E.on next back dating from almost 3 years ago

mrben_2

This is more curiosity than anything else. I was contacted by e.on mid July saying I owed money and if I didn't pay by 31st of July then I'd have a debt on my credit file.

This is from a flat I moved out of almost 3 years ago where the final bill was settled. I've had no communication since then until this letter. I'm told that this is due to re calculations.

Obviously I'm disputing this and will take it to the ombudsman at the 8 week mark.

I was curious if this had happened to anyone else? Seems like a blatant try to get money when it's very obviously not within the permitted time of 12 months.

They also put it on my credit file 10 days before the 31st of July as stated on the letter.

I have submitted an SAR request and have both deadlines set in my calendar. This was almost bad timing as I'd just sorted my mortgage transfer for a house I'm buying, but it could have been very bad for me if they'd driven my credit score down before I'd sorted my mortgage.

Reed_Richards

As a general question to the wise, would Back Billing rules apply in this case? The old account was supposedly closed so it cannot have a credit balance and the bill is for charges from at least 3 years ago.

MWT

In general terms, if the 'recalculation' applies to how payments/credits/refunds have been applied then they could have up to 6 years to correct their mistake, but if they have just found some energy charges that they did not previously apply to the account then it is probably too late to do that now.

sheenas

I had a relative that moved into a property 20 years ago who recently died. It turned out they had been paying the electricity but not the gas. There had been some mix-up with the meter that was never sorted. No energy company was located that owner the meter. The outcome is that even though there was no energy company, the gas network supplier wanted compensation for the gas used. There were no proper meter readings either, so it was a negotiation based on estimations going back the full 20 years. It was a sizable sum as you can imagine.

Scot_39

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6680216/e-on-next-back-dating-from-almost-3-years-ago

Firstly your definitely not the first to have a nominally closed account reviewed.

Suppliers now have teams and systems that go through and check and flag potentially problem (i.e. in potential real debit ) before the debt becomes statute barred (typically 5 in Scot / 6 years across wider UK.)

As above without knowledge of their justification for new debt - its difficult to say whether you will have any protection under back billing.

Any false credits applied to account in error for instance can be reclaimed from example posts here in past. But backbilling could prevent them now finding a few 1000 kWh of unbilled charges.

Id discuss the bill details with EOn to get a clear justification (sad if needed to go sar to get that clarity) and a debt charity / Citizens Advice.