Electricity bill (or lack of), legal advice please?

So..

I moved into a house 2.5years ago with 5 other people. When we moved in the previous tenants said they hadn't received or paid an electricity bill for the 2 years they'd lived there. Meaning no electricity has been paid for at least 4.5 years.

We've had a man from npower come to read the meter once a year, but that has never resulted in a bill. We though the flat upstairs might be paying our bill but after looking at it the bill is not twice a normal bill.

I've been moved out for 1.5 years, but 2 of the original tenants are still there, and we've decided we should probably confess all, for several reasons:

-right thing to do
-npower (who we think are the power company..) might catch on, then surely they won't look kindly on us keeping quiet
-next tenants might do it, then we look like bad guys

Before we tell anyone we want to check what our position is, and how nasty the electricity company could be. The accommodation office at University has said they can charge us for 6 years worth of electricity, CAB says they can only charge for the last year.

My question is this – for how many years of electricity can they charge us? Since the most recent contract was signed 6 months ago (when the most recent group moved in (2 of original lot and 4 others)), or can they charge us as much as they like – potentially even for the electricity used by previous tenants.

We have meter readings from 6 months ago, but when I moved out I threw away the ones I'd taken 2.5 years ago. Our contract states we're responsible for electricity payments so if the landlord got a bill I guess he could take deposits away.

Any ideas?

Any ideas?

keep schtum

of course, you noted the meter reading around the time that you moved in?

do you think tesco will give you a call when they realise they've over charged you?

of course, you noted the meter reading around the time that you moved in?

At the time, yes…

2.5 years later, having lived in 2 houses since – no idea. Obviously that would have been helpful.

keep schtum

We will if they're going to be unreasonable, but I've no problem paying my fair share.

They may well hold all the Reading history seperate from the billing, so a fairly accurate bill could result if they get you set up. However if they don't, you could negotiate. I believe they are having big issues with migrating billing to SAP so you will probably slip through the net.

Mate just moved into a house and told Scottish gas that he was new owner/bill payer " Your house is not connected to mains gas" The house was built 15yrs ago and SG stickers over meter….. The gas co won't bill him as they say there is no supply to his house, he has told them to come and inspect it but they wont come round to look.

Free gas for him.

Free gas for him.

Fingers crossed for something similar, though I doubt it…

How about changing suppliers? – then you get a new company, and a new meter reading. Clean slate and all that…

Basically you could get landed with a huge bill BUT the companies have to provide one bill, estimated or otherwise, every 6 months (I think it's 6 monthgs). If they don't fulfill this then they're limited as to what they can bill you – I'd suggest it's worth getting in touch with Citizens Advice -just get as much info as you can before talking to the Energy Co as they'll do their level best to get as much money out of you as possible. We've just been shafted by Scottish Power down to a mistaken meter reading, they're absolute buggers for omitting as much info as they can get away with – there was no mention of their statutory obligations until we bought it up when suddenly there were a few 'gestures of goodwill'.

We'll be moving suppliers as soon as we can and making sure we keep a weekly record of our exact usage.

woffle

Thanks.

We're sending a big letter with all the tenancy agreements, a timeline of who has lived there and when and all the meter readings we have. And a copy of the CAB advice you mentioned.

I spoke to a man on the phone (without telling him where I lived) who, as you said, 'forgot' the rules about billing for a year and said our landlord could be liable for up to 20 years of unpaid bills..!

Try:

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/

or

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Pages/OfgemHome.aspx

As to how nasty energy companies can be, npower are not nasty, just incredibly incompetent when it comes to billing.

We had a meter here in our office block that was registered incorrectly, one of some 30 odd meters to this building.

The bill for that meter was being paid for by a domestic customer in another city! this went back some 15 years!

Took ages to sort out bill out and at one stage, it looked like our company was going to end up with a £14k bill, but in the end they only went back 4 years or so in the end apparently.

bruneep – might be free gas for him, but somebody is paying. I had a year long dispute with Scottish Gas as they kept billing my house which has no gas supply, must have got my name out of the phone book. Only cleared when I metioned it to the neighbours in passing who were wondering why they hadn't got a bill.

Southern electric are a bunch of crooks (my 2 penneth)

You've had free power for 2 years, and you've moved twice since?

FFS leave it be! If it ain't broke don't fix it!

A few years ago, an electricity supplier rang our office asking if they could supply us. We said no, as we were happy with our current supplier. They took this as a "yes" (obviously) and took over the supply. When we found out we told them where to go, and they did. Three years later, we realised we hadn't received or paid an electricity bill since, so we approached another supplier. They weren't interested in the history, and have supplied (and been paid by) us ever since. Sorted.

but in the end they only went back 4 years or so in the end apparently.

not sure what the score is with non-domestic supply but again I 'think' that if they've been remiss in sending out bills then the worst they can do is a year's worth, backdated and based on your current consumption figures. The feckers managed to wriggle out of this with us – the difference between a bill in the 1,000's and a bill in the 100's. What's galling is that our real usage is minimal, like £20-£30 a month (backed up by a couple of engineers reports to that effect) but there is nothing we can do about it…

You've had free power for 2 years, and you've moved twice since?

I'm long gone, but very good friends with the current tenants, who want to sort it out. And I don't want them to get stuck with a bill that I helped create.

Supplier is actually Scottish & Southern, and they seemed like snotty bastards on the phone. At least it looks like they will only be able to charge us for a year (as we've never impeded them reading a meter or tried to dodge any bills).