Gas connection/disconnection

greenblue22

we bought a house a couple years ago, it had oil heating but also had a gas meter for a cooker. House was cleared out when sold (probate) & my understanding was gas was disconnected so we just changed over electricity to our name & thought no more. Got a few bills for previous owner but he had no family so I just put not at this address/deceased & put them back in the post. I also emailed provider with address to advise of the same but they wouldn’t entertain me as I wasn’t the name on the account (I presumed it was the final eleccy bill but realised a year later when I got a note in the door to say someone tried to read the meter but we weren’t home). Emailed & rang but they wouldn’t deal with us unless we got an account. Anyway a couple months ago a debt collector came to the door saying there was almost 3 yrs of gas owing. We explained the situation he said he’d let provider know not to worry & he took the reading as meter was inside( which was actually slightly less than the last reading they had taken when he was alive so the estimated bills were way overestimated, they claim he owes thousands but it’s literally just the standing charge). Another letter arrived this week which my husband opened in error & it’s saying they’re coming to disconnect & the previous owner is liable for fees to do so. Again we rang explained & they won’t take the info from us, basically they’re saying we have to register for gas, pay almost 3 years of standing charges then pay to disconnect it. At the moment there’s nothing in our name so I’m reluctant to do this. Anyone know the legalities around this? At this stage I’d pay the €150 to get rid of it but not the guts of €500 for standing fees for something we never used!