Moriarty Law / Utility Warehouse

[pitbull10]

I received a letter from Moriarty before Christmas about a energy bill from 2013, I responded with a prove it letter, they sent a pile of bills that are estimated unclear.
I moved from SSE to Utility warehouse in October 2013 soon found out that they were lying about their claims for cheaper fuel, So in March 2014 I moved back to SSE, they did not like this and stripped the account of every benefit in April they sent me final bill I owed them £10 on Gas and they owed me £26 on electric. So I forgot about it, Five years later Moriarty send me a letter saying I owe £299.99 so I sent the prove it letter.

They put a hold on it for 30 days, On Friday they sent a court summons, So I'm looking for some help in defending this.
I intend on filling out court response rejecting whole claim.
Does anyone have a good defence I can submit for this claim.

Regards

pitbull

[pitbull10]

Hi me again

Can anyone help me with this

[pitbull10]

Anything anybody

[Amethyst]

You should ask Utility Warehouse for a complete breakdown of the £299.99 they say you owe - a Subject Access Request is a good idea to start with but if you type out the particulars of claim you may be able to send a cpr 31.14 request too.

Did you take meter readings when you changed to and then from UW to SSE ?

Also are you in Scotland ?

[pitbull10]

Hello Amethyst
i sent a recorded letter requesting information all I got back was a pile of bills dated March and April 2014.
The summons says
the defendant owes the claimant £299.99
under written agreement with utility warehouse dated 20/09/2013(debt) despite formal demands for payment of the debt the defendant has failed to pay and the claimant claims £291.13 and the claimant also claims interest there on pursuant to section 69 of county court act 1984 limited to one year to date hereof at the rate of 3.04% per annum amounting to £8.86.

That is all it says I sent a prove it letter but only got back bills.

[pitbull10]

Hi again
sorry I missed off the readings. I contacted SSE and they gave me closing meter reading and opening reading but unfortunately I had a meter change in the 6 months with them. I think that is where the mix up has come.

[pitbull10]

Hello
is there any advise I need to submit a defence

[pitbull10]

Hello

As utility supply companies are not under consumer credit act. What act does it come under and how can I defend the fact I have not heard from them since March 2014.

[Amethyst]

Hello Amethyst
i sent a recorded letter requesting information all I got back was a pile of bills dated March and April 2014.
The summons says
the defendant owes the claimant £299.99
under written agreement with utility warehouse dated 20/09/2013(debt) despite formal demands for payment of the debt the defendant has failed to pay and the claimant claims £291.13 and the claimant also claims interest there on pursuant to section 69 of county court act 1984 limited to one year to date hereof at the rate of 3.04% per annum amounting to £8.86.

That is all it says I sent a prove it letter but only got back bills.

As the POC does mention documents ' written agreement ' and ' formal demands' you should send a CPR 31.14 request for those. in the CPR 31.14 letter you should also ask them for a breakdown to show how the amount being claimed has arisen. CPR 31.14 Request

as I'm not sure how the debt got from

in April they sent me final bill I owed them £10 on Gas and they owed me £26 on electric.

to you owing £291.13 though - do the bills show an outstanding amount of £291.13 ?

That's also where a SAR to UW will help so get that in progress asap - Subject Access Request Letter

[pitbull10]

Hello
and thank you for responding, I have already sent CPR and requested the documents all they sent me was copies of bills from February March April 2014, this bills are estimates and charges that I don't understand, once I received those bills they summons me to court. there is no information on the claim or any proof I owe anything.
Yes the bills show in April they owed me I moved back to SSE and the move went without them saying I owed them anything. I have not heard anything from them since until November 2018.

I'm not going to get another CPR or SAR by Thursday of this week when a defence must be submitted.

Do you understand I don't know what to do.

[Amethyst]

Any chance you can upload a copy of the final bill in April ?

[Amethyst]

the defendant owes the claimant £299.99
under written agreement with utility warehouse dated 20/09/2013(debt) despite formal demands for payment of the debt the defendant has failed to pay and the claimant claims £291.13 and the claimant also claims interest there on pursuant to section 69 of county court act 1984 limited to one year to date hereof at the rate of 3.04% per annum amounting to £8.86.

So your defence would be something like............... ( obvs needs a lot of work )

DEFENCE

1.The Defendant received the claim [Claim Number] from the [Name of Court – often Northampton or Salford] County Court on [Date you received the claim]

2.Each and every allegation in the Claimants statement of case is denied unless specifically admitted in this Defence.

3.This claim is for an alleged outstanding amount due under a Utility Warehouse account for provision of electricity and gas to a property at xxxxxxx

4. The Claimant is a supplier ? of Electric and Gas services.

4.It is admitted that the Defendant has previously entered into an agreement with Utility Warehouse for provision of electricity and gas services.

5. It is denied that the Defendant is indebted to the Claimant, Utility Warehouse, for the amount of £291.13 or any sum.

6. The Defendant cancelled the services of Utility Ware house in [date closed account] and opened an account with XXXX. A meter reading for the start of the account with SSE was provided at xxxxxx.

7. Utility Warehouse issued a final bill on April xxx 2018 which stated;

xxxxxxxxxxxx

8. No further communication has been received from Utility Warehouse.

9.On the [Date] The Defendant sent a request for inspection of documents mentioned in the claimant’s statement of case under Civil Procedure Rule 31.14 to [Claimant’s Solicitor]. I requested the Claimant provide copies of the [Agreement, Default Notice and Notice of Assignment].

10.[Claimant’s Solicitor] has not sent any of these documents to the Defendant. The only documents provided were copies of bills issued in x,x,x,x and do not show at all how the amount being claimed has arisen.

11. The Claimant has not provided any copy of any agreement entered into or the terms related to that agreement. These are required to enable the Defendant to try and work out how there could possibly be any outstanding amount.


15.Under Civil Procedure Rule 16.5 (4) Where the claim includes a money claim, a defendant shall be taken to require that any allegation relating to the amount of money claimed be proved unless he expressly admits the allegation. Therefore, it is expected that the Claimant be required to prove the allegation that the money is owed as claimed.

16.The Defendant respectfully requests the court orders the Claimants to provide the necessary documentation in order for The Defendant to fully plead his case else the Claim should stand struck out.

17.In the event that the relevant documents are received from the Claimant, the Defendant will then be in a position to amend his defence, and would ask that the Claimants bear the costs of the amendment.

18.It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief as claimed or at all.

Statement of Truth

The Defendant believes that the facts stated in this Defence are true.

Signed ________________________________

Dated ________________________________

[pitbull10]

Hello
I received a notice from the court
1) that the case is now a defended claim.
2)it appears that this case is suitable for the small claims track.
3)must reply by 25th Feb

Do I agree to mediation ???
Do I ask for it to be heard in my local CC ???
To date they have not answered RESOLVER or provided a run down of claim or any documents from CPR
Just a short letter saying they are continuing to court.

[pitbull10]

Please any advice.
included in the Directions Questionnaire is a section asking if I would like to use mediation and do I confirm that I have enough information about the claim to allow me to enter into negotiations ???
I still have no information as to how they came to the figure of £299.
What do I mark it YES or No

[MIKE770]

Any way this kicks in i.e. within a defence? Amethyst ??

All energy firms will be banned from back-billing customers beyond 12 months under stricter new rules.

Energy regulator Ofgem has announced that from the end of April, no firm will be able to bill customers for energy used more than 12 months ago.

Six firms, including British Gas, E.on and EDF, already agree not to bill customers beyond 12 months as part of a voluntary scheme, but Ofgem says these companies don't always follow these rules and so it's putting in place a ban that will apply to the whole sector.

Back-billing usually happens when suppliers estimate bills as they don't have regular, accurate meter readings. Once they have the meter readings they may then send a catch-up bill if the estimated bill is too low.

The regulator says the typical back-bill is £1,160 but in extreme cases it has seen customers suddenly asked to pay more than £10,000.