Electricity supply. Do I have to pay?

[frank rabbets]

I own stables at the rear of my house. The tenant gave me notice and has gone. I do not use the property. There is a proper meter there for electricity. npower, the tenants supplier, just phoned saying I was liable for a standing charge and any electricity used. I said I was not as I have no contract with them, which I don't. Other than contract is there any other way they can force me to pay.

The conversation ended unpleasantly with their bloke saying the ball was in my court. Surely if I just sit back the ball is in their court?

Thanks.

 

[grantw]

Did the tenant have the meter installed and power supply connected?

 

[frank rabbets]

Hi Grant, The meter was installed a long time ago, before I bought the land and stables. The tenant organised the installation but I don't know if she paid or the former freeholder paid. Was not me.

 

[grantw]

Hi Frank - I can't help but thought clarifying that point may help someone who can.

 

[Higgy]

My old gaffer would rent cottages out that he owned, And folk were always clearing off without settling the final bills... But because the boss owned the property he was always liable to pay any out standing bills.. The utility companies would disconnect power/phone lines etc Till the Bill was paid.. So the boss had to pay so he could rent them out again... New tenants dont like settling other folks bills.. It was always a catch 22.. Im not saying that this is so in your case Frank.. But the legal owner is always wrongly responsible... Id try and get some of that Free legal advise..... But if your not planing on renting it out again. Stand your ground, See what happens.

 

[moggy1968]

I own stables at the rear of my house. The tenant gave me notice and has gone. I do not use the property. There is a proper meter there for electricity. npower, the tenants supplier, just phoned saying I was liable for a standing charge and any electricity used. I said I was not as I have no contract with them, which I don't. Other than contract is there any other way they can force me to pay.

The conversation ended unpleasantly with their bloke saying the ball was in my court. Surely if I just sit back the ball is in their court?

Thanks.

I'm in a similar position only reversed, we were the tenants in the house. The electricity company billed us after we had been there for 11 months on a ridiculously high tariff. I disputed the bill and said I wasn't liable and I hadn't signed a contract with them. It's been going on for about three years now. They referred it to debt collectors a couple of times but because it was disputed they passed it back to the electricity supplier. As the residential tenant I know that I am liable for the bill, because in the contract for the house it says we are. but I wasn't happy with a tariff I didn't agree to and they did agree to a reduced bill, but they wouldn't let me pay in installments so that scuppered that one, bit silly really as it would have been paid by now!

Couple of questions.
1. In your rent agreement with the tenant did it say they were liable for utility costs?
2. Is the contract for the electricity in your tenants name?

 

[frank rabbets]

Hi Moggy, I had a lease with my tenant saying they were liable for costs but thy went on 1st November 2018 and yes she set up her contact directly with npower.

 

[StarCruiser]

Be careful Frank, it may not be much cost to keep up the standing charge. If it’s not paid they can disconnect and remove the meter. Any reconnection is then a new contract on new terms and costs are only going to rise. There will be a charge for the meter to be replaced and a new supply established. They will probably require arrears to be paid before reconnection. It may not be that much to maintain it and will be beneficial for new tenants. It all depends on the supplier, but it’s not worth the aggro if you ask me.

 

[Shayne]

I would contact the tenant asking them to pay the bill or else you will have to pay it and pursue them through a county court judgement .

CCJ is the weapon they all use with that mark on your credit rating you might be prevented from renting , credit will come at 4 times the price if at all , you probably couldn't rent a movie from a video store .

You don't want one so don't outright refuse to pay , the tenants don't want one either so sensibly they pay you , you pay Npower and everyone is happy .

 

[frank rabbets]

Sorry, should have made it clearer. The tenant paid correctly so there is no outstanding amount. npower have charged me a monthly standing order as from when she left. The site has been derelict and unoccupied from the date she left.

 

[StarCruiser]

Sorry, should have made it clearer. The tenant paid correctly so there is no outstanding amount. npower have charged me a monthly standing order as from when she left. The site has been derelict and unoccupied from the date she left.

What are the future plans for the building? If you don’t want it ever again, have it disconnected and removed.

 

[Chris]

Have they got your billing details Frank? Or do you mean they have sent you bills for the meter in your name - you said charged as in taken money from you?

They can't cut your supply off can they. But if they cut the stable's supply off then that would be job done. The sooner the better? They might then bill for disconnection, but who would they bill and how?

However, if you intend to put new tenants in there then I'd probably 'adopt' the meter and then bill the tenants myself - in whatever way you want. Include it in the rent.

 

[moggy1968]

Sorry, should have made it clearer. The tenant paid correctly so there is no outstanding amount. npower have charged me a monthly standing order as from when she left. The site has been derelict and unoccupied from the date she left.

IN that case I would say the responsibility is yours, not the tenants, assuming she told you she was offsky

 

[StarCruiser]

I suppose the two routes for advice would be the ombudsman and Citizens Advice Bureau.

 

[frank rabbets]

The tenant told npower my name and address and presumably said I was the new owner occupier. They then sent me a bill starting from when she left on 2 nov 2018. This bill is in my name but I have never had a contract with npower. They have only charged for 1 month i.e. November. Perhaps they charge 3 monthly. I think if I owe them it will be 4 months at £18 per month standing charge and they also quote £144 for removal of meter if I ask for it. Best course of action would be to say I am not going to pay and the sooner they come and remove their meter the better off they will be. The house is on a different metered supply with a different company.

Thing is they cannot quote under what legal authority their bill is valid under so I've just written and asked.

 

[BobMurphy]

You're in a different position to me, but I have an on-going hassle with Scottish Power.

I have a couple of flats I rent out, I have never lived in them.

In one, I had an Electricity contract while I was preparing the place for letting. My Letting Agent found a Tenant and on the due date I closed my account, settled it, gave them meter readings, advised them that it was now a rental property and who was in it. All seemed well.

The Tenant eventually stopped paying the rent and after a lot of chasing he vacated the property on 30/03/2017. I re-instated my electricity account and did a lot of work in the place getting it ready again.

I then received letters addressed to "Occupier" demanding £5,300+ - it seems Scottish Power had never set up a contract but had supplied electricity for 3 years 4 months. I forwarded all correspondence (plus demands from Sky, TV Licencing, Edinburgh City . . ) to his parents' house where he was living. It seems he didn't pay any bills!

I have new Tenants, who have an account with Scottish Power that is progressing normally. I closed my account and settled it so I think we are all squeaky clean.

Still demands are arriving addressed to "The Occupier", the amount has now risen to £6,600+. I have supplied Scottish Power and the Debt Collection Agencies with details (including copies of letting contracts) to enable them to chase the guy who left nearly two years ago.

I now have my new Letting Agent on the case as the current Tenants are concerned about all this (nice retired couple). Trying to get sense out of Scottish Power is a nightmare and they are well known for being totally incompetent.

My other flat (further North) has a pre-pay electricity meter, supplied by Scottish Hydro - no problems there!

Its hardly worth being a Landlord, the amount of hassle I get is enormous. Particularly in Scotland where we have far more regulation that benefits Tenants than you do in England/Wales.

Bob.

 

[frank rabbets]

Sorry to hear this Bob. I too have my house account with Scottish Power and they kept billing me with incorrect meter readings. It took 12 months of worry to sort it out.

With regard to the stables npower say they have powers under utilities Act 2000 to bill me even though I have no contract with them, no electricity has been used (standing charge) and the place has been empty and derelict since their first bill. I've read the relevant part of the Act and it's a very grey area.

I had similar problem with gas supply. They kept sending me my neighbours business bill and it totted up to £5000. I was already paying my own bill! Then I got a letter saying the gas supply would be cut off so I waited in for them. A van and tools arrived but after much argument they left me connected. Then they came back a month later, walked halfway up the drive, recognised me and went away. This was 22 years ago. In those days you could phone people in charge. I got through and the manager destroyed my false records and offered £100 in compo. I said £200 would be better and the cheque arrived the next day.

People took control in those days.

 

[Towpack]

With Scottish Power, as with most suppliers nowadays, you can keep tabs of your energy consumption/bills online and submit your own meter readings to generate and pay bills whenever you like so no need for any nonsense with incorrect readings etc. We’re in the process of moving from SP to Octopus for both gas and sparks, purely for cost reasons, but I’ll still be able to run the new account online. Phoning up most big companies for anything these days seems to be a right ball ache.

 

[StarCruiser]

This past year has seen me project manage the relocation of a private transformer from one side of a close to the other, feeding the same end user. Except that they cannot reconnect a re-sited transformer, it now must be new. In doing this, the supply had to be deemed a ‘new supply’ which involved a new meter and a new meter number (MPAN). Ok no real problem with that. When it came to transferring from the meter over the road to the meter in their premises, this turned out to need a new contract. And a new metering contract. So the contract went up from £61,000 per annum for 3 years to £76,000 per annum, for the same usage plus a bit more headroom for expansion which made no difference. Then they were charged £3600 for a metering contract. With the old, physically identical meter now lying on a shelf. None of this had been anticipated or advised.

To cap this all, (which is the bit where I get to the point) after the switch over, the old supplier having been given notice of termination, continued to bill the end user alongside the new supplier. I’ve come to the conclusion there money to be made by making things complicated.