Urgent Advice Needed - Energy bills CCJ

[Moonopoly]

We have been contacted by CST law chasing a historic debt from our previous energy suppliers E-On. This is money that was transferred from N Power to them when they bought them out in 2020. We wanted evidence of where this build up of debt had come from (we paid monthly regularly) but e-on had previously said they didn’t hold the records on this.
DH called CST law on Monday and they said we had 14 days to resolve this either by paying or proving we don’t owe the money - we have this is an email and they also sent us our previous statements.
Today we’ve received a CCJ in the post from
them. We’ve tried for hours to get through to CST law on the phone but without any luck and I’m feeling pretty aggrieved that this is against the information given to us on Monday.
If we owe the money then we will pay it but it has now got court fees added to plus interest.
Can anyone confirm where we stand? Can CST (if we can ever get through to them!!) withdraw it based on the email received on Monday or is it non binding if it goes against what they have stated in terms of credit collection?! It also says on the CCJ claim description that E-on are current suppliers which isn’t true.
Help! Feeling very stressed.

Anyone?

You can get the judgement set aside as you weren’t informed it was going to court and weren’t given an opportunity to defend yourself.

you have no contract with this company, eon don’t know how much you owe and neither does n power. Essentially they’re hoping you’ll cough up without pushback - eg you being “difficult” and asking for contract/evidence etc.

the law is on your side. Chin up. I know you’ll worry all weekend, but judges don’t like it when dodgy companies like this apply for CCJs without your knowledge.

By CCJ do you just mean a claim form?

If so, whatever you do make sure you put a defence in. If you file an acknowledgment of service (you should have a defence pack and password) you can go online, register with Money Claims and just click a button and that gives you 28 days to then get a defence together/discuss with them.

If the CCJ has already been granted, through default judgment, then you can pay up within a certain time (I think 14 days, possible 28) to avoid it going on your credit file then argue to get the money back. Or, you can apply to have it set aside. The latter option though might take some time and it will sit on your credit file in the meantime.

Thanks both.
Sorry @DelisButAlsoCrime yes I mean a claim form.
Do either of you know if CST can simply withdraw it as I’m hoping it was generated in error?

They can very easily withdraw it; but it’s better to protect yourself by defending it, after your defence is received they’ll be given the option of proceeding or not - if you don’t put a defence in they can obtain default judgment against you even if they say they’ll withdraw it (I don’t know if they are shady enough to do this but frankly I wouldn’t trust a debt collector as far as I could throw them).

Defend it. Don't rely on CST saying they'll withdraw it - if they don't, or there's a delay and you go over the time limit, you'll have to pay £255 to have it set aside and then defend it all over again.

If you don't defend it, they'll get a default judgement against you.

How much are they asking for?

Get the acknowledgement of service into the court as a matter of urgency. Copy to CST as well.

You will then need to submit your defence but please get legal advice for this.

@gobbynorthernbird its £1450 (£1240 plus court fees and interest)
CLT Law are solicitors so we’ve sent them an email asking for it to be withdrawn (I’ve absolutely noted everything you have all said and I won’t let the clock run down) and threatening to take them to the legal services ombudsman for unethical practice.
I just really don’t want this on DH credit file. We have the bills from n power now but they are really hard to work out. The majority of the time is over lockdowns so is mainly estimated bills, which is probably our own fault but we had 3 kids including a newborn in the first lockdown.
If we HAVE to pay it to avoid it being on DH credit file then we will. I have a condition that is really effected by stress and I really can’t manage weeks of worrying about this. We were making payments of circa £200 a month so I just can’t understand how we have so much usage not paid for - we don’t live in a mansion!

Also I’ve had a separate email from E On today to say they are closing our account (we left them 4 months ago) with a bill that doesn’t match this figure at all. In facts it’s £400 more - we’ve been paying £300 a month most of this year! so I really don’t know what’s going on

Oh god, that's a nightmare. If it was a small amount then I'd say to pay it and sort it later but that's tons.

Have you checked whether any if it falls outside of the back-billing rules?

@gobbynorthernbird what are the back billing rules?

Something like if they haven't billed you for the usage with 12 months, they can't recover it at all.

I suggest you make a timeline of everything including the amounts you have paid to whom and when.

www.ofgem.gov.uk/check-energy-back-billing-rules