Extra energy account closed - administrators chasing money 2 years later

I’ve now got the texts and the letter. No mention of what debt is owed. I left in 2015. Funnily enough they attempted to chase for this “debt” in May 2016, but then I had another email from them a day later saying it was an error and that no money was due.

Don’t know whether ignoring it is the best thing. They’re so incompetent when you phone it’s hardly worth doing.

MM46 wrote: »

My husband has just received a letter from Extra Energy customer services saying there is a debt on a house which we moved from in April 2015. No details of the supposed debt or the dates to which it referred. It was me who dealt with EE and the account was in my name. I have detailed notes about calls I made to them including the last one which confirmed that was the final amount which I then paid. I received an e-mail acknowledging the payment though it did not say it was the final payment. They never put anything in writing, they were terrible to deal with.
Today’s letter got the account number totally wrong as well as the name. It included a telephone number but no address to write to. When we phoned the number it was a call centre in South Africa. The lady could not find anything on the system but said that could mean there was no amount outstanding or could mean something else which I couldn’t understand. She advised me to ring the administrators and gave me the telephone number - guess what, it was the same number I had just rang.
I like the advice above about writing to PWC but there was no address given. Can anyone help with that please as they are a huge company?

https://www.pwc.co.uk/who-we-are/contact-pwc.html call the switchboard and ask which office mail to the named administrators should be addressed to.

Mrs36 wrote: »

I have now received a letter. Obviously I can't speak for anyone else but although it is headed with the Extra Energy logo and contact telephone number (no website or email) it does have the details of the administrators on the reverse, so I am reluctant at this point to consider it a scam.

Can anyone clarify how their claim of a debt on an account that has been closed for almost 2 years can happen with the 12 month backbilling limit according to Ofgem?

The backbilling code is a code of practice, not legislation. It's not legally binding on suppliers, although a judge would likely uphold it without a very good excuse.


What's not clear is whether the code still applies once the company has gone bust, since they're technically no longer an energy company. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try and invoke it, but you'd be better denying the debt exists at all, rather than saying they are out of time to collect it.


So write back to them, saying that the account was settled on x date and you do not believe any debt exists. Tell them you require a detailed breakdown of how they believe the alleged debt came about, and an explanation of why, if the money was owed, an attempt to collect it wasn't made within the 1 year allowed by the Ofgem back-billing code.


While you don't want to spend a huge amount of time on this at this stage, if you still have the opening and closing readings for the account, as well as unit rates, its probably worth doing a quick check to see if it's remotely possible the debt exists.
Electric is easy, its just the closing reading minus the opening reading, multiplied by the unit rate + the standing charge for the number of days between. For gas, assume a multiplier of 11.2 (not accurate but close enough) to convert from m³ to kWh (for a metric meter, multiply again by 2.9 for imperial). That will give you a rough total cost. Compare that to the total direct debit or one-off payments from your bank account. If the difference is less than £30 (enough for rough conversion errors), leave the ball in their court. If it's more than that then they might be right about an outstanding amount (but don't admit to it, let them work for their money).

Mrs36 wrote: »

I have all the bills. All readings are correct, not estimates.

And why the phone calls? This can't be legal surely, a call out of the blue years later, and a request for payment of money they say is due with absolutely zero evidence/bills to back it up.

Let's face it, making a phone call is easier/cheaper, than writing and posting a letter. They work on the basis that some people receiving these phone calls will simply give in and pay up. So that's what they do first.

Oh and by actually getting you on the phone, they've confirmed your identity and where you now live.