only to the supply of electricity and gas, not to communal heating schemes.

They are also allowed to use estimated apportionment of the costs, they are not required to use a metered reading unless there are actually heat meters fitted...

You should check your tenancy agreement for the obligation to pay for the heating.

If the AST makes no mention of it, who is liable? It just says the quote which I copied above in that if I leave before the term ends I'm liable. The only other thing it mentions is deductions to the desposit for outstanding balances but I've got my deposit back and this is now 4 years after I've moved out. 

MWT

rikkyshh said:

If the AST makes no mention of it, who is liable? It just says the quote which I copied above in that if I leave before the term ends I'm liable.

The bit you quoted says that you 'remain liable' which implies you are already liable for utilities under normal circumstances which is what you'd expect from a rental unless it explicitly includes utilities.

During the time you were there you must have used the heating/hot water, how did you think that was being provided/paid for?

Even with an AST I'd have expected there to be some mention of responsibility for utilities other than just that one clause for early termination.