You can always contact your benefits office who should be able to arrange something on your behalf or pay a visit to the CAB who should also be able to act on your behalf, at least this way it would save sitting on hold for who knows how long and running up a bill.

The builders would have assigned a company to supply the fuel at your address. Once the property is sold, the owner or occupier takes over. No contract needs to be signed, its a deemed contract until you, the customer, choses to change your supplier. It sounds to me like a possibility that the builders have maybe only just advised Scottish Power that you bought the property? If you can provide a tenancy agreement for your tenant then they would not need to chase you for the outstanding balance. From what I can make out from your post, Scottish power would not have been informed that you had a tenant, the builders would not be able to pass this information on so your name may have been supplied by the developers. The tenant should have contacted Scottish Power to advise they were responsible for the fuel, but clearly didnt do that.

They will set up a direct debit for you if you pay half the outstanding balance and possibly spread the remaining debt over 12 months but you will also need to include your consumption in that payment too. So if you were able to clear half, then £125 pm plus whatever else you use. If you cannot do that, then a prepay meter may be your only option. If thats the case then if I were you I would request one to avoid any further costs. If they do get a warrant you will incur charges which will be in the region of a further £300.

It will be passed to a DCA who will do a trace if they cannot locate you from the billing address unfortunately. Whilst it is unfair that you would be the one they will chase for the balance, unless they were informed that other people should have been on the bill, it will just be a third party dispute to them and they will just go for the account holder. It will affect your credit file too. As Nottlad suggests, I would call them and make a payment arrangement if you can. The fact it has been left so long, I would imagine it has already gone to a DCA who should be more flexible with the payment arrangements.

No, he is saying that Eon no longer charge a standing charge for prepayment gas. This was effective as of 4th July.

Were any readings taken when the account was put into your name? Was the account in credit/debit at that time? If there were readings taken then all the money owed to you will be sent back, but in the form of a cheque made payable to account holder which is yourself, not the person who has been paying the bills. I would advise calling, again, and asking to speak to someone in home move disputes, provide an up to date meter reading. They may require a copy of a tenancy agreement with the names of the tenants plus a letter proof that the new occupant actually owns the property. I know this has all been frustrating to you and you feel you shouldnt have to prove any of this but this is the quickest solution to getting this resolved. But when you call, stay calm, that way they are more inclined to help rather than wanting to get you off the phone. As Zazen says, they will not refund any money under a any circumstances until they have a meter read, and they may require someone to come and read the meter if it has gone 2 years.

Then if you can prove that the previous tenant is no longer the owner, maybe a call/letter from the landlord could resolve this for you?

With Eon you can actually have more than one name on a bill, upto 4 if I remember rightly, but Eon would need permission of the other parties. This is possibly another way to help your situation, calling eon, advising there are more people who need to be added to the account? But they would have to be there with you when you call Eon. To be honest, im struggling to see why the agents you speak to are unable to sort this.

Mattlamb, I can understand some of the points you make too, and being on the other end of the phone taking calls every day from people who are desperately trying to pay their bills and struggling and those that dont bother and then want the amount to be written off and get away with it, I get that and how wrong that is to try and wriggle out of it . But as Pelham says, if the systems were in place then all this could be avoided. Its not right that someone should get that amount of fuel free, that is pretty outrageous to even expect it, and I doubt very much he will have to pay all of it, but will have to pay a fair amount. There are people out there who have a conscience and will keep on trying to find out who is supplying and maybe even putting some money aside knowing that sooner or later, they WILL catch up with you.

From what I can make out, she wants the bill to be transfered into the name of the other occupant who is also living in the property as they are paying? Or have I got that wrong? If thats not the case, then no, Eon will not change the "name" on the account without that other persons permission, ie the name of the occupant who is living there and whose name she wants on the bill. She doesnt need to have signed anything as by using the fuel she is also responsible for paying for it.

Backbilling one year only applies to the gas/electric utility companies I believe and not the water companies.

Can you not just call and say you are moving and have the new account set up in the name of the person you want named on the account as the new occupier? that way they would have to close the account in your name, take your reading and refund any monies owing to you. Usual practice is, if someone calls in and requires that their name be removed off the account, it would then be closed and a final bill produced and then an account should have been set up in your name.

dupe post

Its wrong though as I barely use electricity at night during the summer so shouldnt have to pay a premium for my day usage. I pointed this out to them. In the end he got his manager for me, even though I hadnt requested it, who said it was not a problem. Incidently I also work for and supplied by eon so knew they were able to do it, but the frustration was that I had to talk him through the screen over the phone. How many people had he turned around and said no to previously?!?!?! I know with EDF they had/have an E7 tariff that meant you had to have one of their own meters installed, and if you wanted to change supplier you would have to have it removed and would be charged £50 for this.

Ahh yes, sorry, my mistake. Eon's call centres are not open on Sundays.

Pelham, again, I am in agreement with you and as an employee find it extremely frustrating when there is little that i can do other than get the customer to run the relevant tests that I have had to take upon myself to work out from experience. The results I then have, I pass on, but once I have passed that on I am not allowed to follow up to see if it has been resolved as I am there to take calls only. The first people you all speak to are glorified receptionists who will forward all info or calls to the relevant department. Admittedly, not all call centre staff are clued up (had my own experience today where I had to call in to work to get my tariff changed and had to talk the guy through how to do the simplist of jobs after he told me I would need a meter exchange to come off E7!!!) I find that discouraging and can see why people on here get upset and angry and refer to call centre staff as monkeys.

To an extent I agree Bookworm, but that can not apply to a new occupant, unless someone calls and advises the supplier that they are new to the property, how are they to know? they will just continue to supply. As stated before, they are not mind readers. As I stated before, I do work for Eon and come across the Billing Code every day. I was simply advising the op how his situtation stands. Im not saying if it is right or wrong, but at the end of the day, it IS a joint responsibilty and the Billing Code WILL only apply if the customer has made that effort or it will look as though they were "freeloading", the op's words, not mine. But, for such a large bill, I cant imagine ANY supplier will actually require the full amount be paid and the only way the OP can resolve this is by calling/writing to them.

You need to call and speak to someone in the Vulnerable team. They can then set your payments at consumption plus £3 pw for each fuel to clear the debt. Also contact your benefits office, they can make a payment plan for you via fuel direct.

Pelham, I agree, the system is unfair, particularly to those who live in new build properties and have attempted to find out who is supplying their fuel to no avail. I am not by no means making an excuse for the suppliers because I am an employee, but imagine this. A builder gives you a stack of papers, one with meter serial numbers, one with address's and plot numbers, then drops the stack, shoves them all together and hands them over. I see this on a daily basis, people calling in trying to find out who their supplier is, not always having the right info ie not knowing what the plot number is of their property, not knowing what their meter serial number is and then failing to call back as promised really doesnt help. As a supplier, we need the customer to give as much information as they can. IF the supplier can still not be found then unfortunately it takes time to investigate, not 8 years I grant you and it takes someone to keep coming back and harrassing the supplier to investigate for anything to be done. But it works both ways if someone does honestly want to pay their bill, and if the case is that someone does not call back with the relevant information, remember we are not mind readers, it will not get followed up until maybe a change of meter reading agent. the Billing Code of Practice IS there to protect people and does on a daily basis, but will not help those who sit back and do nothing about it until the bill drops through their door.

You say your mum was with Eon previously, did she have a token meter by any chance when she was with Eon or has it always been a key meter?

If she has all this information there then I cannot see how the Billing Code would not apply, so therefore they will only be able to charge you for 1 year. I believe there is a link on here somewhere outlining the Billing Code so would have that ready for when you next speak to them.

Unfortunately yes you ARE in a deemed contract as you have used the fuel that THEY have supplied you. They are not trying it on in that respect. However, you need to find out the following from Npower, when was the last time they sent a meter reader to the property to read the meter? I would imagine the reading for the 10/03/09 has got to be an estimate. Did the previous occupants have accounts in their names? Do you have tenancy agreements for the previous occupants? If you can prove that you were not responsible then they cannot expect you to pay the full outstanding balance. Did you take any reads when you moved in in March? Sorry for all the questions, just need to establish the full circumstances.

I would also check then that they have you down as being on a prepay meter. Check that your meter serial number matches with what they have on their system. I cannot see how that would increase your bills as to start off with the VAT is much less than a business rate. I think I would be inclined to ask them to explain why and they should be able to calculate that on the phone if they believe it will cost you more. Just give them a meter read and they should be able to work that out for you. I work for Eon, also have a prepay meter which I am more than happy with, purely for the fact that my DD was set high and I couldnt afford it and im using far less than was estimated. Also with their prepay tariff, you dont pay any more than someone on a standard credit meter and with the gas prepay meters there is no standing charge anymore so should be costing less now. Hope that helps anyway, but try and get more info, get them to reassure you and justify what they are telling you.

Sounds to me then that the old meter you had was never recalibrated whilst with Npower possibly and you were paying an old rate if you are chucking money into the meter now. Unfortunately this was a common problem with the token meters whereas with the key meters, they can be recalibrated via the key. Have you any statements whilst you with Npower? May be worth checking the rate per unit that you were being charged. I probably wouldnt be inclined to call them as they may realise their mistake and send you a bill which they are entitled to do.

There should normally be 2 prices on your bill, one for your primary units, normally the first 225 per quarter and then the secondary price which is every other unit you use after the primary. I would definately question what tariff you are on as that is expensive if you are paying that for every unit you use.