To say dd is not responsible for landlord's electricity bill

[Snozzlemaid]

Dd is second year at uni and shares a flat with two others. Bills not included in the rent.

They signed up with an electricity supplier when they moved in at the beginning of September and have been paying this monthly.

The landlord has now messaged them saying she has received an electricity bill from the previous supplier that needs to be paid for the period up to the beginning of November. She wants them to pay it.

She has sent screenshots of the letter. It was addressed to her, the landlord, and posted to her address. It is from a different company than they have signed up with.

The flat was empty for months before dd and friends moved in so I'm guessing the landlord would have been responsible for electricity charges during that period. So surely she should have cancelled her contact when the flat was occupied again.

Sounds to me as if she hasn't cancelled her contract.

I've told dd she shouldn't be liable for this. They have no contract with the provider sending this bill. The landlord does, so she is responsible.
They are with another provider who they have been paying.

Any advice I can give dd for them to deal with this?

@FlowerArranger that's not entirely correct. There may be a daily standing charge, so the date their tenancy started also matters.

Hoarding Thank you. That will be their next step.

It sounds like the final bill from the other supplier which they’ll need to pay a proportion of. Accounts don’t switch over the day you move in, it takes weeks to complete.

They may have been paying since September but if they are just paying onto account they could be in credit.

Why don’t they just call their supplier and ask?

Two companies can't supply the same property. When they moved in, they changed supplier, but this can take weeks to sort. They should have taken a meter reading on the day their tenancy started.

They need to pay the old company whatever has been used from that meter reading to the end of the contract. They also need to pay the new company from that date onwards.

They are not responsible for anything used prior to the tenancy start date.

Its probably a mess up on the old suppliers part, presuming they gave meter reading to both the old and new company then if it was money owed while the change over was taking place the bill should have gone to them not the LL.

@EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall

Its probably a mess up on the old suppliers part, presuming they gave meter reading to both the old and new company then if it was money owed while the change over was taking place the bill should have gone to them not the LL.

No, they haven't paid this supplier at all so this will be the bill for the period between moving in and changing supplier.

I think as PPs have said, they probably set things up incorrectly. It isn't possible for 2 electricity suppliers to bill the same property (all though mistakes do happen).

They should have taken over the account with the old supplier, which it looks like they didn't as it is still in the landlord's name, then transferred to the new supplier. That can take some time so they would have to pay the old supplier in the interim. It has probably been delayed more than usual if they didn't do things correctly.

Normally, the new supplier asks for a meter reading on the day that they take over the account. Did they do that?

They need to check that the bill from the old supplier has the correct start reading, the correct dates (if there is a daily standing charge), and the correct final reading when the new contract started, and that the new supplier has the correct start reading.

Did they sign up to one of the suppliers that charge in advance rather than retrospect? I'm not sure they can take money before the supply has switched but they certainly will have had to pay money up front on the first day, if that is the case. It's possible that the money they think has been paying for usage is actually sitting with the new supplier untouched and they have a big credit balance.