E.on Energy Removed me from a Joint Account

[gispaul]

My wife and I had a joint account with E.on from April 2019. In October 2020, we switched providers due to a dispute. I lodged a complaint with them and they then removed me from the account and wouldn't discuss anything with me as they said I wasn't on the account. All letters chasing the bill were then addressed to my wife only for a whole year. Eventually, they decided to put a claim into the County Court but in doing so, they first added me back onto the account and put the claim in against us both. Is this even legal? By removing me, they put the entire liability onto my wife without even asking her and then they added me back to that liability without asking me. They never notified either of us of their intentions. Can anyone advise? Thanks

[MIKE770]

have you kept copies of all the changes prior/after occurance?

[gispaul]

Hi Yes, I have all the evidence, joint bills, etc. Even their case note chronology that shows they removed me on 09 Oct 2021. All the letters, etc from then on in my wife's name only, a letter to my wife saying 'we refer to your husband's recent letter but we can't respond directly to him as he is not on the account' and then following my defence to the claim, they wrote another letter to my wife saying, we have never removed your husband from the account.

[gispaul]

Sorry 09 Oct 2020 not 21

[echat11]

Hope Mike doesn't mind,

a) What you need to do is Acknowledge the claim online, that will give you an extra 14 days to work on you defence, so that 28 days in total, plus 5 days.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ledge-a-claim/

b) Send their solicitors a CPR 31.14 Request, they have 12 days to provide documents they are relying to make the claim.
Make sure you get Proof of Postage.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...-of-documents/

c) Send EON a SAR for the account, they have 30 days to provide all the details on the account. Make sure you get Proof of Postage.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ccess-request/

Speak to the ICO, see if they have broken the Data Protection Principles.

Make sure you get your defence in on time, so 28 days from the date of the claim letter, note it in your diary.

[gispaul]

Hi, it's actually gone beyond that now. My wife and I acknowledged the claim and submitted our defence on time. Everything about the claim itself is fine and I am currently in the process of preparing our witness statements and exhibit bundle as we have until 2nd week in March to submit. The only difficulty that I have with the case is whether they can legally remove me from the account without my knowledge/agreement or even my wife's agreement due to the liability being placed solely on her at that stage. Then (as mentioned) whether they can simply add me back on the account for tactical reasons a year later, again without notifying or agreeing with me or my wife. I have their case file of the account and everything, it really is the name removal issue that I am struggling to find any legal status on.

[echat11]

Hi, it's actually gone beyond that now. My wife and I acknowledged the claim and submitted our defence on time. Everything about the claim itself is fine and I am currently in the process of preparing our witness statements and exhibit bundle as we have until 2nd week in March to submit. The only difficulty that I have with the case is whether they can legally remove me from the account without my knowledge/agreement or even my wife's agreement due to the liability being placed solely on her at that stage. Then (as mentioned) whether they can simply add me back on the account for tactical reasons a year later, again without notifying or agreeing with me or my wife. I have their case file of the account and everything, it really is the name removal issue that I am struggling to find any legal status on.

If the account was in joint names, the it should remain in joint names throughout. There is no reason why your name should of been removed. Contact the Information Commissioners Office they will tell you if EON has broken the Data Protection Act 2018.

[gispaul]

Ok Thanks. Can anyone advise on whether they acted unlawfully. Not re the DPA as that's another issue and won't have a bearing on their actual claim. However, if they unlawfully removed me (and whilst not serious or mandatory I had no benefit of a letter before action, just my wife) or then unlawfully added me back onto the account for their claim purposes, then I would be looking at an invalid claim. That's why the lawfulness of their actions is in question.

[gispaul]

Hi guys,

Is there anyone who can answer this for me? Just need to know if removing me from the joint account was lawful?

[echat11]

This is EON's T & C's from their website for electricity (no doubt gas T & C's are the same).

https://www.eonenergy.com/-/media/do...A2EA6BDF92F243

'20.8 Where this Contract is entered into between us and more than one person, each of you shall be joint and severally liable for all obligations under the Contract. We may take action against, or release or compromise in whole or in or part the liability of any one Party under the Contract or grant any time or other indulgence without affecting the liability of the other Parties.'

[gispaul]

Many Thanks ECHAT11. The first thing I noticed about those terms were that they appear to relate to a Deemed Contract (see the Heading) but even if this applies to an Actual contract:

20.12 Any Notice to be given under this Contract by us to you shall be in Writing and delivered by hand or sent by email, recorded delivery or registered letter to the Billing Address (as applicable).

No such notification was ever provided.

I suppose if this allows them to remove me (with or without notification) the 2nd part of my question is whether a year later (and for the purpose of a legal claim) they can simply add me back on to the account and without notification. or consent?

You see at the moment, I've submitted that by refusing to engage with me about the alleged debt in any way and not including me in any `pre Action Protocol, they have deprived me of any ability to negotiate/settle any dispute.

I should add that a further point about the account was that there had never been any bills over the 17 month usage period - only statements. So, no request or demands for payment until we had actual switched suppliers. I'm not sure if that even has a bearing on our defence but it makes me wonder about Back Billing.

If they only actually billed us 17 months after the commencement of our contract, are they only entitled to the last 12 months of that bill? If the answer to that is yes, it would mean that they would have to recalculate and issue the amended billing. However, issuing a new bill now would also bill over 12 months from the time we switched. The (first) and final estimated billing from them was Oct 2020.

[echat11]

As you know all the points you raise are valid and form part of your Defence. So 'Back billing' would also form part of your Defence as they have not billed you correctly.

https://www.eonenergy.com/About-eon/...-customers.PDF

Remember to SAR EON.

You could use / add the following to your Defence -

OFGEM through the Electricity Act 1989 and Gas Act 1986 are very clear on 'misleading' information being sent to customers. The Standard Conditions of electricity / gas supply license states:

18) Condition 0. Treating Domestic Customers Fairly -

0.3 The Standards of Conduct are that the licensee and any Representative:

a) behave and carry out any actions in a Fair, honest, transparent, appropriate and

professional manner;

b) provide information (whether in writing or orally) to each Domestic Customer

which: i. is complete, accurate and not misleading (in terms of the information provided or

omitted);

[gispaul]

Hi ECHAT11,

One thing occurs to me that I ought to explore. Everything that had happened between us and E.on, was outside of the usage period and following our switch to another supplier. My concern is. whether we would still be considered under contract with them due to monies being owed and the fact that they still have the online account open for us to log into? ie, would any agreement be discharged when we switched away from E.on? The bottom line of that concern is obviously whether they could argue that they didn't need to comply with any T&Cs because we were no longer their customers.

[echat11]

Everything that occurred after you changed supplier occurred because of the 'errors' made by the supplier when you were under contract. So the T & C's apply throughout your relationship with that supplier.

[Pacific]

GISPAUL I've heard terrible stories about eon can't believe they are still operating as a legal company because they certainly aren't operating within the law.

I was actually in this section about to post a question regarding them when I saw this thread. I'm sorry I'm unable to give any constructive advise but just wanted to say where eon is concerned I'm not surprised to hear this at all.