Judgment set aside... Defence to be filed in the next 4 days. Help!

[charlii]

I moved into a property February 2015. It's a flat that used to be a shop. My landlady contacted the energy supplier prior to me moving in to close down her account and give my details. She has advised that she informed them that it was now residential.

We recieved a bill in April 2015 of £543 for electricity only @ 1 bed flat which is empty at least 8-12 hours a day. We suspected we may be being billed on a business tariff so we called the claimant.

21 April 2015. The claimants system notes state that we submitted a meter reading at this point but there are no notes ref our discussion on tariffs or what rate we were paying. Nor was there any information on the fact that we asked if we were being billed a business rate and requested the bill/account be investigated.

At this stage we asked to set up a direct debit to manage our bills as we were only just getting used to managing utilities with it being our first home together. We were told we couldnt pay by Direct Debit. We asked to switch tariff. We were told no we could not. We were stressed and didnt know how we were going to be able to manage this.

We knew the bill was incorrect and was adamant we should have the bill corrected.

We contacted them again in July... again discussing the tariff and what rates we were paying. again advising that we thought we were being charged a business rate.

Again this was ignored and again we were told we could not pay by Direct Debit. We were told to make manual payments online. We did so and only stopped in October when we applied to switch to OVO.

We were annoyed by their lack of knowledge and attention each time we had called and we had no idea why they were threatening to enter the property when they didint supply us at this stage, We had recieved chase letters and threats from EON that they woudl gain entry and fit prepayment meter but we were expecting a final bill.

we had an erroneous transfer which meant that were were paying OVO but Eon was still suppling us, We only found out this was the case in February 2016 when Eon raised a judgment and we called them to discuss. We stupidly didnt reply with a defence as we were hoping we could settle the issues with them and assumed that once they had ackowlegded their mistake they would recitify it and remove the judgment.

They have acknowledged their error and have recalculated the bill on a residential rate. However they have included all of their charges for chasing the incorrect debt amount in this final bill. Also as it took them a year to correctly bill me i requested back billing code be applied and they refused, they advised it wasnt applicable as they had billed me. However they had billed me incorrectly for a year and failed to act on information that i supplied to them in relation to the account causing me to build up a debit. which i belive is stated as part of the back billing code and code of practice for accurate bills. This will be in my defence.

Im just wondering if anyone can give me any advice on how they think this stands and also should i file for a counterclaim for loss of annual leave and earnings due to the stress.

I also want to add that follwing the visit from the enforcement agency i called EON and spoke to a case resolution manager who proceeded to say that i was going to be on channel 5's cant pay they'll take it away. this could should have been recorded and should be on their system. is this enough grounds to file for distress and humiliation. We were also thinking to file for damage of character as it hindered my boyfriends applications for credit while the judgement was present, his credit is pretty much perfect otherthen this and he got refused credit for a few things during this time.

Please help! I have to file my defence by friday and willl be mailing it off on Weds/Thurs.


thanks in advance

[Amethyst]

Re: Judgment set aside... Defence to be filed in the next 4 days. Help!

Morning

trying to summarise to make sure we have the right position...

In February 2016 you had a county court claim from EON for an unpaid bill.

You didn't respond to the claim and received a judgment in default.

However throughout you were in contact with EON regarding a dispute with their billing.

EON sent enforcement officers to you to collect the judgment debt.

You spoke to EON and they told you that you were being filmed for a daytime TV programme - you feel this was harrassment.

I think your first step now need to be to send a Subject access request to EON and to OVO to get full details of your accounts, transactions, billing, the failed changeover, and all screen notes regarding the account.

You are currently completing a N244 to ask to set aside the judgment. Have you written to EON to ask them to consent to this ?

How much approx was the judgment ?

[charlii]

Re: Judgment set aside... Defence to be filed in the next 4 days. Help!

Hi...

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! I think i may have been a little unclear.

Eon raised the judgment for £1055 when i had tried to raise the billing issues with them as i disputed the amount.

They admitted the amount was incorrect but would not revise or remove the wrongly filed judgement although they had recalculated the bill.

We did not reply to the initial claim form, however we have applied for a set aside and we went to a hearing 15/08 where the judge set it aside and ordered that we file a defence in 14 days.

We had no paperwork from the court so are unsure of how this works now, we will be filing the defence but we have also been ordered to pay EONS fees for attending the initial hearing. do we pay the court or eon directly.

And also if we wanted to file a counterclaim for distress and humiliation would it be enough evidence to provide a letter from my employer stating my absence from work due to stress? and also the humiliation would need to be proved by the phone call with the agent where she joked about me appearing on the tv show.
( not that i was actually being filmed just wouldnt it be funny if i was on that show ) we dont have time to get a SARS as it can be upto 40 days wait so can the judge request this from EON?

[charlii]

Re: Judgment set aside... Defence to be filed in the next 4 days. Help!

Just a little background too....

The debt should never have accured. it was due to EON charging us a business rate for a domestic supply. They then refused to allow us to change tariff and set up a direct debit.

They have broken the code of practice for accurate bills paragraph 3.1 and also should be applying back billing code as they failed to bill me correctly for over a year and did not act on information supplied to them.

They have denied all knowledge of us being domestic customers but we have emails sent from them dated march 2015 confirming our home move and the tariff we should have been on so i believe that would be investigated by OFGEM should we request it...

any advice on how we should proceed and if we are going the right way about it would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

and im sorry if im a little confusing... ive gone over this info a million times and its kind of blurry now lol :/

[Amethyst]

Re: Judgment set aside... Defence to be filed in the next 4 days. Help!

Okay, thank you, so you have already successfully set aside the judgment - well done.

The court has ordered you pay the costs of that hearing to the claimant (EON) - do you have a copy of that order ? ( just to check it is actually payable not just costs in the case )

What defence do you have so far ?

They admitted the amount was incorrect but would not revise or remove the wrongly filed judgement although they had recalculated the bill.

Was any of that in writing and evidenced?

Did Eon defend the set aside ?

Your counterclaim would be filed at the same time as your defence, you would need to pay the court fee - damages for distress is quite a tricky one to get right.

[charlii]

Re: Judgment set aside... Defence to be filed in the next 4 days. Help!

Yess - Thank You! Its been hard work so far, but not giving up!

We haven't received an order for the costs but as far as i can remember the judge advised it needed to be paid in 14 days the same as the timescale for the defence to be filed?


They did try to defend the set aside but the judge wasnt having any of it lol

I have an email from the directors office responding to my complaint. I was chasing them to amend the amount that they had instructed the enforcement agency to collect. I raised all of my points with them regarding the code of practice and back billing code and they replied refusing my requests. In this email they confirm that they did correctly bill me but would not apply back billing as they had billed me and its not like i didn't get a bill.

They have admitted incorrectly billing me in their defence to setting the judgment aside also. And have admitted that they billed me incorrectly for a year and then recalculated the bill.

However they are claiming they did this because we didn't inform them we were domestic. I have emails form their home move department when we moved in 2015 and a statement from my landlady to prove otherwise. I have included these as exhibits and referred to them in my witness statement. the emails clearly state i will be on EON energy plan but they have billed me on Variable Deemed Baserate

[charlii]

Re: Judgment set aside... Defence to be filed in the next 4 days. Help!

If we didn't file a counterclaim but the judge saw it fit to award costs to us is that something that he may do without the counterclaim and just as part of the decision?

[Amethyst]

Re: Judgment set aside... Defence to be filed in the next 4 days. Help!

Okay, so you haven't actually had a written order from the court since your hearing. How much was the costs part ? If you haven't it may be worth giving the court a call to check dates and amounts as you haven't received the order. Quite often the Judge says 14 days but the order comes through weeks later giving a future date...

Your defence can include as exhibits all of the evidence that they knew you were a domestic customer and that the billing amount was incorrect. Have you actually paid the correct amount ( ie that should have been charged?)

( for ref https://www.eonenergy.com/for-your-h...es/energy-plan )

[Amethyst]

Re: Judgment set aside... Defence to be filed in the next 4 days. Help!

If we didn't file a counterclaim but the judge saw it fit to award costs to us is that something that he may do without the counterclaim and just as part of the decision?

It is unlikely without a counterclaim - more likely you'd get standard LIP costs - which would likely be under £100 for attending the hearing date. If you want to claim for distress etc then you do need to put in a counterclaim.

Lets check dates first so we know what time we have.

[charlii]

Re: Judgment set aside... Defence to be filed in the next 4 days. Help!

Ok so I can call the court on my lunch hour shortly and get some more info about the dates and amounts. He did say £454 which is EONs costs for attending and getting the file prepared etc.

I have all their communication showing they knew we were domestic as evidence as you've advised.

I have not paid the final bill as although they revised it, it is still incorrect. It includes charges they have applied for chasing a debt that was wrong.

It also doesn't have back billing applied which i'm sure it should have as its taken them a year to generate a corrected bill. (which is still wrong !! lol)

https://www.energy-uk.org.uk/files/d...umer_guide.pdf

[charlii]

Re: Judgment set aside... Defence to be filed in the next 4 days. Help!

I've spoken to the court and they advised me that we need to just follow the instructions given by the judge on the day as the court order may not arrive straight away. Payments need to be made directly to EON for the fees.

I'm confused. lol. She couldn't disclose much info to me, just general guidance as the judgment is in my partners name.

I will just be ready to serve and file the defence and make payment by 26th as we had first anticipated.

The judge had given us until 29th at 4pm which is Bank Hol Monday :/

[Amethyst]

Re: Judgment set aside... Defence to be filed in the next 4 days. Help!

Ok. We best get on with it then. I am a little concerned over EON being awarded costs though, as your application for set aside was successful, you'd discussed with EON previously and asked their consent to set aside, and they chose to attend court to dispute the set aside. Do you remember much more on the discussion as to costs? REALLY you should have been awarded the appication fee and hearing costs as you suceeded in your set aside - or at least costs should have been in the case - so reserved for when the final outcome of the defence - not payable straight away.

When you submitted your set aside application did you submit a draft defence with it ? Could you post that up pls - otherwise the set aside application pls.

On the back billing - The situation went on for a year, almost exactly, as you received the ccj in Feb 2016 and moved into the flat in Feb 2015, so I'm not sure that is going to work, although you were trying to sort it out throughout that time and EON were failing.

Did you ever sit down and work out the difference in the billing between Business and Domestic ? There's the VAT difference to begin with, but were the actual kwH rates/standing charges markedly more ? Eon have recalc'd your bill now I think from what you have said? What is the amount there vs the original amount they tried to charge you?


From the back billing info - just for ref.

When does the back-billing principle apply?
Each case is looked at on its own merits; however,
the 12 month limit for back-bills may apply in these
examples when your supplier has:
•
Failed to bill you at all and you have requested
bills from them;
•
Billed you using estimated meter readings and
instead of valid readings provided by you or a
meter reader;
•
Billed you incorrectly by mixing up meter
readings, and failed to act upon information
available to put this right;
•
Failed to do anything about a query or fault you
have raised regarding your account or meter and
subsequently allowed a large debt to build up on
your account;
•
Failed to reassess a payment arrangement
(eg. Direct Debit) within 15 months, or failed to
reassess based on a reasonable estimate.

[charlii]

Re: Judgment set aside... Defence to be filed in the next 4 days. Help!

I will get the set aside draft defence uploaded for you asap.

I'm at work at the moment so may need to do that this evening.

The original amount they had billed on business rates was £1055 inclusive of charges. They have recalc'd it down to £667 but this still includes charges for debt collection.

They should have allowed us to change tariff and set up a direct debit at the first point of contact in April. The reason we were unable to do so was because of their error with the account. So its not just the recalculation of the bill that is the problem.

They have broken contract by not allowing us to do these things. Thus forcing us into accruing a debit.

Also in regards to back billing..

-They corrected the bill on 21st april 2016...
-They are not allowed to charge back any further back then 1 one year. Which would mean that the period from 15/02/2015 - 21/04/2015 is unbillable.....

Does that make sense? :/

I have the manual calculation figures in my case file at home, i can upload those later?

Outstanding amount should be around £190 if i recall... and thats with back billing applied and removal of their incorrect debt collection charges.

[charlii]

Re: Judgment set aside... Defence to be filed in the next 4 days. Help!

I have proof that they were aware of the supply being domestic in the first place and proof that we supplied them with this information. Surely that evidences this? Failed to do anything about a query or fault you
have raised regarding your account or meter and
subsequently allowed a large debt to build up on
your account;

They refused to act on that information, correct the tariff and allow us to select a cheaper fixed tariff, and even when requested to set up a direct debit to help clear the balance they refused... thus allowing us to build a debit on the account... and then chased us for it.

[Amethyst]

Re: Judgment set aside... Defence to be filed in the next 4 days. Help!

I will get the set aside draft defence uploaded for you asap.

I'm at work at the moment so may need to do that this evening.

The original amount they had billed on business rates was £1055 inclusive of charges. They have recalc'd it down to £667 but this still includes charges for debt collection.

They should have allowed us to change tariff and set up a direct debit at the first point of contact in April. The reason we were unable to do so was because of their error with the account. So its not just the recalculation of the bill that is the problem.

They have broken contract by not allowing us to do these things. Thus forcing us into accruing a debit.

Also in regards to back billing..

-They corrected the bill on 21st april 2016...
-They are not allowed to charge back any further back then 1 one year. Which would mean that the period from 15/02/2015 - 21/04/2015 is unbillable.....

Does that make sense? :/

I have the manual calculation figures in my case file at home, i can upload those later?

Outstanding amount should be around £190 if i recall... and thats with back billing applied and removal of their incorrect debt collection charges.

Yes that makes sense. There are some oddments around if the inaccurate bill was over or under. If under, then they could not ask for the uncharged debt, however if over they can ask for the actual debt ( and refund the overcharged debt) - I'm still reading though as it is a while since I've looked into backbilling.

Did you make any payments at all between Feb '15 and 'April '16 ?