Electrical Power for external community TV Aerial

Shawz

We moved into our rented accomodation two and a half years ago.
After moving in we discovered that we had a shared community TV aerial on the side of our house(end of terrace) feeding approx 6-8 terrace house and flats. Both the Rental agents and the landlord denied all knowledge :mad:
It appears that until we moved in the electric for this was either paid for by the landlord or a previous tenant. It is on an unmetered supply. Nobody will tell us how much this costs.
This box has been faulty on and off for some time and at best we can see all 5 tv channels and at worst we can see 1 (ITV), but not very clearly.
I have now been able to track down people at the electric board who said the account for this was closed down 2 years ago and nobody manages the box and they will start to investigate about getting it reconnected.

I would like to get this sorted out soon as we have the neighbours knocking on the door asking about the TV picture not working and I'm trying my best to get it sorted out, but its all very frustrating.

Sorry for all the waffle but the question I would like to ask is

As the box and power supply is outside the property and is used by the community and not just us, who is responsible for paying the bill.
I feel it should be down to the landlord/management agents to sort this out and collect any money from the community as thats what we pay rent for, but I would be interested to hear any views/thoughts.

Thanks for your help

gustav

Having formerly worked at electricity company, my sixpennyworth is that the box and any charges relating to the box are the responsibility of the OWNER of the property to which it is fixed, not the tenants.
If it is unmetered, as you say, I doubt you would even get a bill.
Problem is, there are thousands of unmetered supplies like this in place, and the electric companies really aren't interested, as they're more trouble than they're worth. Your problem is, that if it should need repairing, or similar, they will charge an arm and a leg to sort it out, and provide a meter.
I would talk to a friendly electrician first, and ask for advice.

withabix

As it's un-metered, it will be charged in a similar way to the way councils are charged for street lighting - an annual fee.

The cost, along with any repair, should be the responsibility of the owner of the building, not the tenants.

cattie

I've never heard of electricity having to be paid on an aerial & once lived in a maisonette with a communal aeriel. Usually all a communal aerial does is enable people to get a decent picture on their tv & the only electricity being used is that by the tv set.

It'll be interesting to hear from others & learn if there is such a thing as an aerial that you have to pay an electricity bill on.

Hunnymonster

cattie wrote:

I've never heard of electricity having to be paid on an aerial & once lived in a maisonette with a communal aeriel. Usually all a communal aerial does is enable people to get a decent picture on their tv & the only electricity being used is that by the tv set.

It'll be interesting to hear from others & learn if there is such a thing as an aerial that you have to pay an electricity bill on.

If the magic box is a distribution amplifier then it will need power - probably not much (perhaps as much as 20W) but will require power nonetheless.....

Given the number of properties it's serving it will in all probability be powered.