Electric Ireland wants to charge us previous tenants bill. Help!

armabelle

We moved in to an apt in Dublin 4 in late January 2016 and the LL instructed us to register with Electric Ireland so that we could be responsible for our own gas and electricity consumption. We did this and registered a week or two after we moved in and gave EI the meter readings which were taken at the time of us moving in. We just received our first invoice with a billing period from Aug 2015 to present with an amount of nearly 300 euros on the bill. When we called EI they told us that if the LL does not pay the bill then the new tenants become liable for that. I could not believe what they were telling me of course so I am now waiting for a supervisor to contact me and see what is going on. Can somebody please explain if this is possible in Ireland and how it could be so. Has anybody else had a similar situation

thank you for reading and posting

runawaybishop

armabelle wrote: »

We moved in to an apt in Dublin 4 in late January 2016 and the LL instructed us to register with Electric Ireland so that we could be responsible for our own gas and electricity consumption. We did this and registered a week or two after we moved in and gave EI the meter readings which were taken at the time of us moving in. We just received our first invoice with a billing period from Aug 2015 to present with an amount of nearly 300 euros on the bill. When we called EI they told us that if the LL does not pay the bill then the new tenants become liable for that. I could not believe what they were telling me of course so I am now waiting for a supervisor to contact me and see what is going on. Can somebody please explain if this is possible in Ireland and how it could be so. Has anybody else had a similar situation

thank you for reading and posting

Thats nonsense, you are not liable in the slightest assuming you can prove when you moved in. Not sure why they would even suggest you are liable for a bill in someone elses name - supervisor should clear it up.

Sun in Capri

You are only responsible for the bill from the time you moved in to the property. You would have given utilities company the meter readings and your new account would bill you for readings following on from those you supplied to utilities company. Why would you have to pay for utilities in a property for a time when you were not there?

joleen100

I had this problem with Artricity when I first moved into a rental property. They tried to charge me the arrears of the previous tenant. I sent them a copy of my lease agreement and it was sorted.

Victor

Note that you are entitled to use any energy provider you want. http://www.bonkers.ie/compare-gas-electricity-prices/dual-fuel/

Bob24

You are definitely not liable. It might take some time if you are facing unhelpful customer service reps, but I have no doubt they will eventually relent and remove the charge.

Have you talked to your landlord? Are they aware of the arrears? They should have held the amount from the previous tenant's deposit (or if there was no tenant during that period, the landlord is liable and should pay).

housetypeb

Neither The landlord or the current tenant is liable for the the past tenants bill.Only the person who's name is on the bill is liable.
Point that out to EI and they should write it off as a bad debt.

beauf

I've seen other suppliers try the same thing.

Refused to accept it.

armabelle

runawaybishop wrote: »

Thats nonsense, you are not liable in the slightest assuming you can prove when you moved in. Not sure why they would even suggest you are liable for a bill in someone elses name - supervisor should clear it up.

I know!! Anyway I wasn't having it so I explained it over the phone to some guy that sounded like a women (or a women that sounded like a guy) that I will not be responsible for that amount and they said that I had to get in touch with the LL to tell him that he must pay for it. I then told her/him that I am not going to do that because why should I tell him about what his outstanding financial obligations are? Like I am supposed to be a debt collector now. They said that the only thing we can do is to remove ourselves from the system in which case there would be nobody paying for the electricity on this address. This means that they would send a letter of notice of cancellation of services. Effectively they are saying that the outstanding amount from August must and should be paid before any new tenant takes over.

armabelle

housetypeb wrote: »

Neither The landlord or the current tenant is liable for the the past tenants bill.Only the person who's name is on the bill is liable.
Point that out to EI and they should write it off as a bad debt.

Yeah I told them this. They wanted me to go after the LL, when I said I wouldn't they said that they would. They asked for his number and called him while I was on hold... can you believe it?

armabelle

Bob24 wrote: »

Have you talked to your landlord? Are they aware of the arrears? They should have held the amount from the previous tenant's deposit (or if there was no tenant during that period, the landlord is liable and should pay).

No not yet but we will let him know. The thing is that we are moving out soon anyway due to other factors and our hunch is that he is not able to pay it. He hasn't even supplied furniture he promised since we moved in so we are living in a bare bones apartment paying 1700 euro a month rent. It is crazy.

Bob24

armabelle wrote: »

No not yet but we will let him know. The thing is that we are moving out soon anyway due to other factors and our hunch is that he is not able to pay it. He hasn't even supplied furniture he promised since we moved in so we are living in a bare bones apartment paying 1700 euro a month rent. It is crazy.

It doesn't seem very promising indeed ... probably a good decision to find another place ;-)

But still worth having a chat with the LL to know what their point of view is on this and asked if there was another tenant before you (if the apparent is virtually unfurnished maybe it was not rented before?).

armabelle

Bob24 wrote: »

It doesn't seem very promising indeed ... probably a good decision to find another place ;-)

But still worth having a chat with the LL to know what their point of view is on this and asked if there was another tenant before you (if the apparent is virtually unfurnished maybe it was not rented before?).

It was rented but they did major renovations for a few months before we moved in.

beauf

This kind of thing needs to be challenged. I don't see how they were able to set up a new account and transfer someone elses bill on to your account. The LL name isn't on the account. So even if you leave this bill will follow you won't it?, if its in your name. Can you take it to the small claims. I would ask them their procedure for setting up new accounts because they may not have followed their own procedure here.

beauf

armabelle wrote: »

It was rented but they did major renovations for a few months before we moved in.

Then it would seem to be the LL bill not the previous tenant. The LL might not have switched it to his name.

armabelle

beauf wrote: »

This kind of thing needs to be challenged. I don't see how they were able to set up a new account and transfer someone elses bill on to your account. The LL name isn't on the account. So even if you leave this bill will follow you won't it?, if its in your name. Can you take it to the small claims. I would ask them their procedure for setting up new accounts because they may not have followed their own procedure here.

Ok so after reading your post, here is what I think happened. Previous tenants moved out in August and the renovations began. LL took over the electricity and put in his name. We moved in in Jan and put it into our name but he simply did not pay the bill from August. Maybe he did so on purpose knowing that EI would make us liable? hmmmmmm, not so sure but who knows. It is possible.

armabelle

Sun in Capri wrote: »

You are only responsible for the bill from the time you moved in to the property. You would have given utilities company the meter readings and your new account would bill you for readings following on from those you supplied to utilities company. Why would you have to pay for utilities in a property for a time when you were not there?

Exactly. We didn't even live in Ireland in 2015. The point is that this is the way EI works apparently. Before a new tenant can take over payments in a property, all debts from the past tenant or account holder must be paid else the new account holder must pay for the overdue amount. At the time of take over, this is supposed to be communicated to the new account holder but wasnt in our case

armabelle

beauf wrote: »

Then it would seem to be the LL bill not the previous tenant. The LL might not have switched it to his name.

Yes sorry you are probably right now that I think about it.

beauf

Ask the LL about it. Perhaps they simply "forgot" about it.

Bob24

armabelle wrote: »

Yes sorry you are probably right now that I think about it.

Yet that's why I was asked whether it was rented before you. It seems strange EI would transfer the debt from a previous account to yours. Most likely they just didn't have any account registered for the address in the pas few months and applied the unmatched debt to whichever account subsequently registered (which is not right, but it least if you can confirm it is the case it is clear who should pay it: your landlord).

runawaybishop

armabelle wrote: »

Ok so after reading your post, here is what I think happened. Previous tenants moved out in August and the renovations began. LL took over the electricity and put in his name. We moved in in Jan and put it into our name but he simply did not pay the bill from August. Maybe he did so on purpose knowing that EI would make us liable? hmmmmmm, not so sure but who knows. It is possible.

Ei cannot make you liable for someone else's bill. Tell them, in no uncertain terms, to **** off or you will complain to the regulator. Flabbergasted it's progressed past the supervisor contacting you tbh.

armabelle

Bob24 wrote: »

Yet that's why I was asked whether it was rented before you. It seems strange EI would transfer the debt from a previous account to yours. Most likely they just didn't have any account registered for the address in the pas few months and applied the unmatched debt to whichever account subsequently registered (which is not right, but it least if you can confirm it is the case it is clear who should pay it: your landlord).

Well that makes sense but if you are right then it means that they continued to supply electricity to "nobody" at this address for a period of 4 months and "nobody" ran up a bill of 300 euro. Wouldn't they have cut the service by the time we moved in?

armabelle

runawaybishop wrote: »

Ei cannot make you liable for someone else's bill. Tell them, in no uncertain terms, to **** off or you will complain to the regulator. Flabbergasted it's progressed past the supervisor contacting you tbh.

yes true, but what pees me off is that they think that they can... it's a sketchy system alright because then LL can make tenants liable for their own personal usage

Bob24

armabelle wrote: »

Well that makes sense but if you are right then it means that they continued to supply electricity to "nobody" at this address for a period of 4 months and "nobody" ran up a bill of 300 euro. Wouldn't they have cut the service by the time we moved in?

I *think* they will leave it active for some time to ensure continuity of service. But I could be wrong. Doesn't mean they can charge it to you though.

beauf

armabelle wrote: »

...LL can make tenants liable for their own personal usage

The LL didn't do this EI did. it doesn't really matter either way this is not your bill.

I've seen ESB transfer a bill to a different account entirely. I don't think thats legal either.

OldMrBrennan83

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armabelle

beauf wrote: »

The LL didn't do this EI did. it doesn't really matter either way this is not your bill.

I've seen ESB transfer a bill to a different account entirely. I don't think thats legal either.

Yes you are right.. EI did but the LL could have used EI's policy to get us to owe them money for his usage. He is elderly so probably knows how these things work.

armabelle

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

beauf

It doesn't really matter if this was deliberate or an oversight.

1) It has to go back to the LL to sort out.
2) EI should be reported for this.

Dr_Kolossus

Similar thing happened to me with eircom. Bought a house in 2006. Previous owners had a bill for 1 k due to calls to some hotline in India. Eircom insisted we had to pay despite us having our own eircom bill paid fully for the past 5 years. back then eircom were the only decent broadband providers in our area. After about 8 months we eventually got it sorted because of a friend who works in eircom pulled some strings.

When ntl offered broadband we switched straight away. Eircom continually call, knock on door trying to get us to switch back. I have great pleasure in telling them to f**k right off!

athtrasna

There's a talk to electric Ireland forum on here. Might be worth posting on there OP

http://touch.boards.ie/forum/1349