Erroneous transfers????

debbiea_3

Hi there,

I am having an electricity supply nightmare and would greatly appreciate some advice!

I moved my electricity to EDF energy early last year and have since had too many issues to list here!!! My main concern however is that in Sept 07 British Gas erroneously took control of our electricity supply. It then took me 5 mths to get them to give it back to EDF. Here is how the story unfolds:

In Sept 07 I received a letter from EDF saying "sorry you are leaving, blah, blah" which was the first that I new that I was leaving! Following a phonecall to EDF I learned I was supposed to be moving to British Gas.

Anyway to cut a long story short in Feb 08 I got my electricity supply back to EDF but now they have billed me for the period that I was erroneously transferred to British Gas (Sept 07 - Feb 08). I have been told by some that I should not have to pay for this period as I had no contract with them British Gas and it doesn't seem like I should be paying EDF for Energy not being supplied by them for that period.

EDF claim that I was still contractually obliged to them for the period of the erroneous transfer. Surely if they send me a letter saying sorry you are leaving I am not longer contractually linked to them?

In Jan 08 shortly before my elec supply was returned to EDF they even asked me for a meter reading. Surely this point represents a new contractual period with EDF leaving a limbo between Sept and Feb.

Does anyone have any idea what my legal rights are here? Should I be paying EDF even though they weren't my supplier at the time???? If I owe anyone money surely it would be BG but they illegally took my supply over so surely that can't be the case.

Sorry for the long post but this is a head scratcher for me!!!!

Thanks

UtilityMan_3

Erroneous Transfer - Transfer in Error

Your supply reverts to your original supplier, as if the transfer never happened.

Therefore, you have always been with EDF and nothing "really" happened, it was all a bad dream!

Sorry, but you owe the money to EDF, although it took forever, so I would ask for some form of compensation, the minimum they can offer is 12 months to pay the arrears as it was no fauly of yours.

Premier_2

You have to pay for the electricity you have used.

The question is, should that be to EDF or to British Gas.

If I was in that situation, I would first confirm with British Gas that they would not be attempting to bill me for the time in question. If they confirm they have no intention of billing you (since you did not actually have any contract with British Gas if it was transferred erroneously), then pay EDF the money.

If, however, British Gas claim you did have a contract with them for that period and so will be billing you for consumption during that time, then you need to get BG and EDF to talk together and decide who should be billing you. You certainly shouldn't be paying twice for the same electric used.

Joyful

Utility Man is correct. The words "Erroneous Transfer" show that the supply was taken in error and the original company that should have billed will bill continuously. BG will close their account to the same read as day +one so no bill from them. EDF will bill as if you never left them. They will open their account to the same read they closed it when it left them.

BexTech

I moved from PowerGen to EDF then about 6 weeks later PowerGen tried to take back one of the accounts (forget whether it was Gas or Electric) I was with EDF (SWEB) on Online V1 Dual Fuel, EDF filled out the Erroneous Transfer details for me and it was quickly sorted out - quickly in it took about 4 weeks, the V1 tariff was no more as they dropped it not long after signing up and it was for dual fuel only, but they sorted all that out, putting me on the rates I should have been on from the start and as above billed me as if I was with them all the time, with PowerGen it was as if I wasn't back with them for those 4 weeks.

debbiea_3

Thanks very much for the replies. Its great to get advice on these things!

Seems pretty clear I wasn't lucky enough to be getting free electricity for those 5 mths;) .