Am I liable for previous home owners bill?

[CurlsLDN]

Hi, I'm a first time home owner and would appreciate your collective wisdom!

I bought and moved into my house on the 1st September 2019.

Today I have received a letter 'to the occupier' from credit style limited, saying they are collecting a debt of £150 which is owed to robin hood energy/ebico.

When I moved in I set up an account with Bulb energy which was activated on the day, I have never heard of robin hood energy.

I called credit style and they said it is for the period 1 aug - 7 sept 2019 (seems a very steep bill for a period the house was mostly empty, aside from anything else!)
I explained that I know nothing of this and only bought the house 1st sept, and he said that regardless of me setting up with Bulb from day 1 I still owe money to the other company as it's normal for switchover to take a while and so you run two accounts for up to 28 days?? I've never experienced that before.

He said that as I didn't own the house for part of it I therefore wouldn't be liable for the whole debt so he would offer me a 30% reduction

I did some quick maths and pointed out that in that case I am not liable for 70% of the debt, if I am liable for any of it it would be far less than that.

To which he replied that if I wasn't willing to accept his offer I could make them an offer and they would decide whether to accept it.

I refused and asked him to send me in writing what this debt is for, the dates it relates to etc so I can consider it, which he said he will do.

SO is it normal to receive a bill for part or whole of a month from the old supplier when you buy a new house? Is it usual to be running up bills with both suppliers at once? Should I consider paying any of this?

I do think it's a bit dodgy as I've never received any letters from robin hood energy since I moved in, certainly no bills or requests for payment so if this is a legit situation their admin is shocking!

No you definitely are not,
Get in touch with Citzens Advice bureau for sound advice and to work on your behalf to sort this out issue out with them ,
acting as go between.

Or
You can simply tel ultility company yourself which ever one it is and explain your situation and for them then to chase previous owners about this debt issue.

Citzens Advice bureau agency contact details are online and they have offices in most/or all Towns and cities too.

You only owe money from the point you owned the property. That may be to two different companies.

If Bulb weren’t the supplier of the property when you moved in, then it take a minimum of 14 days to transfer the supply. For those (minimum of) 14 days, you are in what is called a ‘deemed contract’ with the company that was supplying the property when you took control of it.

You need to contact that company and set up a temporary account with them, giving them the date you bought the property and the meter readings. That allows them to differentiate your spend from the previous owners spend. You will pay this company until Bulb take over the supply. You are not liable for any debt accrued by prior owners.

(DP works in energy supply so I got this info from him.).

contact present energy supplier & ask them to sort it out -send them copy - by phone taking contact email/name by email (marking email arrived on top of page)
Robin Hood - well named for a con

@CurlsLDN

Whatever the situation please do remember that before it can be enforced any debt must go to court. Do not simply pay out of fear and deal only with the supplier/Deloittes not any intermediairy

Hi the energy company is in administration so it sounds like they have moved debts to a credit collection agency. You might want to contact the administrator who has been appointed to sort it out.
Sounds like the debt collecction agency are just out to get as much money as they can from old debts. I've got the administrator details from the London Gazette so you may want to contact them (pic attached) as I imagine they have appointed the debt collectors as you wont get hold of the energy company

And be aware, don't give them your name etc. You may get contact from a call company called Link (mething or other) they are absolute scummy non debt collectors.

Ignore everything and keep an eye on your credit rating, that's free these days.

Thank you all, lots of very helpful tips and clarity here, and some great avenues for me to pursue to get this sorted.

I won't be paying them anything or agreeing that the debt is mine. I will double check with bulb (my actual supplier) whether there was any crossover period I may owe for - if there is that's fine I'm happy to pay what I owe for those days, but weird it's taken over a year for anyone to get in touch or ask me to pay!!

I will speak with citizens advice to establish whether this debt collection agency is legit and how I should best handle dealing with them in order to clear this up.

Thanks again everyone