OVO Energy Warrant of Entry executed not our debt 17 Feb 2020.

[Neuroatypical]

My partner woke alone after a nightshift to 4 men outside the bedroom door having picked the locks.to gain entry.

 

Ovo has been sending letters for some time addressed to a man we dont know...letters being returned to sender

The letters then started being addressed to the occupier, we assumed it was junk mail.

 

Curiosity eventually got the better of me and i opened one to find ovo intended to recover a debt..

I called and informed them of their mistake and as the agent asked,  i checked the meter number.

They said that an erroneous transfer had probably occurred and i asked them to sort this out as we had not asked for a change in supplier.

 

I gather that they then applied for a warrant irrespectively  and then executed it on a home not connected to the debtor in anyway claiming the home was unoccupied.

 

1 i believe they must have deceived the court in order to obtain the warrant (having been informed it was occupied, not by the debtor.)

 

2 the warrant should not have been executed upon discovery the home being occupied

 

3 ovo having addressed letters to the occupier and not the debtor any longer should have prevented this surely(acknowledging debtor not at the address!)

 

4 the warrant named a person not at this address and as it was never previous to our occupation a residential address could not ever have been resident here

 

5 we are registered voters and could be found at this address if searched

 

6 having raised a dispute the warrant should not even have been applied for

Obviously this cant be attributed to mistake(s) , there being every safety protocol sidestepped consecutively to arrive at this point.

 

Kathryn now suffers symptoms of acute anxiety...headaches, sleep disturbances, bouts of crying and ,although she is unaware that i know, sleeps with a knife in the bedside cabinet.

 

It is also impossible to explain to our 2 yr old autistic son why mummy is always crying and is already affecting his behaviour as i think he believes he is upsetting her.

 

I cant find any precedent to refer to for our situation and was hoping if anyone could offer advice re course of action.

 

Also is it not Fraud to deceive the court in order to install remote control devices to recover money from a person(s) that you know do not owe you money?

 

Thanks in advance for any help and advice you can give

 

 

 

 

[unclebulgaria67]

Is this a residential property only, a commercial premise or mixed residential/commercial premises? 

 

You make reference to the address not being occupied as residential before you moved in ?  

 

Which energy supplier did you have a contract with for the address ?

 

  If you were living at the address using Electricity and/or Gas,  you will have arranged for an energy suppliers to be responsible for the energy supply at the address ? 

 

And when you arranged the energy supply contract the energy company you used would have checked who the current suppliers were registered at the address and resolved any issues with them ?

 

If you failed to register the energy supply in your name at the address, if OVO were the registered suppliers for the address, then they were entitled to take actions to secure the supply at the address. This would then stop free energy being used at the address.

 

Not staying everything Ovo and their contractors have done is correct, but if anyone starts living at an address they need to register energy supply in their names. And this should stop this situation happening.

 

If you did take out an energy supply contact at the address when you moved in, then contact your own energy company to ask for their help. This is because the energy company you used should have correctly registered themselves as the suppliers of the address and therefore stopped Ovo or any other company thinking they had any responsibilities for the address.

[Neuroatypical]

No we were registered and paying Eon 

OVO executed a transfer unbeknownst to us 

It was previously a betting shop but converted by landlord to flat and currently a charity shop beneath. We were the first residents.

The landlord confirms there is not or ever has been a person that OVO were billing.

We did everything correctly regards gas electric when we moved in.

At some point OVO took over without consent and obviously without informing us

[unclebulgaria67]

You need to contact EON to complain about the Hijacked supply and ask them to sort this out for you.  They will contact OVO about what they have done.

 

 

[dx100uk]

i would investigate a bit further into if OVO think this is a residential or an old business supply they actually enforced.

i know this sounds strange but early 2020 OVO bought up a load of old redundant SSE accounts, these were both business and residential accounts on notified closed businesses and vacated residential ones.

 

it might not be a case of hijacked your supply, but an old supply they have somehow linked to 'that' whole property.

does the name ring any bells with anyone. often charity shops were another closed business before they got the cheap rent establishment.

 

just musing from what i've seen on the internet regarding OVO.

 

[Neuroatypical]

Nope they said it was erroneous transfer happened some time after we had moved into the property

Living in property since 2018

[dx100uk]

and you've been paying for your usage all this period too?

have the meter numbers been matched the same to yours and the OVO action

 

[stu007]

Hi

 

I agree you need to investigate this further.

 

Now may sound daft but I think you need to check exactly who you energy supplier is and to do that have a read of this ofgem link:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/connections-and-moving-home/who-my-gas-or-electricity-supplier

 

As you mention EON is who you were registered with and paying as your supplier I think you need to send Eon a Subject Access Request (SAR) asking for 'ALL DATA'. (you need to see in black & white how Eon let this transfer of supplier happen).

 

The Warrant itself were you given a copy at the time this happened? if not you need to ask OVO for the Warrant details so you can obtain a copy of that warrant etc. from the courts.

 

When they carried out this Warrant exactly what was the Warrant for and what action did they take? chase Debt, Cut Off Supply, Change Meters to Pre Payment Meters etc.

 

Have a look also at OVO Erroneous Transfers link: https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/erroneous-transfers

 

Couple of ofgem links of interest:

 

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/erroneous-transfer-customer-charter

 

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/customers-entitled-automatic-compensation-switching-problems-1-may

 

 

 

 

 

 

[comebackjimmy]

If an energy company applies for a warrant are they meant to write to the address and advise if the court hearing date?

 

Surely the occupier is allowed to attend the hearing and put his objections to the magistrate?

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes the Energy company would write to the address notifying that a warrant was going to be obtained to force entry.  The Magistrates that agreed the warrant may be somewhere else in the country and not the one closest to where the property is located.

 

The problem here is that the property has been converted and is mixed private/business premises.  Care should have been taken at the time of conversion to  ensure the electrical wiring and meters were fully inspected with the registration of meters done correctly.  If you search around online, this thread is one of many where the same thing has happened. 

 

If the OP signed up to EON when they moved in, then EON accepting the supply contract are the ones that need to be contacted.  I am presuming the OP has not changed suppliers themselves.  EON will have a team ( Industry operations) that handles hijacked supplies such as this.  They will deal with these situations on a daily basis and will have contacts at OVO, who will be able to discuss with them what has happened.  This should then enable a resolution to be obtained.

[Neuroatypical]

Nope read what happened... landlord contacted to check facts....OVO has no contract or ever had at this address

I'm not asking what happened...just advice as to what to do next

[unclebulgaria67]

Next step is to contact the suppliers you have a contract  withor thought you had a contract with for the supply of energy.  They can resolve this.

 

The address should have two separate meters. One of the business and one for the private part you occupy.