Electricity Bill Problems

[68bee]

I own a small roadside cafe which i run with my wife.

My Landlord runs a car wash which is next door.

The electricity supply runs from the road into the carwash,then a sub supply runs from the car wash to the cafe.There is a meter in the carwash which i am told is just for the cafe.

The electricity account is with EON who come to read the meters every month.

The meter readings which are on the bill do not include my meter.

Each month the landlord looks to see how many units have been consumed on my meter and charges me for the units used.

i don't have regular enough access to the meter to check the readings myself and i don't see the bills from EON.Also i'm not sure if 'my' meter only supplies the cafe and don't know how to check this.

The ideal solution would be for me to have my own supply but the landlord refuses to do this on cost grounds and because i'm a tennant YEDL refuse to put a supply in if i pay myself.

My bills are varying wildly anything from £150 a month to £400+.

Bearing in mind sthat this is the summer my last two bills have been 3x bigger than the bills i got in the winter and now i'm using no heating and less lighting.

How do i stand legally in this situation?

Should my meter appear on the bill form EON?

Could i employ my own electrician and have a meter fitted on my own premises so knew exactly how much power i was using and that it was only me using it?

I've tried to speak to EON myself but as the account is not in my name they won't speak to me.

Many Thanks

Simon

[MARTIN3030]

Welcome to the site Simon.

I think better your thread be moved to the other forum-will do this now.

[68bee]

Thanks for your help Martin

[zazen.warrior]

Post removed.

Edited July 29, 2010 by zazen.warrior

[MARTIN3030]

I have tried to find some prev examples for reference-but not had much joy.

 

The problems as you have said-is that there is no account in your name.

But for the purposes of accounting-and transparicy-its not unreasonable that you should want the have your own meter.

 

Is there any agreement in writing for your lease there ?

 

If you are prepared to styand the cost of having your own meter fitted then why is the owner not reluctant to agree ?

 

Its ultimately something that together only you can resolve.

 

Insofar as the legal position,it depends on whether you are prepared to compromise your relationship with the owner (and its not difficult to see how that COULD be a consideration )

 

But I can see your points-I dont think most would be comfortable with your existing arrangements.

 

Even if you DID have your own meter-you would still be needing to know other details such as tariffs etc-given that these would still be configured from the main supply (account)

[pelham9]

It seems to me that your landlord has installed a private meter which is measuring the usage of your cafe and he is reselling electricity to you. Your post suggests that you feel he may not be entirely honest with the measurement of your usage.

 

Have a look at Factsheet 5 - Maximum Resale Price of Gas and Electricity | Factsheets | Letting Factsheets

 

So it is against regulations for a landlord to profit from reselling electricity and he must show the bills that he is paying to a tenant.

 

If your landlord is dishonest your present setup ia an open invitation to him to improve his cahflow at your expense by

 

a) Misrepresenting the tariff he is on with EON

 

b) charging you more than this tarriff so making a profit.

 

c) tapping off electricity post your meter to use in his garage.

 

If you are chary of tackling your landlord direct then the first thing you can do is to fit a meter in your cafe where the main supply comes from your landlord's meter - you do not need a separate supply. This should not cost a lot and your landlord cammot sensibly object - do not tell him anyway. This wiil quickly show up any chicanery as in c). Obviously if there are differences between your meter and his meter you will have to tackle him.

 

a) & b) are more difficult. Perhaps you can tell him that your accountant (you do not need to have one) and the Inland Revenue are not satisfied with the significant variation in your electricity charges and that in future you need to show not only his bill to you but his bill from Eon which you are entitled by regulation to see. If he is dishonest this will certainly scare him - if he is dishonest he will probably not to be showing any profit he makes from you in his accounts. How do you pay him -cash or cheque.?

[68bee]

Thank you for all the help given to me so far.

I have an update for you.

Due to my persistance i was able to get the landlord to organize a visit from eon to check out the meters to see what fed what and if in fact they were reading correctly.

On the day of the visit i was unable to attend(i have a full time job) so i asked an electrician friend to be present.

The man from eon said,the meter installed for the garage was fitted in 1982 and did not read correctly.The sub meter which i am being billed from was not a type recognized by eon and he would not check its calibration but as it was over 5 years old it was likely to be out of calibration.He was unable to find out which wires fed what due to the amount of old/new wiring around the back of the meter board.His recomendation was to have new meters installed by the building owner(who is not my landlord)

I asked for copies of the previous eon bills from my landlord as mentioned in a previous post for 'inland revenue' puposes.Initially the landlord said ok but now has refused giving the reason that'as my meter number does not appear on the bill i have no right.

However i have the latest bill in my possesion(i just came across it) It's for £540 for the quarter.My bills for the quarter are £490

The landlord has also said that because the meter fitted is out of calibration as it is so old,eon can not possibly know how much electric has been used and is refusing to pay the bill.As i've already paid 2 months bills out of the 3 i've asked for my money back.He's refused this also.

Over to you guys:sad: