Julian123:

Great outcome, but I think the E.ON letter meant to say "in light of the fact that the gas account was not set up correctly at the time, this means that the Billing Code applies to your account."

Please See E.ON's response (Thanks for all youi support)

My one bit of advice from all this would be to contact CONSUMER DIRECT on 0845 404 0506 as soon as posible and don't give up!

> Hello and thank you for your email.
>
> I am sorry that you have not yet received a satisfactory response to your complaint.
>
> Having further investigate the reason that your gas account was not set up or billed in the first instance, I have discovered that the electricity account for this property was set up correctly when the property was purchased, but not the gas account. The electricity supply has been transferred from E.ON before you moved into the property however the gas account remained in the name of the developers.
>
> In light of the fact that the electricity account was set up correctly at the time, this means that the Billing Code applies to your account. This means that the whole balance of £981.37 will be written off by E.ON, and you will not be liable for this amount.
>
> I have added a credit to your account to clear this balance and informed the debt collection agency to cease action against you.
>
> I hope that this will resolve your query. If you wish to discuss this further please call me on **** and I will be happy to help.
>
> Kind regards
>
>
> Directors' Office

Have been contacted by E.On today, they have asked me to prove the contact i had with BG. I have therefore today written to head of complaints at BG and await their reply

Dear British Gas,

I have recently received a bill from E.ON (formerly Powergen) for £1207 for gas
supplied to the above address from May 2005 to April 2007. To the best of my
knowledge I was being supplied by British Gas on Dual Fuel account, having spoken to
one of your representatives within a week of moving in to the property (11th May2005)
on I believe the morning of Saturday 14th May I implicitly instructed the lady to take
over both electricity and gas supply at the property.
What I have only recently found out is that British Gas only took over the electricity
supply and not the gas, which while I appreciate you offer both utilities I cannot imagine
why I would want to choose not to have gas supplied by a company with Gas in their
name. I can still remember the conversation very well because I was pleased with being
able to speak with a UK call centre and the extra discount offered for taking a dual fuel
account.
I have recently contacted yourselves and you indeed have no record of my gas account
for this period; however you do have a dual fuel account for the property I subsequently
ported my dual fuel account to.
I have contacted Consumer Direct who have opened a case (ref: ******) and passed
me your contact details. What I would therefore like to kindly request is that you assist
me in proving this conversation happened back in 2004 so that E.ON will drop their
claim for £1207 under the Back Billing Code.
I would like to add that at no point up to August 2009 was I made aware by either
British Gas or E.ON that my instructions had not been followed by either phone, letter
or other. As you can imagine this is causing me a lot of worry at the moment and would
like to get this resolved as quickly as I can.
Thank you very much in advance for your assistance in dealing with this matter,
Yours faithfully

- once they reply i will update the thread, many thanks all!

The British Gas SARs/Recordings will only prove what you already know. That you had the conversation with them and that they did not take over the second supply, so in essence yes the recordings will help. What (if anything) brtish gas do about the situation depends on your conversation with them, and posisbly consumer focus.

Poiwergen supplied the property prior to you moving in and would have done up until British Gas took supply (this will be 4 to 6 weeks after signing up with them). Hopefully there'll be a record of this with E.on, although my gut feeling tells me that IF it exsists it'll be damn near impossible to trace. This feeling is bourne from E.on only recognising your tenancy in 2009, so if a record exists its lying somewhere in your landlord's account which they're unlikely to check. ( I would ask them about this however).

In light of the tenancy arrangments its looking all the more likely that British Gas failed to completely act on your instruction and your Landlady took her time updating Powergen/E.on.

Finger's Crossed something else turns up.

Hi, Thank you for your comments, I will be contacting both BG and EON with a SAR on monday because i am 100% certain of the following:

I had many conversations with BG about them supplying both gas and electricity, (also i'm sure I had bills documenting this but without them I could be mistaken due to the length of time that has now passed). When i spoke with BG on Friday they said they keep telephone records for 6 years which would mean these conversations were recorded - will this help?

I contacted Powergen to notify them that BG were my supplier after recieving a letter from them wecoming me to my new property shortly after moving in.

With regards to the property there was no agency involved other than the introduction agency, i paid the Landlady direct. and was the second tenent in this new build property (built 2004).

will of course post more updates next week

Kramxel:

Quibbling over techicalities isn't really going to help call it what you will disputed bill disputed account, aside from their dictionary terms it all boils down to the same thing for this individual.

Some good points but not the one above. Receiving a "bill" from a supplier is not the same as receiving a demand from a Debt Collection Agency not having for whatever reason had any previous contact from a supplier the OP is allegedly a current customer of.

Anyway this is a consumer forum not a trade or industry forum so obviously it' going to be slanted in the customer's favour.

Quibbling over techicalities isn't really going to help call it what you will disputed bill disputed account, aside from their dictionary terms it all boils down to the same thing for this individual.

Looking through the infomation presented I would make the assumption that the account has been in the landlord's responsibility for some time, and the landlord has done very little until recently. This would account for the OP not recieving a bill until recently. There are a number of reasons this could be. The landlord could simply not have been bothered, he could have had a letting agency who should have been managing the account or several other things. However it's come about the landlord has presented a tenancy agreement clearly showing periods of responsibility. If my assumption is correct sadly you cannot blame the supplier for this.

I'm having to agree with the representative from e.on it most defiantley is the responsibility of the new teant or new occupier to inform suppliers they moved in, as last I checked the crystal ball is nothing more than a childs toy and as yet not every property is wired up to a coverty surveilance system.

In an ideal world the landlord would provide or letting agency will provide the teant a list of who supplies what with contact details, again falling back to my earlier assumption it would be a relatively safe bet that the landlord/letting agency didn't do this.

When British Gas took over any supply at the property they would have sent you a sales infomation pack. This contains your details, the plan you have signed up for on what fuels, details fo your payment method and the terms and conditions that apply to you. I'm assuming you didn't read this through thoroughly, as this would have been a key indicator as to what is going on. If as you say British Gas never applied for the second fuel there would be no contact with the "losing supplier".

Now moving on to something a little more constructive. On the value of the infomation you've presented. E.on have rightfully supplied you the energy you have consumed and that energy needs to be paid for, there are no grounds for them to consider reducing the balance so it must be paid in full. i would assume however that givne the circumstaces they would be willing to set up a suiable repayment plan. If I were in your shoes i would now be speaking with British Gas to find out why they did not act on your intial instruction, you may be able to secure financial compensation to help with your e.on balance. In addition I would also be speaking with my landlord and finding out why it's taken him nearly 4 years to inform the supplier he wasn't responsible.

This is all hinged on weather my assumption regarding an account being active for your landlord. you should consider requesting a SAR (Subject Access Request) from e.on to confirm or disprove this assumption. You will have to pay £10.00 and the request cna take up to 40 days to be completed. You will be presented with a copy of every piece of infoamtion e.on has about you, recieved from you, or on your behalf as well as what they have sent. I beleive they may also have date and time stamps where relevant to show a clear time-line for you.

If there is not a reference to any activity prior to the 10th of June 2009 then your supplier is absolutely correct in the situation and my assumption would appear accurate, if this is not the case then at east we'll have more infomation to build a case on.

Whatever you decide to do let us know how you get on.

Julian123:

I think their response is largely b*ll*cks, though it's good b*ll*cks because they have somewhat shot themselves in the foot.

Firstly your query is about a defaulted account not a bill. They have admitted they have taken little action between the previous customer leaving on or around May 2005 until managing to extract a rental agreement from the landlord in June 2009. (and instructing a DCA only a few weeks later).

Secondly they say it is the occupiers responsibility to notify the supplier. More disingenuous b*ll*cks. In a case where a gaining company is contacted (as you claim) it's the gaining company's responsibility to contact the losing company.

FWIW I think this was a very predictable and superficial response to "back billing" as an opening gambit (a mistake IMHO) when the issue until established is something much more serious (and complicated). Nobody alleged their systems didn't indicate that, the issue is why and the response offers little explanation.

I would be wary of their use of the word "query". I suggest you obtain their Code of Practice on Complaints and ensure your communication comforms because you may wish to invoke the energy ombudsman facility which kicks in 8 (or 12?) weeks after first submitting a complaint.

There is nothing in the response which excludes the possibility of a bungled switch by BG, so there is still that to consider. Anyway I've given my advice on SAR.

They have responded with the following:

I understand you have a query relating to a bill you have recently received from us.

I have investigated your account and can see that the first contact we have received for this account is when your landlord sent through a copy of your tenancy agreement on 10 June 2009 advising us that you had moved into the property from 11 May 2005 up until 30 April 2007.

It is the responsibility of the occupier to notify the suppliers that they have moved into the property.

Please be aware under the billing code we are not at fault where we have not been informed that the property is occupied.

The balance owed on the account is based on estimated readings, as no readings have been provided the bill owed on the account is correct one owed and payment in full is required the full amount.

***************

i contacted Consumer Direct again who suggested i e-mail the following:

I write to you with reference to the above account number and the recent e-mail communication. I have contacted consumer direct again and they have recommended I e-mail you directly to get this resolved.

Further to my e-mail sent this morning (7^th August 2009) dealt with by ****** I would like to respond with the following points:

I was in contact with Powergen to notify them I had switched from their supply to British Gas in May / June 2005 following receipt of a welcome letter from Powergen.

At no point during the two years l lived at this address did you come back to me to state otherwise.

I am a current E.ON customer and have been since 12/2007 and have not enjoyed receiving a Final Demand from a Debt Collection Agency when you have all my contact details and have always paid you on time and in full.

I still dispute these charges under the ‘Back Billing Code of Conduct’ and look forward to hearing from you within 7 days.

**************

i will post their response in due course!

Kramxel:

At this stage i'd recommend holding off on the SAR's to your bank and suppliers,

That's a perfectly valid view, however since the process may take up to 40 days it may be better to get moving now rather than to be playing catch-up later.

Julian123:

Doesn't look as if you need that much support, other than moral support, from this forurm, you are doing all the right things.

As I hinted in my first post if it's a billing issue it's possible you won't have to pay, however first and foremost it's a "debt issue" at the moment.

I would suggest that in your communication with E.ON you make it explicitly clear you expect the debt reference to the DCA to be stayed pending the final outcome of the investigation.

I gained an account this morning to log into E.ON and see all the bills and correspondence regarding this property however when I did get in there was nothing to see. It simply said that the account had ended and that there had been no correspondence in the last 3 months.

I have this morning contacted the pipeline supplier (GTC Pipelines) who are responsible for the physical pipes and keep all records of the Gas carries to properties in this area and they have confirmed Powergen did supply the property for the period. as far as i was aware (no corespondance from Powergen E.ON and confirmation from BG that i was Dual Fuel customer) this wasn't the case until today over 4 years later.

The gentleman at GTC put me in touch with Consumer Direct who have opened a case under the 'Back Billing Code' and recommended i write to E.On asking them to investigate the mattler under this code of practices. i now wait to hear E.On's responce to the following e-mail:

Dear E.ON,

Re: Your ref: 012*****************

I write to you with reference to the above property for which you claim I owe you £1207 for a period from May 2005 to April 2007. I would like to formally request that you put this account on hold and investigate this matter under the back billing code.

From the point I moved into this property I changed supply for both Electricity and Gas to a British Gas Dual Fuel account. For this period and subsequently I was and have never been contacted by Powergen to notify me otherwise.

Since 12/2007 to current I have been an E.ON customer at my current address and have never been contacted regarding the above matter. I have today registered a complaint with Consumer Direct (Ref 1*******) who will be assisting me in getting this matter resolved.

I kindly request you reply to this e-mail within 10 days.

Yours Faithfully

OK, sounds sensible. i have e-mailed a PDF letter to the DCA (see below) this evening and will be contacting E.ON in the morning to get a log on, i can't see this being a problem as for the last 18 months i've been an E.ON customer (not for too much longer). thanks again

Dear Sir / Madam,

Re: Your letter dated 4^th Aug 2009 with your reference ************

With reference to the above I would like to formally dispute your Final Notice. For the period detailed I was supplied by British Gas and at no point was I contacted by either E.ON or Powergen during or since.

I switched my account from Powergen to British Gas in May 2005, the same month I moved in to the property. The last and only communication I have had with Powergen in the last 4 years was receiving a closing bill in May 2005 from Powergen which I duly paid.

I will be contacting E.ON on Friday 7^th August 2009 to put a hold on this account and get this matter resolved.

Yours faithfully

At this stage i'd recommend holding off on the SAR's to your bank and suppliers, but definately be prepared to move forward with this. The suppliers hould provide the infoamtion without too much trouble as they'll be keen to recover any monies owed.

Your energy bills will record what payments you have made (so initally no need to check these off agianst your bank records). If thigns don't add up after this then by all means send off the SAR's but you might jsut be able to save yourself £30 (or part thereof) first.

Julian123:Thanks, have checked online and HSBC have removed all statments going back before 2009, i'm assuming to limit customers access to viewing bank charges! will get a letter off to the DCA in the morning, thanks again for your help

Stop assuming and fight this as a military campaign!

If you use a £10 SAR HSBC must provide 6 years worth of statements.