Warrant of Entry applied for by Scottish Power

[Tricky Dickie]

Scottish Power have applied for a warrant of entry to disconnect gas and electricity supplies regarding a disputed bill for energy supplies to a property I own.

I am confident that they have no way of proving that I ever requested them to supply me personally with electricity and gas services for the period of time in question.

Can anyone please tell me what evidence they will need to provide to the court to obtain the warrant of entry,surely they will first have to prove that I am personally liable for the debt which as I said I am confident they will not be able to do.

Also is there some sort of pre action disclosure proceedure whereby I can force SP to disclose the information they intend to rely upon in court?

This situation has arisen regarding a property which was newly built some years ago and was let out to a tenant as soon as it was completed.

The tenant was responsible for applying for the gas and electricity supplies however I suspect that the builder did not inform Scottish Power that they had sold the property and to disconnect the services(I have checked the information the builder had in the handover pack they gave me and the meter readings section was blank).

I also guess that as the services were already connected the tenant just

carried on using them without ant reference to the utility company.

It is my understanding that the utilities company can only enforce payment against a party that actually has previously requested that they provide services which in this case would either be the builder or possibly the tenant but certainly not myself.

Any information regarding the above would be greatly appreciated.

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

Bump

[Tricky Dickie]

Any help on this would be appreciated,also if there is a better place for this to be answered please advise

[Tonka99]

Hello TD

 

I think maybe you would be better trying in the Utilities , as

the people there have more knowledge and can help you

with advice , what tends to happen is if no one knows the

answers they dont reply , not because they dont care .

 

Give it a shot over there

wishing you the best of luck

 

Cheers Tonks:)

[Tricky Dickie]

Hello TD

 

I think maybe you would be better trying in the Utilities , as

the people there have more knowledge and can help you

with advice , what tends to happen is if no one knows the

answers they dont reply , not because they dont care .

 

Give it a shot over there

wishing you the best of luck

 

Cheers Tonks:)

 

Thanks Tonks,will give that a try

 

TD

[surfaceagentx20]

Quickly, because I have little time at this moment, there is provision in the Gas Code and Electrictiy Code and given statutory authority (I think through The Gas Act and The Utilities 'somethingorother' Act) for what is known as a 'deemed contract'. A contract is deemed to arise in the absence of documentary evidence showing the existence of a formal contract where there is a supply and a user. The user will be deemed to have contracted for the supply and be liable for the price of it.

 

If SP's claim for money is based upon a deemed contract and you are indeed a user, there may be little scope for argument about whether as a user, you are liable to pay. The only probable argument would concern how much you used.

 

If you are a user but you take issue with the value of the claim you should raise that as a genuine issue. If you are not a user then that of itself is a genuinine issue. Again if this has not already been done, notify SP that the claim is disputed on these grounds.

 

It is a pre-requisite for the grant of a warrant that the applicant declares there is no reason known to him, like an unresolved dispute, why the warrant application should be refused. The existence of a genuine dispute operates to prevent an applicant for the issue of a warrant from declaring that there is not a genuine issue.

 

If a dispute is declared to exist but in truth the dispute has been resolved so that no ordinay man might fairly conclude that a genuinie issue really exists, that sort of dispute will be ignored.

 

Likewise a person who obtains a warrant issued on his false testimony that there is no genuine issue when in truth there is one,commits a contempt of court or worse. In my view, your ordinarty bot at SP is unlikely to take that step.

 

Try googling 'gas deemed contract' and that should point you in the right direction. If that doesn't draw anything helpful out let us know. If you have any more queries, again, let us know.

 

x20

[Tricky Dickie]

Quickly, because I have little time at this moment, there is provision in the Gas Code and Electrictiy Code and given statutory authority (I think through The Gas Act and The Utilities 'somethingorother' Act) for what is known as a 'deemed contract'. A contract is deemed to arise in the absence of documentary evidence showing the existence of a formal contract where there is a supply and a user. The user will be deemed to have contracted for the supply and be liable for the price of it.

 

If SP's claim for money is based upon a deemed contract and you are indeed a user, there may be little scope for argument about whether as a user, you are liable to pay. The only probable argument would concern how much you used.

 

If you are a user but you take issue with the value of the claim you should raise that as a genuine issue. If you are not a user then that of itself is a genuinine issue. Again if this has not already been done, notify SP that the claim is disputed on these grounds.

 

It is a pre-requisite for the grant of a warrant that the applicant declares there is no reason known to him, like an unresolved dispute, why the warrant application should be refused. The existence of a genuine dispute operates to prevent an applicant for the issue of a warrant from declaring that there is not a genuine issue.

 

If a dispute is declared to exist but in truth the dispute has been resolved so that no ordinay man might fairly conclude that a genuinie issue really exists, that sort of dispute will be ignored.

 

Likewise a person who obtains a warrant issued on his false testimony that there is no genuine issue when in truth there is one,commits a contempt of court or worse. In my view, your ordinarty bot at SP is unlikely to take that step.

 

Try googling 'gas deemed contract' and that should point you in the right direction. If that doesn't draw anything helpful out let us know. If you have any more queries, again, let us know.

 

x20

 

Thanks for the reply,here is what I found as a definition of a deemed contract

 

 

When you move into any new premises - the gas being supplied will be on a 'deemed contract' until you sign a gas supply agreement. This is usually higher in price - due to uncertainty about the gas requirements for the premises. We advise you contact us us immediately when you move into a new premises, so you can get a more competitive price from the start of occupancy.

 

It was my understanding that in order for any utility company to bill a particular person they first had to have evidence that person had requested the energy to be supplied.

Merely proving they owned the property or that they had lived there at some time is not sufficient.