Written by John Kruse, one of the leading experts on Bailiff Law, this consumer friendly guide is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with a bailiff.
The book is easy to understand and clearly explains the rights
a bailiff has, and also what they cannot do when collecting debts and repossessing goods etc.
We moved into a 2 bedroom flat in the January of 2008, we contact Eon and passed on the meter readings and our contact details to set up the bills and account. We had not received any bills or anything until our landlady has recently just got a bill for £1439 which she passed to ourselves, it would appear that the developer had no completed and passed the ownership forms to the energy company to inform them of the handover from themselves, thus they have been receiving bills for the properties on the site including ours and just returning them to the service provider.
I have heard rumours from a rival service company that they can only charge me for a years worth of service thus would reduce the outstanding amount i owe, is this correct as they are charging me for consumption since December 2008 ?
They are also basing my future usage on this bill also, so are allowing me to pay £70 against consumption and then £50 against future consumption, does this sound high bearing in mind its a 2 bedroom flat with electric storage heaters, fridge/freezer, washer/dryer, oven/hob and other general items ?
Also in speaking to a rival service sales representative he informed me that the rest of the tennants in the 2 blocks (24 flats in total) had switched and were paying £30 a month tarrif and £50 at most.
I havge Eon chasing me for payment etc and i would be grateful for any clarification that may help me understand and settle the matter to move forward, it would seem that for the possible output from the flat i am on completely the wrong tarrif and am being completly ripped off in terms of value for money.
The Billing Code will most likely apply here, especially as you say you had contacted them to notify them of your occupancy. So if they have only just billed you, they can only bill you from June 2008. Did you provide them also with readings when you moved into the property? If so they should have a record of this, most likely showing on the developers account. Check to see if they have had any reads for the time you have occupied the property, this way they should be able to have a better understanding of your consumption and should be able to recalculate what your direct debit should be. Check your meter serial number also matches what is on yoru bill, if so it should tell you on your bill if you are on an Economy 7 tariff which if you have storgae heaters will be the best option for you. with regards to other tariffs that are suitable for you, this would require you to call them or go on their website and look at the tariffs on there.
Also in speaking to a rival service sales representative he informed me that the rest of the tennants in the 2 blocks (24 flats in total) had switched and were paying £30 a month tarrif and £50 at most.
Don't believe that, that is sales pitch, they will say anything to get you to change over.
If you want to know how much the others are paying, go and ask them personally.
Having spoken again to the gentleman from Eon, and explaining the situation and our stance that the biling code should apply and they can only charge us for 1 years worth of consumption, even though we notified them of our occupation and passed on our meter reading that they have no record of he stated that the billing code would not apply and therefore we would have to pay the full amount.
Surely if we have provided them with our details and meter reading from posession it is an error on there part for sending the bills to the wrong addresse and it will apply ?
I would push this further, get this escalated to a manager or better still a section manager. Also, give them a correct up to date reading. If they can justify that the billing code does not apply then the least they should do is to spread the correct balance over 17 months, the time it has taken them to bill you.
I have located the email correspondence between a member of their customer services team informing them of our occupation, the beginning date of our occupation and meter reading.
Surely if i have this then it's their fault for not billing me !
Yes you will only have to pay for the year previous to the first bill
There are two tricks to watch out for.
a) they will rebate for the gas used in the intitial unpaid period and 'forget' the VAT part af the bill. This will mean they get 5% of what you are not paying. Do not let them get away with this.
b) almost certainly they will have to estimate the start reading for the final year. The estimate will be too low thus thus boosting gas usage in the paid for year. Challenge this.
There is more trouble over newbuild accounts than any other type of premises and this particularly applies to flats where the meters are not 'in house'
The distribution company keeps a record of the supplier (E-on) that is using their meter. So E-on knew that they were supplying your flat and to start with the occupant billed was the developer. The devoloper is supposed to inform E-on that the premises have been sold but they frequently do not do so. In this situation it would be sensible for E-on to make regular enquiries of the developer but this is just not done - they rely on the developer to inform them. What nonsense!! I would ask what has been happening to the bills returned by the developer !! - these were not acted upon and no investigation was made.
You have cast iron proof that YOU informed E-on when you moved in and supplied them with a meter reading and yet they still billed the developer - their error. You are only required to pay for the one year preceding the first bill they sent to YOU. It matters not that they continued to bill the developer in error and it matters not that the supplier did not keep them informed.
Get this story to their complaints department in writing and recorded delivery.
A bill would have been produced for a reminder to be sent to this effect.
The developer is quite often not billed until they inform EON the site is complete and provide the hand-over details.
When Billing Code adjustments are applied, the system used always calculates the 5% VAT, so this will not be 'forgotten' - there are always two ex-gratia payments shown - Billing Code ajustment and VAT adjustment, both credits on the bill.
Call the number on the letter you have been sent, or freephone 0800 096 1516 and advise what we're all advising you, the advisor should give you either their, or their team manager's email address to forward your correspondence to so that the billing code can be applied. Please have your meter reading with you when you call so the adjustment can be worked out properly
18 month old bill from Eon for £1439
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