Power Bill 8 Years After I Sold The House?

Location: VA

We owned a home in VA, and rented it out for a while to recover from the market crash on ‘08. Sold it in 2017. While it was being rented out, I had a landlord revert agreement, so the power stayed on between tenants. While I was selling it, it reverted to me then too. When it sold, I called and closed the account, notifying them I’d sold the property.

In 2025, the power bill reverted to me again, because the landlord agreement stayed in effect even after I notified them I sold the house and closed my account. Dominion says I had to notify them in writing to end the landlord agreement. And calling to close the account and tell them the property sold wasn’t good enough.

Because we are a military family, we had moved 4 times since then. The bill never reached me. I found out about it when my credit report got hit with collections. I contacted the collections agency and all the credit reporting companies, and disputed. I provided the ALTA, etc from the sale of the home. I won, it dropped off my report, and the collections agency stopped contacting me.

Last month, a new collections agency contacted me, and Dominion has started the process over. This time, I disputed, and lost. Now Dominion says there is no recourse, I have to pay it. Because they found in their investigation that I am liable for the charges, 8 years after I sold the house and closed my account, they said there are no further steps I can take but pay it.

I have no records of this landlord agreement. My property manager from back then says they never use them, and has no records of it either. Dominion says they don’t hold records more than 3 years after an account is closed, so they don’t have any records either. But evidently the landlord agreement stays connected to the property, even after the account is gone, so lack of records doesn’t matter according to them. They are even charging me an account initiation fee in 2025, proving they knew the account was closed.

A lawyer friend told me if I pay it, I’m basically agreeing it’s mine, and it will stay on my credit for 7 years then, so don’t pay it. But if I don’t pay it, it keeps popping up on my credit, anyway, as unpaid.

Any ideas how to best move forward?