EDF Court date - Urgent Help needed!

[kologna]

I am in a slight predicament. My partner runs a business and it has only just come to light that the one of the electricity bills for the premises has not been paid since Feb 08 - i can imagine what you are thinking, as this is some oversight, especially since the type of business we run uses a significant amount of electricity....however, because of the configuration of the premises we are actually billed for 2 x addresses (Lower and Upper Floors).

e.g Bill A - Lower Ground Floor....and Bill B - Upper Floor.

 

It has been known in the past for Bill B not to be delivered to us, as there are flats above the premise, and it was only because this final bill was hand delivered that my wife got the horror of her life when it read that EDF estimated our bill to be £4k!!!!!

 

We have NOT received any previous bills/notification...or any phone calls regarding the bill, and have always paid Bill A on time.

 

Now - in our talks with EDF, they are not willing to take a part payment, and say that they are going to court on Friday to gain a warrant of execution in order to cut off the power. As if business isnt tough already - to be then hit with this!!!.....I think that EDF are being unreasonable, as we were not aware of this additional bill, which we would have paid beforehand. Even a reminder phone call would have helped, although i do acknowledge that the payment is our responsibility.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as 4k is alot of wonga for a small business to find in less than 7 days.

 

P.S - Is there anything that i can do to halt the court action - by cutting off the electricity EDF would be denying us the opportunity to continue to raise the capital to bring our account up to date!!!!

 

Kolo

[zazen.warrior]

Unfortunately the utility companies are very 'abrupt' with businesses these days when it comes to debt limitation.

 

They do not fit prepayment meters for business debt.

 

Did you chase EDF for this bill?

 

I know your gut reaction will be to say that it’s not your job to do so; but you were aware that you were responsible for this supply and that you had not received the bill, yet you continued to use the supply and made no effort to pay for the consumption.

 

Did you not set aside money knowing that the bill would become due?

 

(This is how EDF will view it)

 

The only way to stop this is to pay the bill, or try to convince EDF to accept a substantive part payment.

 

I’m afraid they will not be concerned with the ongoing viability of the business - power companies turn businesses off every day.

 

If you turn up in court on the day and 'create' it 'might' stop them at the first try but they would come back again.

Edited March 4, 2009 by zazen.warrior