Moved into a new aparement issue with Airtricity!!

jjbrien

My wife and I moved into our new apartment in August. When we moved in we gave the MPRN number and meter reading to Boad Gais as that is who we were already under contract to for electricity. We then received a letter addressed to the new occupier by Airtricity asking us to set-up with them or they will cut off the electricity. We then rang Board Gais and they said yes everything is fine our supply is with them. So we thought nothing more of it.

The 2 weeks later a bill arrives from Airtricity for the month pior to when we moved in (the apartment was empty before we moved in with no power going) and it covered about a week of when we were here, but I had given day 1 readings to Board Gais, so we are paying them for power not Airtricity. We then called Boad Gais again they said don't worry about it.... it is nothing to do with us and we are paying them for the power we use.

Today we received a letter from Airtricity addressed to only the New Occupier nobody's name on it. Saying notice of legal proceedings.

I do not want to pay Airtricity for time I was not a resident here and then turn around and pay board gais again hence paying twice for the same power its bad enough paying once.

Am I right in thinking they dont have a leg to stand on? As far as I know you can only issue legal proceedings if you have a name of a person.

Any advise on how to deal with these muppets?

Cabaal

Ideally, contact Airtricity and explain the situation to them. Should be no bother to prove when you moved in and also that you have been with BG as you'll have letters confirming this.

Alternative but not ideal is ignore it, they don't even have your name/number to annoy you with debt collection and the amount is so small they'll likely write it off few months down the line

emeldc

Nothing is ever simple with Airtricity. If you are absolutely certain that Bord Gais are your supplier then tell Airtricity where to go. If they insist that there is a balance outstanding, just ask for a copy or a recording of your contract. There wont be one. You owe them zero.

jjbrien

emeldc wrote: »

Nothing is ever simple with Airtricity. If you are absolutely certain that Bord Gais are your supplier then tell Airtricity where to go. If they insist that there is a balance outstanding, just ask for a copy or a recording of your contract. There wont be one. You owe them zero.

I have a bill from Board Gais confirming this is the case so I am with them

emeldc

jjbrien wrote: »

I have a bill from Board Gais confirming this is the case so I am with them

So you have nothing to worry about. If you do ring Airtricity make sure to note the name of the person you speak with. My experience with them is, each time you ring, you get a different operator with a different set of rules. Very frustrating and like talking to a stone.

foggy_lad

jjbrien wrote: »

I have a bill from Board Gais confirming this is the case so I am with them

Do not ring or contact Airtricity then as you have no contract with them and they are trying to force you to pay amounts owed by previous temants. Don't ring or write to them and do not give them your details or phone number or they will scald you with calls and threatening post.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I agree. Do not phone Airtricity nor give them as much as your name. You have nothing to fear so ignore the letter or return to sender.

jjbrien

foggy_lad wrote: »

Do not ring or contact Airtricity then as you have no contract with them and they are trying to force you to pay amounts owed by previous temants. Don't ring or write to them and do not give them your details or phone number or they will scald you with calls and threatening post.

I did call them they asked me my name I said New Occupier!!!!! He then said can you give me your name I said no He then told me oh just give the bill to your landlord to pay. I will do no such thing plus i blocked my number so they couldn't get it. But he did say I was under no obligation to pay them as the address is no longer supplied by them.

matrim

jjbrien wrote: »

I did call them they asked me my name I said New Occupier!!!!! He then said can you give me your name I said no He then told me oh just give the bill to your landlord to pay. I will do no such thing plus i blocked my number so they couldn't get it. But he did say I was under no obligation to pay them as the address is no longer supplied by them.

Giving the bill to the landlord is the correct thing to do in this circumstance. It's not your bill so you give to to him and let him sort it.

If the apartment was unoccupied for a month before you moved in then it's the landlords responsibility to pay for the electricity used during that time.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

jjbrien wrote: »

I did call them they asked me my name I said New Occupier!!!!! He then said can you give me your name I said no He then told me oh just give the bill to your landlord to pay. I will do no such thing plus i blocked my number so they couldn't get it. But he did say I was under no obligation to pay them as the address is no longer supplied by them.

I take it this conversation was after you started this thread.

So there is no consumer issue!

Greenmachine

We are with airtricity. First bill was huge I checked the meter against the bill and we were being charged for over 800 units when we had used less than 400. Previous occupant had obviously been sucking lots of juice. Letter still arrive for previous occupant so he has obviously still not settled his bill. You will prolly still have letter arrive for the previous occupant for a while yet.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Greenmachine wrote: »

We are with airtricity. First bill was huge I checked the meter against the bill and we were being charged for over 800 units when we had used less than 400. Previous occupant had obviously been sucking lots of juice. Letter still arrive for previous occupant so he has obviously still not settled his bill. You will prolly still have letter arrive for the previous occupant for a while yet.

Firstly an estimate out by 400 units on a first bill is not much and would be easily rectified. Secondly, the OP is not getting bills for the previous occupant. Perhaps you should re-read the issue.

Greenmachine

Lana Crashing Schoolgirl wrote: »

Firstly an estimate out by 400 units on a first bill is not much and would be easily rectified. Secondly, the OP is not getting bills for the previous occupant. Perhaps you should re-read the issue.

Weird I was sure he also said he got bills addressed to previous occupant.
Or maybe my point was that they would continue pursuing this money for a while yet, even if it is not due to them from the op.

foggy_lad

Greenmachine wrote: »

Weird I was sure he also said he got bills addressed to previous occupant.
Or maybe my point was that they would continue pursuing this money for a while yet, even if it is not due to them from the op.

The bill for the time between tenants when the place was empty is now beind addressed to "the new occupant" which is wrong.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Greenmachine wrote: »

Weird I was sure he also said he got bills addressed to previous occupant.
Or maybe my point was that they would continue pursuing this money for a while yet, even if it is not due to them from the op.

Read the post again - bills and letters are not addressed to either the OP nor the previous occupant, just a generic "new occupant".
Look it's irrelevant and pulling this off topic!

Bottom line is he has nothing to worry about and can safely ignore Airtricity in this particular case.

jjbrien

Lana Crashing Schoolgirl wrote: »

Read the post again - bills and letters are not addressed to either the OP nor the previous occupant, just a generic "new occupant".
Look it's irrelevant and pulling this off topic!

Bottom line is he has nothing to worry about and can safely ignore Airtricity in this particular case.

Thanks thats what im going to do its nothing to do with me this. I fulfilled what I needed to do when I moved in here by giving the meter reading to board gais. The other shower of chancers can sing for all I care the landlord lives out of the country so its hard to get hold of him. So im not going to waste my time on them.

Have to laugh I did business law as part of my degree in college when you take legal action against someone you need to have a name and a signed contract. If you dont have these theres no way a court will issue a summons.

chesterjester

I'm currently in a similar position.

I was sharing an apartment with someone else, this person being in charge of the electricity. In May this year my flatmate decided to move out - quite abruptly. Since she was going to leave the country I asked for the electricity to be signed over in my name for the rest of that month and then close the account.

Everything was signed over in my name and I moved out of the old apartment, leaving my new address with Airtricity and requesting for the account to be closed. I didn't receive any statements to the new apartment for about 1,5 months and I didn't think much of it tbh. It wasn't until I received a phone call from their Credit Control Team that I realized that our 2 previous bill, meaning before I even took over the contract, hadn't been paid in full. Since I had given my share of the electricity bills to my flatmate at the time you can imagine I felt, and still feel, ripped off.

I agreed to set up a payment plan of €20/week since I knew that there was no point in arguing with Airtricity. I took over a contract without making sure that everything was ok = my fault. However, I still never received any information on how and where to lodge these €20 which had been said to arrive in the post.

I'm now looking at a notice of legal proceedings from them stating that if the owed amount isn't paid in full they have the right to discontinue my energy supply and/or terminate the agreement of supply between me and them.

I'm now concerned that this will affect my old apartment where a new tenant is living? Could/would they be able to disconnect the supply for the apartment which was originally on the contract or does this just mean my supply?
Point to be made: I currently don't have any electricity in my name in my new apartment.

Cheers,

CH

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Sounds like you completed a change of name rather than a change of tenent. You may have taken over responsibility for the account, in whaich case you are label and it is a matter between you and your flatmate. Quite unlike the OP's issue.

No, the people in the old apartment are not party to this so fear not.

Deco99

similar issue as the OP, however, wondering what the slight differences may mean. Here goes.

Moved in but didnt have the meter readings, landlord didnt have them at the time. so week later we rang up new providers for gas and electric seperate and gave the readings of those days and that they would contact airtricity. i've now seen a letter (didnt open) for old tenant from airtricity looking for an amount that should have been paid and because the direct debit failed they want a €300 deposit. what i want to know is do they still look for the €300 if the balance owed actually gets settled?
(probably work out what we owe and old tenant pays theirs, seemed decent so deal with that side later)

Oh and even though we gave the readings from a different date would airtricity not just send a bill for the balance?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

The letter and situation with the old tenant is irrelevant to you. It sounds as though they did not give a Closing reading so your advised reading should be your starting point.

Deco99

While I understand the old tenants issue is their issue. I dont mind informing them that they have mail. And as i am not a scab, some of that bill is mine presumably. although i am not liable.


so without signing anything with airtricity, its a case of making sure we are with electric ireland (still waiting on them to send confirmation) so airtricity cant cut us off, I'll advise the old tenant their is an outstanding amount in there name, based on readings they gave landlord moving out, i'd be more than happy to pay my share. From what i've read elsewhere, that deposit request is issued whenever a direct debit is rejected. hopefully it can be solved sensibly and the balance of what is owed paid and no more.
They cant be as bad as Vodafone or UPC for sneaky charges.

Side issue, do many people renting sign up with airtricity? that €300 deposit is an instant put off. never even considered joining them

Rory1

I got similar letter from Airtricity when I moved in to my (rented) apartment. I ignored them, they never sent a letter again.

foggy_lad

Deco99 wrote: »

While I understand the old tenants issue is their issue. I dont mind informing them that they have mail. And as i am not a scab, some of that bill is mine presumably. although i am not liable.


so without signing anything with airtricity, its a case of making sure we are with electric ireland (still waiting on them to send confirmation) so airtricity cant cut us off, I'll advise the old tenant their is an outstanding amount in there name, based on readings they gave landlord moving out, i'd be more than happy to pay my share. From what i've read elsewhere, that deposit request is issued whenever a direct debit is rejected. hopefully it can be solved sensibly and the balance of what is owed paid and no more.
They cant be as bad as Vodafone or UPC for sneaky charges.

Side issue, do many people renting sign up with airtricity? that €300 deposit is an instant put off. never even considered joining them

Ignore the letter from Airtricity, it has nothing to do with you. You have no contract with them and you are not their customer. It is not your job to pass on anything to former tenants or to inform Airtricity of the previous tenants address or other details.

Your reading taken from the time you got access to the meter(you could reasonably add about 15-20 units for the delay) is all you need to open an account with either Airtricity or any other provider, no provider can hold you liable or accountable for debts owed by former tenants or for any amount owed for the time the flat/premises might have been empty between lettings.

Deco99

up and running with new suppliers, old tenants have their post. Tried to help them, wouldnt want to see anyone get a bad credit rating based on a mistake, if they dont sort it out, not my problem. Thanks for letting me vent on here.