UKH

I previously used Extra Energy. They went bust recently. I am now getting demands for payment for  an account closed in 2017. They are providing no information such as meter reads or even what they claim I owe money for. I can't prove I don't owe money as the Extra Energy website has gone. Any advice? The administrators are PWC. Email exchange below.

Dear Mr MG

Thank you for contacting extraenergy.

Our records show that there is an outstanding amount of £61.34.  If this payment has already been made, please provide details of the payment in order to update our records.

Kind Regards

Dear Extra

I have received a demand for a payment of an unspecified amount on the above Extraenergy account in your letter dated 13th March.  My records show this account was closed with full payment made in late 2017.  There was some confusion about the final meter readings, clarified in your email to me 5th March 2018, confirming the final meter readings were correct.  If you still feel this matter is not  concluded, please email full details of the amount you believe is due, complete bills, the relevant meter readings, and an explanation of why it is being raised now and not previously.

yours

MG

It's for a different supplier who went bust, but you may find advice in these two articles?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2019/03/spark-energy-customers-chase...

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2018/02/debt-collectors-chase-former...

Thanks.  If they sent an actual bill rather than unsupported random demands for payment it would help.

Don't know if this will help but there's a limit on back billing

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/who-...

Yes, that does look helpful.

Have you sent that response ?

edit: Oops I see you describe it as the email exchange. Is that really their email to you? It’s sloppily worded and looks like spam 

Write to the data controller at PWC with a subject access request under GDPR.  Make it explicit that you are requesting any records from the energy firm that they hold as administrators.

Beware of them selling the debt on to some scumbag collection firm if you don’t pay by whatever deadline they’ve given you.

May well be worth getting in touch with OfGen (if that's still the name of the energy regulator) They were very helpful to me over a dispute with british gas over a years old account at a previous address.

NB I am following this with interest as I left Extra Energy last June but I did scan and photograph correspondence saying it was all paid up etc. Fingers crossed I don’t get a load of hassle soon. But those links suggest they can’t chase anything - real or otherwise - more than a year old right ?

Not an energy company but I was asked for payments for something from over a year before from a company who had been bought out. I asked for proof I owed the money and they couldn't provide anything apart from stating the records they inherited said I did.

I wasn't 100% sure whether I owed anything or not so just played it stubborn stating that it was the companies obligation to prove I owed them money and I don't pay for things I never bought. After 3 or 4 emails between us they decided to cancel. If it's cheaper for them to let it go, they will. 

No experience, but I'd take the line that for an Administrator to contact you demanding a random sum of money with no details provided is not acceptable. It is actually extremely unprofessional.

Simply ask them to provide full and detailed statements, to verify precisely what they think the money is owed for and state that under no circumstances can you be expected to consider making any payments without.

If they have identified that you owe something, they must be able to identify how and why. If they can't do that, I can't see how they would have any case to try to recover anything.

Something along these lines probably plays nicely into the 'engaging with them' game. You are not ignoring them. You are not refusing. You are giving them an opportunity to prove the matter properly. Before then considering what to do about it...

I agree that it looks like a scam - somebody has bought their client database from a disgruntled ex-employee and is sending out requests for small amounts of cash, small enough that people will just pay up to avoid a fuss. The expression: "Our records show that there is an outstanding amount of £61.34." just smacks of classic scammer-talk.

Have you tried Googling to see if anybody else has the same problem?

Would the administrator really bother pursuing you for this? 

I had a dispute with NPower where they tried to back bill me due to their mistake, eventually settled it in my favour thought the energy ombudsman

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/energy

Basically if they can't show you start and end meter readings, cost per unit, standing charge rate, number of days and the amount you've already paid for that bill, then how can they possibly work out how much you owe.

Keep on asking for details until they supply them so that you can either agree and pay up or dispute as appropriate.

Where one company has taken over a debt from another company then it is not sufficient for them to just state  "you owe £xx" (which may be the only data they've got from the old company) unless they can show that the previous company has already properly billed you (can they demonstrate sent to correct address or email address) all the necessary information for you to be able to verify the correctness of the bill.

Relative of mine gets stressed by trying to chase old energy debts from clients of a company whose accounts they'd taken over but with incomplete information.

Thanks all. I have replied with a "more information needed" response. Will wait and see.. 

further option is to simply ignore them. it is them chasing you, so the status quo suits you and for that amount of money there is no chance of them pursuing a small claims

Potentially a dangerous approach, small claims no, but a default on an individuals credit file yes.

I had a situation probably 10 years ago, I decided to change my mobile phone provider, paid what was due and moved on. I received another bill, which I challenged and they where unable to explain on the phone. I asked them to provide an explanation in writing as to why I had received this additional bill (it was only about £22).

I didn’t hear anything, then a few months later a got a letter from a collection company. I rang them and said that this was part of an unresolved challenge and that they had no right to seek any money from me. The collection company wrote to me and said that they had checked with the phone company and that I was correct that the matter had been handed back to the phone company. I heard no more.

A year later, I applied for a personal loan and was very surprised to by turned down. I checked my credit file and found that the phone company had marked my file with a default. I took some advice and after a few months of increasingly threatening correspondence they removed the black mark without admitting fault. No lasting damage to my credit file, but it cost me money and quite a lot of time and inconvenience.