Advice needed, electricity company woes

Hi All,

I wonder if any of you can give me some advice... In 2005 I lived with my girlfriend (now ex ) in a flat for 6 months from March 22nd to August 22nd after which we went traveling to Autralia and New Zealand for a year. Was wicked! However, about a year ago I received a phone call from a debt collection agency saying I owed EDF energy £179 for an electricity bill from May to December 2005 (moved out in august). The flat wasn't in my name but the electricity bill was. I rang EDF telling them I couldn't get hold of the tenancy agreement to proove this and they said it would be fine if sent in a scan of my passport showing my customs stamps and Australian Visa showing that I was out of the country, so I sent them this and heard nothing back so assumed it was sorted.

I was wrong,

Last week ( a full year later) I recieved an phone call from a different debt collection agency saying I still owed EDF £179, so again I called them said I was out the country...blah blah and again they told me to send in my passport scan...etc which showed that I became a temporary Australian resident on 22nd August 2005 for 6 months. They replied saying this did not proove I was not responsible for the property between August and December 2005 (even though I was never "responsible" for the property as it was in my ex's name) and they were still charging me for the full amount! I can't really see any way I can get hold of the tenancy agreement (which ended in august 2005), EDF have the landlord's details but wont give them to me due to data protection issues...

So I was wondering what other people would do in this situation? i'm willing to pay the bill up until August but i'm not gonna be paying for someone elses electricity up untill december! As far as I can tell the only information both companys have on me is my contract phone number, so if worse comes to worse im thinking of just changing my phone number and hoping for the best lol.

Any help would be VERY appreciated!

Thanks

Chris

22nd of August is my Birthday.

hth

(but seriously they should be taking it up with your landlord. The burden of proof is on them - good luck with it )

Originally Posted by gettin2dizzy

(but seriously they should be taking it up with your landlord. The burden of proof is on them - good luck with it )

He's right you know.

One of the houses my parents let had a similar problem, except the culprits are British Gas instead of EDF. Expect to be pestered continously and as you have already discovered, when you finally persuade one debt collection agency that the debt is not yours, they sell it to another company and the merry go round continues.

Eventually they sent my father a summons and he attended court and it was dropped sharpish. They did have to pay for his flight from Australia and back, as well as other costs, so i think they are now regretting it.

So they won't give you the landlord's details because of data protection, I can understand that. However they will have to rely upon his evidence or records in court I'd have thought. The JP/magistrate/judge/whoever (never sure of the difference) will surely want to know when you moved out. The landlord has that information, corroborated by the stamps in your passport.

I'd write back stating again that you moved out in August and ergo will not submit to paying the full amount. It's up to them to prove that you were in the house/responsible for it, you already have evidence in your passport, and you're happy for the tenancy agreement to be presented in court to add further weight.

I strongly suspect you won't hear a thing till another year or so, and another debt collection agency will pick it up and start all over again. They're barsteward the lot of them.

Thanks guys, I have sent an email back to edf saying that im not gonna pay for the full amount, but willing to pay up untill august...etc I've got a feeling the £179 may include some kind of late payment fee, which i've insisted they waive after not even attempting to contact me, my 1st point of contact was the debt collection agency... I'm trying to avoid giving them my current address for obvious reasons so hopefully will all turn out peachy. Will let you know how it goes...

Chris

Just read your post Matt about the "stature-barred" 6 year thing, so all i have to do really is lay low untill 2013, maybe I should finally follow that life long dream of living under the sea *cue music..."under the sea"*