Moved house yesterday and the vendors hadn't paid their electricity

[StressLevelsAboveRoofLevel]

We had no problems during the buying process. Met the vendor once, he seemed decent enough and mentioned a wife. House is clean and well kept.

When we arrived yesterday there was a letter on the doormat. It was chaotic so I've only just opened it now. It's a final repayment letter wanting £500.

Solicitors is obviously closed, not quite sure what to do now? Are we liable?!

Weird. Is it possible the vendors told them they'd moved out ages ago but continued to use the electricity and that's why it's addressed to the occupier?

Another who had an unpaid gas and electricity bill addressed to ‘the occupier’ (for £250) when we moved into a property. I think it’s because they knew the person with the account had moved on, didn’t know how to trace them and were trying their luck.
I just phoned and told them we’d just moved in, gave our meter readings, set up a new account and that was that.

We had this in our rental house. We sent the utility companies some documentation to prove when we took occupancy. We also took readings as soon as we got the keys and kept photos of them. The utility companies came out and checked them a couple of days later and we had no other issues.

Not all companies wanted proof btw but a couple who were owed huge amounts did.

Take dated photos and try and get your estate agent to read too for an independent reading because of the situation.