Extra energy account closed - administrators chasing money 2 years later

Mrs36 · 15 March 2019 at 3:34PM

Any help please?

I have had calls recently from extra energy (I missed them but after googling the number this seems to be their latest business tactic. Today I've had a text from them asking me to get in touch about an outstanding balance.

I moved out of this property in April 2017, provided final meter readings, paid the account in full and considered it closed. How can they now chase for money?

From reading other people's experiences it sounds like the calls are to request payment over the phone, with no proof of the debt owing provided. Ofgem not interested as they are in administration.

Any help or advice gratefully received.

Raxiel · 15 March 2019 at 4:01PM

Legally they have six years to pursue a claim for a debt through the courts.

Just because they say a debt exists doesn't mean it actually does.

According to the extra energy site "Mike Denny, Matthew Hammond and Ian Green of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP were appointed as joint administrators of Extra Energy on 4 December 2018." So to be sure this isn't some sort of scam, it may be worth contacting PWC directly and giving them your new mailing address, telling them to put any claim for money in writing to that address. (That protects you against one day discovering a CCJ in your name at the old address)

Be careful not to acknowledge that there is a debt, just that they claim there is, and make it clear you dispute it and require a detailed breakdown of how it came about.

matelodave · 15 March 2019 at 4:02PM

If you kept copies of the bills/statements then you've got evidence that you closed the account - it's much more difficult to prove if you didn't.

There are lots of posts on this very subject from different posters concerning different energy companies, some going back five or six years. Tha'ts why it's good advice to save copies for the statutary six years that they can come chasing you.

You dont have to save paper ones - just download them as PDF's from the company's website (before it crashes, gets turned off you get get locked out). same with bank statements.

So many energy companies are crashing that it's becoming a bit of a problem for a lot of people.

Mrs36 · 15 March 2019 at 5:17PM

Thank you Raxiel and matelodave for your advice.

I have all of the bills/statements fortunately. I am absolutely sure that there is no debt owing. How can they just create one?

Raxiel · 15 March 2019 at 5:34PM

Mrs36 wrote: »

Thank you Raxiel and matelodave for your advice.

I have all of the bills/statements fortunately. I am absolutely sure that there is no debt owing. How can they just create one?

Often what happens is accounts are 'closed' on estimated readings, and only much later are proper validated readings used and a correct bill issued. It shouldn't happen but it does.

They can't just create one, but they can do is maliciously or (and this is more likely i think) mistakenly claim there is one. Unless you agree and pay, a claim doesn't become a debt until a Judge says so.

In my case Iresa's administrators sent me a letter claiming I owed money from my time as a customer. They're wrong, but it's not their fault. Iresa's system continued to add estimated readings (and matching charges) after I left. I've pointed out the error and it will only be a problem if they try and pursue it.

nLdn · 15 March 2019 at 5:36PM

Similar thing is happening to me atm.

I've now received 2 increasingly threatening letters in the space for the week claiming I owe money.

Having spoken to ExE the period I am being chased for usage from is until the day before I owned and moved into the property. I have sent them proof of my dates and have been told verbally that I "should now be on their exclusion list". Despite multiple calls to them this week I am yet to receive written confirmation of this.

Customer Care have suggested that my name was linked to this account by their third party agency they use who will have checked the electoral roll and potentially credit records. This is worrying as both of those sources should show I wasnt at the property during the period they are chasing for. They whole things is a ballsup. By their logic anyone could be chased for debt racked up by previous inhabitants and in my opinion amounts to blacklisting of addresses, which I thought isnt supposed to happen.

I've never been in any sort of debt and am anxious to get some written confirmation of this being fixed. Given that ExE are in administration and decanting customers I'm worried of further issues as information is passed on to further collection or enforcement agencies.

matelodave · 15 March 2019 at 5:36PM

I'm sure they dont really create one but some of these smaller companies have such shoddy data systems that they don't get closed properly when accounts are closed.

TBH it's probably why so many company's go bust - they haven't kept their accounts in order, they haven't been collecting data properly and I'm sure a lot of people have ramped up pretty large arrears.

As Raxiel suggests, they guess a final reading and dont update it when it gets verified

The administrators then start trawling through all the accounts going back for as far as they can to try and sort out the mess and I've no doubt latch onto every account that hasn't been properly administered to see if there's any money outstanding.

Some, like you get caught up in the shambles or trying to sort it out.

I was with IRESA and my account was a mess, but because I keep my own records and data base it was easy to sort out when Octopus took over.

I'm presently with Eversmart and make sure that I send an meter reading every month and download and save a copy of the monthly statement - there's still a discrepancy of 280kwh between my final reading with Octopus which is correct and my start reading with Eversmart which was a guess on their part. Eversmart dont seem to want to sort out so I've kept copies of all the correspondence for the day someone queries it in the future. It's around £32.50 in my favour

I have bills and data going back eight years, for some eight different energy providers - just in case.

Mrs36 · 15 March 2019 at 5:49PM

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.

Michaelw · 15 March 2019 at 5:54PM

Mrs36 wrote: »

Any help please?

I have had calls recently from extra energy (I missed them but after googling the number this seems to be their latest business tactic. Today I've had a text from them asking me to get in touch about an outstanding balance.

I moved out of this property in April 2017, provided final meter readings, paid the account in full and considered it closed. How can they now chase for money?

From reading other people's experiences it sounds like the calls are to request payment over the phone, with no proof of the debt owing provided. Ofgem not interested as they are in administration.

Any help or advice gratefully received.

You don't agree with the debt so thats a step forward and ask them to prove it.Just sit back let them pass it to a debt collector and do the same.As mentioned because someone says a debt exists doesn't mean there is one.

Raxiel · 15 March 2019 at 6:04PM

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.

You have to remember, you may have been ExE's customer, but you're not their customer. The Administrator's (and the DCA acting as their agent) customers are the people who were owed money by ExE.

They should make contact by mail, but if you've moved house they don't necessarily have your new address. They're obliged to make reasonable efforts to contact you, for example trying any other contact details they still have on file. Email often ends up in the spam folder so phone/text is a good compromise. If that fails there are tracing services that can find your new address, but from a data protection pov it's still safer to start with the information you gave them (or the company they're administering) yourself.

If those calls cross the line into harassment though, that's another matter.

Mrs36 · 15 March 2019 at 6:08PM

There has been no mail (I still have access to the property) Only unsolicited telephone calls and now a text message.

Extra energy account closed - administrators chasing money 2 years later

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