New Build Home Problem

A question about : New Build Home Problem

I bought a new build home in Oct 2012 and the builder transfered or created an account on my behalf and without my explicit consent to a certain energy provider.

That energy provider put me on a very expensive tariff, did not inform me of any of the arrangements and the first I heard was when I received the first huge bill. I complained and they were no help at all so in Jan 2013 I immediately switched provider.

I received a letter in Feb 2013 saying sorry you are leaving. I then heard nothing for months until May 2013 when I received a letter apologising for a delay to my final bill.

The next I heard from them was early May 2014 (a whole year later) when I received a final gas bill (I was on a dual fuel tariff) for nearly Ј200, followed about a week later by an overdue notice, another chasing letter a week after that and again the following week. I called several times to try and resolve this and requested that they recalculate my bill on a fair tariff but got no response to this (despite my official complaint about being overcharged in Jan 2013).

In June 2014 I received a letter from the debt collectors. I called immediately and explained that there was an outstanding complaint on the account so they put the account on hold and referred it back to the energy provider.

In early July 2014 I received two letters from the energy provider explaining that they had received my complaint and how they were handling my complaint. Both of these letters arrived while I was on holiday and one instructed me to call by 8th July or they would close my complaint which as I was on holiday they then did. I wrote but received no reply.

I heard nothing for months until last week when I got another letter from a debt collector. Within a day of calling the debt collector (different to the last firm) I received three calls in close succession but all during the working day when I cannot answer.

I am at my wits end and could really use some advice as to how to get my bill from 2012/13 recalculated at a fair rate.

Best answers:

• What did you do in October 2012 when you moved in? Was this huge bill just in January 2013? That is only three or four months later.
  Did you read the meters when you moved in? Does your first bill only include charges from then or does it include usage from before you bought the place?
  It was your responsibility in October 2012 to find out who your supplier was and to move off the Standard tariff and/or change supplier - all new occupiers (not just of new-builds) face a deemed contract on a Standard tariff.
  If you made no such arrangement then the unnecessary extra 20 or 30% you are paying is your debt and you need to pay up.
  But it should really be for only those first three months - why is this only being tackled now?
  Edit: okay, re-reading it is just the first quarter you are moaning about. What is the problem? The reason you are put on a deemed tariff is so on change of occupation you are not sitting in the dark and cold for two or three weeks waiting for two engineers to turn up - utilities are connected and left on. Pay up before your credit is damaged any further.
• I have moved into 4 new build houses and on each occasion the developer left details of the energy suppliers. The default tariff for new builds and new occupants moving into a property is the supplier's standard variable tariff. There is nothing unfair about this it is just the way it is. Lower tariffs are invariably fixed and it would require action on the part of the customer to switch.
  I agree with Nada666 that it is best to chalk this one down to experience, pay up and move on.
• So let me get this straight, you moved into a new build. It wasn't in the developer pack? I find that odd as its always in there, also you never tried to change supply until chassed?
  Op short and narrow you are on a deemed supply when you bought the property, doesn't matter that you didn't choose that supplier also you did nothing about been on the standard, bet you would complain if they put you on a fixed!
  Up side you owe it, payup or you will if not already have a bad credit file. Its also not their fault you went on holiday.
• Thanks for your feedback guys.
  No - the developer did not leave details of any of the utilities providers. This is not the only thing the developer failed on so lets not go there!
  I got a nice letter from the water co explaining my future bills and asking if I would like to set up a direct debit.
  I got a nice letter from the council tax people along a similar line.
  First letter from the energy provider was threating a debt collector for an unpaid bill (having received no bill). This was for only Ј24.26, just over 2 months after we moved in.
  Thing is this is more complex than just an unexpectedly high first quarter bill. I just got cross about being ripped off and switched provider.
  This was compounded by the fact that they took over a year to send the final bill and then got that wrong and I have spent over a year trying to get this sorted.
  I am not suggesting it is their fault that I went on holiday, just that only giving me 7 days to respond or close my complaint (including the time it took for the letter to arrive) when they had ignored all my earlier communication for over 6 months was not really helping resolve the issue.
  Ideally yes I would like them to recalculate the entire bill on a fairer tariff but I would be satisfied if they just got the final bill right. An overcharge on top of being ripped off is just not acceptable.