To meter or not to meter?

shantelle88

Hi all,

I am in a complicated situation and need some advice.
This is my first post so please be kind, if I'm posting in the wrong place let me know and I'll try to move it!

Right, Me & my partner live in a one bedroom flat that is privately rented and we currently have an EDF meter, that was here when we moved in.

In the winter we are paying approx. £25 a week to heat our tiny flat & use basic electrical goods. We ALWAYS turn off anything we're not using and switch off all plugs at the wall so I'm not sure what more we can do other than swap suppliers. The main problem we think is that we have to use electric heaters as we have no radiators (only really old storage heaters that barely work).

We have recently got our landlord to install a new element in our immersion heater as it broke but the timer doesn't work so we try to turn it off at night, is this OK to do or will it mess up the water heating?

We have spoken to our landlord and he is happy for us to swap to another supplier and get rid of the meter BUT we have to get a meter re-instated when we leave (which we estimate could be anywhere from 2-5years from now).

Is it worth swapping to a non-meter bill and then paying for it to be re-installed when we leave?

If so, who should we speak to first to go about this? EDF or another company? Also, the name on the EDF letters is our landlords so will he have to call to say we can speak to them (because of the DPA) before we can do anything?

This is our first flat and we've never had to organise swapping utility suppliers before so are not sure of the protocol.

Any info/advice you can provide would be great, thank you.

Magentasue

To start with, try and work out your annual usage in kwh. This might be difficult if you haven't been there long but, with electric heating, you use will vary through the year.

Once you know how many kwh you use in a year (doesn't need to be accurate, just a sensible estimate), go on to one of the comparison sites and put this figure in. You will then get a calculation of what you pay a year now, and what you would pay with other suppliers/tariffs.

Once you have identified the best deals for you, contact a couple of suppliers and ask what charges there will be for changing meters. If the account is to be in your name, you will be credit checked. If it is to stay in your landlord's name, as you say, he will need to be involved.

Premier_2

Normal policy for lettings is to have the utility bills in the tenants name (assuming the tenant is responsible for paying for the electricity/gas consumed).

The reasons for this is as follows:

1. If a credit meter, then any failure to pay the bills is a matter between the tenant & supplier. If the account is in the LL's name, then the LL is responsible for paying the supplier whether or not the tenant pays him.

2. If a pre-payment meter, the tenant could be paying off a past debt accumulated by the LL/previous tenants if the account is not transferred to the name of the tenants. I believe you can see if this is the case if you carefully go through the screens on the PPM, but you need to know what you are looking for.


You need to understand why the LL is not prepared for you to have the utility accounts in your name. Once they are in your name, you can effectively do what you want (e.g. change supplier, change meter type, etc), but remember you do have an obligation to hand the property back at the end of the tenancy in the same condition as it was originally let, so if you do change things without the LLs express permission during your tenancy, you will need to put them back (or pay possible costs incurred by the LL in returning them to their original condition)

spiro

shantelle88 wrote: »

Hi all,
We have spoken to our landlord and he is happy for us to swap to another supplier and get rid of the meter BUT we have to get a meter re-instated when we leave (which we estimate could be anywhere from 2-5years from now).

Is it worth swapping to a non-meter bill and then paying for it to be re-installed when we leave?

Dont understand what you mean by "non-meter bill", all electricity meter points (MPANs) have to have a meter to record the consumption so that (a) you pay for it and (b) your supplier pays the generator.

Magentasue

spiro wrote: »

Dont understand what you mean by "non-meter bill",

I took that to mean an account without a meter that you feed, rather than no meter at all.

spiro

To switch from using a prepayment meter to a credit meter you will (a) have to pass a credit check and (b) pay about £50 to have the meter changed. You will then also have to pay another £50 to get ther meter changed again.