After I moved in some bills owed by me are still going to previous tenant

Hi ​@anotherthrowaway ,

Try 0330 303 5063 in the morning as I think that team can help with this.

Just a heads up - you have to set up an account manually after moving in and should not leave until you do so.

That is something that you need to do yourself, nobody else is going to do it for you.
If you do it properly then it’s simple.
It has only become atrocious because you didn’t do it properly, and then on top of that switched supplier as well.

When you take responsibility for a property you take meter readings (take photos as your proof), find out who the utility suppliers are, and get the accounts changed to new ones in your name.
Then after you have done that you can swap to a different supplier if you want to.

Note that it's not unusual for previous occupiers to leave without notifying, or paying, the suppliers.

unfortunately ive been unable to pay any bills i owe and due to it all going to the account of the previous occupier which nobody can get a hold of.

But by this point ive already swapped suppliers. …….

It sounds as if what is happening here is that you never did any of what you should have done when taking over the property, but have still somehow managed to switch supplier.

Did you switch supplier using the previous occupiers name?
Are the accounts now in your name - or are they still the previous occupiers name?
Is that why you are having trouble paying, because the accounts are not in your name?

If the accounts are still in the previous occupiers name then you need to get them changed into accounts of your own.

… im getting letters about debt collectors and theres no way for me to just pay for what ive used …

What name the accounts are currently in will have an effect on who owes what when it comes to debt collection.

If you never informed the suppliers when you became responsible for the property then you may find yourself liable (or partly liable) for any debt left behind by the previous occupier.
That's because you did not do things properly, and so now have no proof of what the meter readings were when you became responsible for them.

PS. I do have an article in the 'Library' here about dealing with debt collection letters.
However it does not really cover a 'self-inflicted' situation where you have not properly had the accounts put into your name (and have then compounded that by switching supplier).
I could no doubt offer more relevant advice for such a situation if I had more details of exactly what is happening now and who's name the accounts are in now.

PPS. Is it OVO that you have switched to? Or is it OVO that you have switched away from?

Hey ​@anotherthrowaway 

I’m glad to see a couple of our community members have already stopped by with some advice and some questions too to try and gain some clarity around this. 

Nukecad made some very good points, and it would be good to know which way around the switch was?

If you could answer that and some of the other points above from Nukecad that would be really helpful, it’s extremely unusual to hear of anyone being able to switch without having first set up an account in your own name with the original supplier. Without full detail it is tricky to tell, it sounds ultimately though that the Support Team will need to help with this as we don’t have access to accounts here at the Forum like they do, and it sounds like they’ll need to do some work with this.

Do let us know how you get on with this.

Thanks for the replies guys, sorry about my snippiness i was tired and stressed. First time moving house too doing great so far lol

So i moved into the property in mid october, the previous tennant was with OVO. I was already receiving notices for unpaid bills upon moving in which my letting agents said they would pass onto the landlord/prior tennant

I then swapped supplier in november thinking that was the problem here.

Ive since recieved no more bills but notices for our outstanding bills (some of which is mine but i have no way of paying for)

As a result, my energy i personally used under OVO has gone to the previous occupants account and i just want to sort my own bills.

Theres been no name on the letters either sadly, theyve always just said "occupier"

I do have records of my move in date/meter usages from move in to the day i swapped thankfully

Am i best to like swap back to OVO, explain the situation so i can pay whats due or is there another way

Thanks again

Thanks for that.

One job you need is to get the debt collection letters stopped, so do see my advice here:

Tbh you might need rwo of the sections there, the one about debt letters for a previous tenant and the one about an already disputed debt.

That's because if your new supplier is not billing you then you need to raise a complaint with them about why not. (And then escalate to the Ombudsman if needed).

I do suspect however that you did not open your own account with OVO before switching, you don't mention doing that.

If that is what happened then the switch may not have completed, hence the new company can't bill you because you haven't switched.

Hi, thanks for getting back so fast.

So it hasnt been passed to a debr collectors just yet, ive just had warning letters is all and im keen to get something sorted

And no youre absolutely right, i havent opened my own account with OVO at all. 

My current supplier is fine and im making payments to them no bother. Its the period of time between moving in and joining the new supplier that im looking to pay OVO for. And those bills are still under the account of the previous resident alongside bills predating my move in.

Yes but, No but….

As you never took over the existing OVO account when you moved in then as far as OVO know it is still them supplying the property and so they still want paying for that supply.

So, from what you have said, you now appear to have two different suppliers both thinking that they are supplying the property.

To put it another way it seems that you have not “switched” supplier instead you have simply started a new account with another company - (I'm not sure how that happened? A new supplier shouldn't just take on an existing supply).

As far as I can see you need to sort this out with OVO both for the supply before you opened a new account with a different company, and then from after that time.

No i have definitely switched, when i changed supplier i got a letter through from OVO saying so, so at the very least theres a concrete end date for OVO. So its just a case of figuring out how to pay for that period of time which im struggling to figure out now. 

Im doing a great job moving house first time, ill only make this mistake once lol