Electricity Bill Dispute

ThunbergsAreGo

Hi,

I recieved a bill including arrears of upwards of 700 euro from Electric Ireland recently. This had previously been brought up as it was on a property i rented a number of years ago. This debt was incurred in the years after i had left the property and it appears that one of my house mates that was last to leave had not contacted the ESB to remove my name from the Bill.

This had been previosly cleared up with an agency (who i have since contacted and have no record of this as it was over 3 years ago).

I was not living in the property at the time the bill was incurred however Electric Ireland are saying i am liable for this as the onus was on me to remvoe my name from the bill.

Can anyone tell me what my legal position is on this?

Thanks,

rolexeagle1

I used to work in a electricity supplier, this happened loads. You are ultimately liable as the service was in your name, its stated in the T and C's. always got bills in everyones name!

ThunbergsAreGo

srumball wrote: »

I used to work in a electricity supplier, this happened loads. You are ultimately liable as the service was in your name, its stated in the T and C's. always got bills in everyones name!

So does this mean i have to pay the charge?

Procrastastudy

naughtb4 wrote: »

So does this mean i have to pay the charge?

Cant give legal advice but leaving your name on a bill was pretty daft. You might look to approach FLAC (www.flac.ie) and get some legal advice. At the moment do nothing especially if it involves acknowledging portions of the debt.

rolexeagle1

unfortunately as it was in your name you are responsible for it. Unless you can get your roommate to help you out with it.

I'm no lawyer or anything though that was just he bottom line, id say i dealt with 15-20 people in this situation before and the word from above was if they are the account holder/account is in their name they are responsible

ThunbergsAreGo

Procrastastudy wrote: »

Cant give legal advice but leaving your name on a bill was pretty daft. You might look to approach FLAC (www.flac.ie) and get some legal advice. At the moment do nothing especially if it involves acknowledging portions of the debt.

THanks to both for the replies, it was a messy situtations moving out as we all moved out in different times over the month and were hten back to college. We ay have contacted them about gettting the name taken off the bill, i just cant say 100%

godtabh

naughtb4 wrote: »

Hi,

I recieved a bill including arrears of upwards of 700 euro from Electric Ireland recently. This had previously been brought up as it was on a property i rented a number of years ago. This debt was incurred in the years after i had left the property and it appears that one of my house mates that was last to leave had not contacted the ESB to remove my name from the Bill.

This had been previosly cleared up with an agency (who i have since contacted and have no record of this as it was over 3 years ago).

I was not living in the property at the time the bill was incurred however Electric Ireland are saying i am liable for this as the onus was on me to remvoe my name from the bill.

Can anyone tell me what my legal position is on this?

Thanks,

Sounds like unless you get your house mates to pay up you are stuck with it

Victor

You may be able to use Small Claims Court against your house mates.

ThunbergsAreGo

Thanks, though its not really their fault to be honest.

Think ill be changing electricity providers, im more put out because i have clarified this with the solicitors that were collecting the debt on behalf of the ESB and they were satisfied with what had happened. I am at a loss as to why this was not communicated to the ESB

MagicSean

naughtb4 wrote: »

Thanks, though its not really their fault to be honest.

Think ill be changing electricity providers, im more put out because i have clarified this with the solicitors that were collecting the debt on behalf of the ESB and they were satisfied with what had happened. I am at a loss as to why this was not communicated to the ESB

May not be their fault but its their bill.

ThunbergsAreGo

MagicSean wrote: »

May not be their fault but its their bill.

But its not our bill we were not present in the house at the time the bill wa ran up. This has been proven in the past as well

godtabh

Victor wrote: »

You may be able to use Small Claims Court against your house mates.

isnt that only for person to business cases? You'd have to take a civil case in this instance

Peregrinus

naughtb4 wrote: »

But its not our bill we were not present in the house at the time the bill wa ran up. This has been proven in the past as well

No, it's probably your bill. The contract will almost certainly say that you ask the electricity company to supply power to such-and-such a premises, and they agree to supply it, and you agree to pay for the power supplied, and this will continue until one side or other terminates the contract. It's very unlikely that the contract says that you don't have to pay for power supplied at a time when you're not there. The electricity company drafted the contract, and why would they put in a term like that?

The issue will come down to whether or not you told the electricity company you were leaving , and wanted your name taken off the account (thereby terminating your agreement to pay for power supplied).

Victor

godtabh wrote: »

isnt that only for person to business cases? You'd have to take a civil case in this instance

I get the impression that it can be used for common expenses.

EDIT: Sorry, I misread the OP. I thought it was his friends that had run up the bill, it actually appears to be complete strangers.

The OP will have to find the strangers and sue them.

finnegan101

Peregrinus wrote: »

No, it's probably your bill. The contract will almost certainly say that you ask the electricity company to supply power to such-and-such a premises, and they agree to supply it, and you agree to pay for the power supplied, and this will continue until one side or other terminates the contract. It's very unlikely that the contract says that you don't have to pay for power supplied at a time when you're not there. The electricity company drafted the contract, and why would they put in a term like that?

The issue will come down to whether or not you told the electricity company you were leaving , and wanted your name taken off the account (thereby terminating your agreement to pay for power supplied).

and its quite possible you did write to them !!!!! remember now...
It must have gotten lost in their offices !! ;-)