International debt - what options do I have?

[skyfire163]

From 2006-2009 I was living in Belgium as an expatriate. Towards the end of my employment contract our electric utility company sent us 3 bills totalling around 9,000 euros for unpaid usage over those 3 years. We have 6,000 euros left to pay. My question, before giving the backstory, is how could this situation play out (i.e., what is the worst that could happen to us) if we refuse to pay the balance?

Our experience prior to moving to Europe is that once a month or so, the electric company sends out a person to read the elecrical meter and report the usage back. At this point the company adjusts the bill accordingly. Being completely naive foreigners, we did not know that it was our responsibility to check our meter each month and compare it to our bill. This counsel was not given to us by anyone, not our landlord, our landlord's real estate agent, the company I worked for, or the city office.

While we were/are willing to concede that we should have been paying more each month than we were, there is no way that we were using that much electricity. Our landlord agreed to send out an electrician who found that the regulator on our water heater was broken and had been heating water non-stop for 3 years! Obviously, had the electric company reconciled our bill during the first year, we would have had it fixed and I wouldn't be posting this right now.

My work contract was almost up and we were just wanting to get out of there and return home to the States, so we signed the final statement which indicated the number on the meter when we checked out of the house. The electric company made up a payment plan of 348 euros ($500) a month until June of 2011. We have been paying each month so far using money we had left in our bank account in Belgium, though we never signed anything agreeing that we owed them anything or that we agreed to the payment plan. Now the money has run out and we still have 6000 euros left to pay. We feel we have done "due diligence" on the debt, and cannot afford to pay any more. We are preparing to write a letter to the company stating we will no longer pay this debt and formally objecting to the charges with our reasoning.

The electric company is Belgian. I do not believe they have a presence in the U.S. They are not tied into the American credit system so I don't think this can affect our credit here (but correct me if I'm wrong). Can they sue us? If so, how can they enforce collection? Under what jurisdiction could they bring a lawsuit?

Thanks for any advice.

Technically and legally they certainly can pursue you for the bill, can due to cost and hassle internationally it is not likely they would pursue the bill.