Historic utility bill

[Newmum2610]

This morning DH got a letter from a debt collection agency stating he owed £600 from August 2019 for electricity. We were told the debt collection agency bought the debt from Scottish power in 2022 but the first correspondence we have had was today.
DH lived in this apartment for 3 months and to our knowledge paid the full account. We have an end of tenancy summary from the letting agent with last meter readings but the debt collectors have said the debt is now theirs so we cannot query with Scottish power.
We can ask the debt collectors for proof of the debt but I suspect we will get an estimated bill and a load of interest etc.
Anyone have any experience with this?

This happened to me in a rental.

When I left, no one had taken over the account as the flat was empty. So they just assumed I was still there.

Helpfully, they had tried to contact me by… sending letters to the flat. Which I didn’t live in.

I ended up in a bit of a catch 22 where the energy company said ‘sorry we have sold the debt, not our problem’, and the debt agency said ‘you now owe us the money’.

I eventually resolved it by really hassling the energy company as they couldn’t provide any evidence I owed the debt - but I could prove I was living elsewhere / had given up the tenancy and contract.

You will probably find they try to bully you into it, resist!

Can you use the 12 months back-billing 'get-out'?

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/problems-with-your-energy-bill/you-havent-received-a-gas-or-electricity-bill-in-a-while/

You should still be able to request the start date, start meter reading, end date and end meter reading. They need to provide you with proof. Hopefully this will exonerate you.

You should also be able to get a copy of the bills for the time period from Scottish Power if you don't have a copy in your records. If not, a subject access request might work?

Does he have a bill, or any other correspondence that could be helpful (even acknowledgement that he sent in meter readings or settled the account) in his emails or Apple/Google drive from the time?

Can he prove from his bank account what he paid?

If he is certain that he settled up the full bill for the time he lived there, it's definitely worth challenging.

I also wonder if it is worth sending a subject access request to Scottish Power?

https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/getting-copies-of-your-information-subject-access-request/#:~:text=You%20have%20the%20right%20to,a%20SAR%20or%20a%20DSAR.

This is also potentially useful.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/problems-with-your-energy-bill/check-if-youre-responsible-for-paying-an-energy-bill/

Can he prove the date he moved out? It's likely unless he told the utility company he moved out and can prove this eg email then nobody will have told them so they add on standing charges when a property is empty

Ignore totally, there a six year statute bar on debts. Depending on the time of year in 2019, if you ignore it until 2025 assuming they don't exculate they can't enforce.

If you're in Scotland it's 5 years.

Do you know who the landlord is?
If not you can do a search on the Land Registry website for the property owner (whose debt this is).
Have you got proof that you moved out - council tax records for instance?
The letting agent should inform the utility company and take the final reading.

The first thing I would do is reply to say this is not your debt and ask them to prove it.

Bear in mind the minute you acknowledge correspondence you reset the six years for stature barred debts though.

But if its not his debt, that's not relevant.

They're not trying to get out of paying what they owe, they don't think they owe the money at all.

Bear in mind the minute you acknowledge correspondence you reset the six years for stature barred debts though

That's incorrect. I think you mean once you acknowledge the debt itself/admit it's owed.

Simply acknowledging you've received correspondence from a debt collector and replying to that correspondence has no impact at all.

There no need to.

I wouldn't risk it.

Once a debt is stature barred NOTHING can reset it. You can admit it, take out a full page advert in The Sun, ring them every day to say you owe the debt, but it will remain stature barred. They can still chase you for it but cannot take legal action.

I had a CCJ from Scottish power, recently removed from. My credit file,in Scotland, now im seeing missed payments from Scottish power, which has severely affected my credit score due to an unpaid bill from Jan 2018

Statute barred surely