Well that's progress of sorts even if not the end of the matter so go for it.
Just discount everything you have heard from a call centre bod. Even if strictly they are speaking for their company I doubt they have access to the whole picture and don't speak with much knowledge or authority.
You have described unreasonable behaviour by Powergen but typical process failure by British Gas. Two distinct and separate failures. Keep calm and go through the written route trying to give them as much rope as possible.
I think those Regs cover entry for safety. I think the Rights of Entry (Gas and Electricity Boards) Act 1954 (as amended) deals with entry for other purposes. But as others have said, the fault seems to lie in the process of your buying the property.
I get both gas and electric from British Gas. The bills arrive separately but at about the same time and get paid at the same time when I do my online banking. In Jan I sat down at the pc to pay the two current ones. Did the electric one and then spotted that my customer reference number had been changed although no warning of this was given anywhere. That's part of the info set up on my online banking but too late to worry about it now. Before paying the gas one I started to amend the ref number in the payee details but got interupted part way through, the bills look almost identical and stupidly I ended up putting the new electric ref number into the payee details for the gas bill.
So I ended up paying the electric bill on the old electric ref number and the gas one on the new electric ref number. I immediately realised this would cause huge problems for a monolithic brainless corporation like BG and that I'd end up with a £200 credit on my electric bill which they'd do nothing about and an apparently unpaid gas one and that they'd never be able to reconcile the two identical contra amounts.
Next morning I phoned them. Explained the situation to a call centre chap and told him they needed to put a simple contra through between the two accounts and all would be well. He said he'd do that and put a note on file so I wouldn't get any nasty letters about unpaid bills.
A week or so later a letter arrived saying horrible things would occur if I didn't pay this bill soon. I phoned them again. Went through the whole saga again with a woman who said she'd sort it out and not to worry. Another note would be put on file to make sure no more nasty letters arrive. Ten days later a letter arrives saying my supply will now be cut off shortly if this bill is not paid and warrant costs plus other things will be charged to me.
I phone them and ask to speak to a manager. All the managers in BG, every single one of them, is apparently on a course but one will phone me back. No one does. I phone again a couple of days later. All the managers in BG, every single one of them, is apparently in a meeting but one will phone me back. Later that day this actually happens.
Very apologetic chap who explains that with their old computer system a contra entry was a 5 second job that anyone could do. In the new multi million pound system just installed it requires a request form to be raised which goes off for approval, gets stamped, goes somewhere else, gets put into a queue and finally gets actioned 4 weeks later. In the meantime he'd listen to the tape recordings, find out why two separate customer service reps had failed miserably to make a simple note on file to stop nasty letters being sent to me or get the contra entry process started. I'd also get a £25 rebate for my trouble and stress.
I have no doubt that if I'd been away on business I could easily have come back to a house with no heating and a broken door like you for a bill that had been paid a month earlier. Dealing with these people is like farting against thunder. No one hears you and nothing sensible gets done.
I've now swapping my gas and electric supply to different companies. Scottish Power for electric and Atlantic for gas. At least this way I'll A) get cheaper bills and B) not end up with one company unable to reconcile a credit on one account with an identical debit on the other.
Had exactly the same problem with the local water company. They threatened to take me to court and I ended up paying the bill again. I tried to get back the money paid on the old account but have now let the matter lapse due I cannot be doing with the hassle.
You need to get a new accounts set up as soon as you buy/move property, notifying the Utility Cos of the readings. Usually the bill is an account # tied to a person, not just the property.
And you should always phone as well as write. The arrogance and incompetence of utility Cos means that even this may not be sufficient. Certainly I found the same with council tax (although they did quickly apologise).
The OP did write to the the company with the meter details etc - but they appear not to have acted upon this (claimed not received etc etc)
Despite being aware of the sale (including the date of completion), they continue to exercise a warrant and enter the property.
You can be certain that they never told the court of the facts when applying for the warrant.
i.e we wish to apply for a warrant for disconnection due to a debt. The property was for sale and been sold (confirmed by the agent) so we know that the person owning the debt is no longer the owner of the property, but we havent actually written a letter to the property prior to disconnection (because we dont need to).
No, you wrote to the wrong company. You needed to sign a supply agreement with your supplier of choice, not just give what you thought was the existing supplier, but which wasn't, the readings. Its not surprising this went pear shaped as British Gas had no supply agreement for the premises.
How can we be certain? What did the warrant say?
I still think the fundamental problem is that you didn't take out a supply agreement with (any) supplier of (your) choice.
Because you KNOW they have recieved the information. With a letter you never know until you get the reply.
They are not usually unwilling they just have a shambolic organisation. For standard things they do close issues.
Anything that deviates in the smallest way from their script is usually a problem.
If you move house you need to be pro-active: tell them the readings and get the new accounts set up on the day. And confirm in writing, then follow up until you have written confirmation.
Not too difficult when you have done it 20 times :-(
TBO, a phone call is a waste of time, you end up talking to a droid who generally has about a list of 10 things that they are allowed to say. And generally you talk to a chap 3000 miles away on some 0845 number.
Much better, by a mile, is to send a short succinct letter and use the Royal Mail's 'signed for' service. (costs about £1.00)
I've just had a battle with United Uts. In the end they threatened to take me to court and so I promised to meet them there and make them all look sillybillies. They swiftly changed their minds, put my account on hold and agreed to do the work that I had previously requested ASAP. This was after they realised that I would have a very good case, and they certainly couldn't deny receiving any correspondence from me.
If its complicated I agree, but one of the 10 things they can do is the transfer of supply workflow. Its a proven and frequently exercised workflow. In this case if the OP had phoned it would have become clear that the supplier phoned had no agreement to supply the premises. Whether they would have initiated the new supply process is another matter as hey it was British Gas. But that said it is also one of 10 things they can do.
I had a letter from BG threatening disonnection if I didn't pay them
49 quid for gas. I faxed them pointing out that while I was in debit
49 for gas I was in credit 84 for electric. Got an apology and a 10 pound credit. Then went over to powergen 2 months later.
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