Grrr moved into new house and outstanding utility bill addressed to occupier means we can’t switch suppliers!!!

[Dickorydockwhatthe]

We moved in Friday, received bill addressed to occupier with outstanding balance of £109 meaning they have blocked us from switching to our previous company that we had in our previous house until bill is settled.
The new house has actually been vacant for a month because the previous owners sold it to a building company as part of an exchange and we then brought it from the building company. We obviously took meter readings as soon as we moved in but unable to ring due to them not being opened the weekend. We had planned for the switch but our supplier was blocked so now they say we will have to also have a bill with them 🤬 any advice???

Similar happened with us. As soon as we spoke to the supplier and proved when we bought (by forwarding concluding mail from our solicitor) they apologised and we were free to move. Ours had involved court proceedings, so not a minor issue!

Sorry, and just to add our bill for the intervening time was a couple of quid so nothing to stress about.

Ok I will ring again as they weren’t having anything on the phone despite us saying we’ve just moved in. The thing is the property has been vacant for a month and they don’t even have the names of the occupiers so how they could have racked up £109 I don’t know 😐

109 could be standing charges and estimated readings, just call and give the correct reading and date and your details and they'll do the rest.
We had some similar issues, apparently it takes a few weeks to switch so you do have to use the existing supplier until the paperwork all gets done.

Ds had EXACTLY the same. Bought a house off a developer who took it in part exchange from the previous owner six months prior. EON had sent numerous threatening letters to The Occupier for non payment. “The Occupier” being the developer who hadn’t bothered to update the utilities with their details but kept the supply on.

DS had taken starting readings the day he moved in. He arranged with a different provider to supply his energy but there was a ten (I think) day crossover before he could takeover officially.

It did take about five phone calls and three letters with proof of completion statement to get them to sort it. In the end EON used DSs initial reading together with a second reading at change of provider date and calculated him his own short bill. He never had a contract with EON but at the end of day the energy used was his for that short period and was only £12 so he paid it. Never heard from EON again. We did give them the developers full names and address and that on the estate agent.

Good luck, it’s very frustrating.