EON energy chasing old payment

MBEdmondson · 14 December 2018 at 9:21PM

Hi all,

Between 2012-2014 when I was a student I was renting a house with some friends and our contract stated that we were not responsible for any of our utility bills and that this was all to be paid by our landlord. Shortly after leaving the property in 2014, which EON knew we were no longer there, I received a letter from EON stating that i owed £240. I contacted them to say that I was just a student tenant there at the time and I was not responsible for the utility bills and that the landlord was, I also provided proof of this with my tenancy agreement and provided the landlord contact details. This was pretty much ignored and I continued to receive the same letters which I always replied to in the same way as above. Eventually I became frustrated and wrote to the providing the same details again and stated that this was beginning to feel like harassment and if it continued I would seek legal action. Since then I never heard from them again.

Now 4 years later i have recently received a letter from EON again saying I owe £340 and that the account has been passed on to a third party collector. It's worth mentioning that no once throughout this or now has an EON energy account ever showed up on my credit report, nor have I ever had any other form of account with them. With so much time having passed I know longer have my previous landlords contact details or a copy of my old tenancy agreement, I was just wondering if anyone had any advice to what my next move should be or what my position is legally in this matter?

Thanks.

wavelets · 14 December 2018 at 10:02PM

MBEdmondson wrote: »

Hi all,

Between 2012-2014 when I was a student I was renting a house with some friends and our contract stated that we were not responsible for any of our utility bills and that this was all to be paid by our landlord. Shortly after leaving the property in 2014, which EON knew we were no longer there, I received a letter from EON stating that i owed £240. I contacted them to say that I was just a student tenant there at the time and I was not responsible for the utility bills and that the landlord was, I also provided proof of this with my tenancy agreement and provided the landlord contact details. This was pretty much ignored and I continued to receive the same letters which I always replied to in the same way as above. Eventually I became frustrated and wrote to the providing the same details again and stated that this was beginning to feel like harassment and if it continued I would seek legal action. Since then I never heard from them again.

Now 4 years later i have recently received a letter from EON again saying I owe £340 and that the account has been passed on to a third party collector. It's worth mentioning that no once throughout this or now has an EON energy account ever showed up on my credit report, nor have I ever had any other form of account with them. With so much time having passed I know longer have my previous landlords contact details or a copy of my old tenancy agreement, I was just wondering if anyone had any advice to what my next move should be or what my position is legally in this matter?

Thanks.

Seeing as your credit history has not been affected by this, then do nothing until they take you to court, and then explain why you don't agree you owe the money to the judge

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc · 27 December 2018 at 11:31AM

MBEdmondson wrote: »

Hi all,

Between 2012-2014 when I was a student I was renting a house with some friends and our contract stated that we were not responsible for any of our utility bills and that this was all to be paid by our landlord. Shortly after leaving the property in 2014, which EON knew we were no longer there, I received a letter from EON stating that i owed £240. I contacted them to say that I was just a student tenant there at the time and I was not responsible for the utility bills and that the landlord was, I also provided proof of this with my tenancy agreement and provided the landlord contact details. This was pretty much ignored and I continued to receive the same letters which I always replied to in the same way as above. Eventually I became frustrated and wrote to the providing the same details again and stated that this was beginning to feel like harassment and if it continued I would seek legal action. Since then I never heard from them again.

Now 4 years later i have recently received a letter from EON again saying I owe £340 and that the account has been passed on to a third party collector. It's worth mentioning that no once throughout this or now has an EON energy account ever showed up on my credit report, nor have I ever had any other form of account with them. With so much time having passed I know longer have my previous landlords contact details or a copy of my old tenancy agreement, I was just wondering if anyone had any advice to what my next move should be or what my position is legally in this matter?

Thanks.

Hello MBEdmondson and welcome to the Forums.

It sounds like there's a dispute as to when the old account (2012-2014) closed. As your tenancy included all utility bills, I suspect this account was in the name of the landlord or their agents for the length of your tenancy. Once you had moved out, the account will have been closed based on the details we'll have been given by the landlord/agents or the incoming tenants.

I'm guessing there's a mismatch between the date you moved out and the start of a new account for the incoming tenants. This interim period is probably what the bill of £240 refers to.

Given the age of the debt and that you mention it's been passed to a Debt Collection Agency, they'll now be looking after this. They'll send a letter to let you know they're involved. As you say the debt isn't yours, please speak to this agency first giving as much supporting evidence as possible. Contact details will be on their letter. If necessary, the agency will talk to a specialist team here about any amendments.

Sorry for all the speculation MBEdmondson and if my guesswork is off track.

Malc

twhitehousescat · 27 December 2018 at 12:03PM

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Hello MBEdmondson and welcome to the Forums.

It sounds like there's a dispute as to when the old account (2012-2014) closed. As your tenancy included all utility bills, I suspect this account was in the name of the landlord or their agents for the length of your tenancy. Once you had moved out, the account will have been closed based on the details we'll have been given by the landlord/agents or the incoming tenants.

I'm guessing there's a mismatch between the date you moved out and the start of a new account for the incoming tenants. This interim period is probably what the bill of £240 refers to.

Given the age of the debt and that you mention it's been passed to a Debt Collection Agency, they'll now be looking after this. They'll send a letter to let you know they're involved. As you say the debt isn't yours, please speak to this agency first giving as much supporting evidence as possible. Contact details will be on their letter. If necessary, the agency will talk to a specialist team here about any amendments.

Sorry for all the speculation MBEdmondson and if my guesswork is off track.

Malc

in the v words of the energy ombudsman

what a load of £$ap , you have been informed of mistake , you sort it !!!!

PS by "debt collection agency " , I suppose you are being polite to lowell

Cardew · 27 December 2018 at 12:58PM

twhitehousescat wrote: »

in the v words of the energy ombudsman

what a load of £$ap , you have been informed of mistake , you sort it !!!!

PS by "debt collection agency " , I suppose you are being polite to lowell

Firstly, as the regulars on this section of the forum will confirm, posters regularly get first class assistance from Malc from E.ON.

Whilst the OP's understanding of the situation is not disputed. It seems that the landlord has not paid an outstanding bill; and it is also an unusual arrangement for a landlord to pay utility bills. If he won't pay the bill for any reason the responsibility passes to those who have consumed the gas/electricity and no energy company will get involved in 'third party' disputes, and any dispute between Landlord and tenant is a 'third party' dispute.

Obviously this should have been sorted out years ago, but the fact remains it wasn't.

I was just wondering if anyone had any advice to what my next move should be or what my position is legally in this matter?

Posters are understandably reluctant to offer legal advice on a forum.

baldelectrician · 27 December 2018 at 1:04PM

Do a subject access request from N Power- they will send you all the info including the copy of the tenancy agreement you gave them

Mister_G · 27 December 2018 at 1:24PM

I thought that the OP was with EON.

EON energy chasing old payment

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