Help Needed - Electricity Supply Problems Property Management

Babybaz

Okay here goes...I moved into a new build apartment block back in December, it is a 999 leasehold property and we pay a ground rent of £100 per year. When signing the contract to buy it stated that we would be sub-metered electricity from the management company. All okay. However first bill arrives in January...for one months Electric £200!!!! Right this is where it gets complicated... they charged all sorts of costs which they are not allowed to do (my partner works for a utilities company) such a climate charges? Which they can only charge for businesses and we are not entitled to pay, meter reading charges one from the management company & one from NPower who supply the electric...how can both get away with charging to do this? Anyway we eventually got an amended bill for £80...which although still a bit steep it much better.

We now have another issue...we are on Economy 7, we use no electric at night as all appliances are digital so can't program them to come on after midnight, so we asked them if we could have a normal standard domestic tariff meter installed (which we would be happy to pay for) and be billed on a normal tariff (according to my boyfriend on Economy 7 you get charged higher during the day). We have been told that this will NOT be done and you cannot change from Economy 7.

I don't know what to do, I have looked at all the paperwork and it does not say anywhere we have to be on Economy 7 and we have signed nothing saying this is the case. My boyfriend says it would take them a matter of minutes to install a new meter which would cost £30 if that.

I am considering taking legal action but thought I would put the feelers out on here to see if any of you guys have any suggestions. I have searched the web high and low but to no avail. Because we are receiving the electric through a property management company we cannot contact NPower ourseleves. If we would we would have sorted this months ago.

This has been going on since January and I am becoming VERY stressed, we have paid nothing and are refusing to until all our queires and questions about the bills have been answered.

Any help of tips would be appreciated,
Cheers

P.S. Sorry for long message however wanted to paint the picture as best I could...believe me there is a lot more..it has been a knightmare. :mad:

Premier_2

You are sub-metered.

You have to accept that you will be charged at the rate the master meter is billed at.
Only if you can convince everyone on sub-meters that you don't want E7 and then convince the management company to change the master meter will you get off E7, sorry.

1oneandonly

First i would contact the supplier and advise them you moved into prem in dec and also send a copy of tenancy agreement or proof of when you bought the prem...did you take a reading when you moved in? Hope so as if you didnt it could confuse matters.
It doesnt sound right to me that your been billed by both managing agent and supplier. Sounds like managing agent trying to pull a fast one....dont quote me until you have checked this!
If you dont get an account set up in your name with the supplier that means you can never change suppliers unless you ask the managing agent to do it....that doesnt sound right to me.
Not sure what ground rent is for....is it service charge (for gardener, window cleaner etc)
I would have thought all the flats would have there own meter but it sounds like your saying is a meter which supplies more than 1 flat if this is the case you are better off (once you given details to supplier) telling the supplier you want your own meter and how do you go about getting one. Hope this helps somewhat. You do right not to pay them until this is sorted, as i would be questioning this also. 1 last thing....chek the bills and look for meter serial no. and supply no. (supply no normally at the bottom of a bill 2nd page, two rows of no's in boxes and has an S at the beginning....the supply no is the bottom row of no's) check to see if they are the same on both bills...they might be different....if so....let me know.

1oneandonly

I forgot to mention....ring an electrician and ask for some free advice and tell him you have economy 7 and you dont use anything at night and that you are thinking of changing to a single rate meter and your not sure if you are doing the right thing plse can you advise me. If you have to....ring at least two or three to make sure what your advised matches what the others say too. It may be that the type of heating you have only works on economy 7 i honestly dont know....am guessing now which is why it is important to get advise from an electrician.

Cardew

There have been several cases like this reported.

The management company are no doubt getting a lot of commission from the Utility company.

Who holds the Freehold of your flats? Have the owners of the flats thought about buying the freehold and you can get rid of the managing agent.

I am amazed your solicitor did not alert you to this condition when you bought the flat. I would contact him to take the matter up with the managing agent.

If you use no electricity at night , presumably you don't have any form of storage heating? It seems very strange to have Economy 7 from new.

1oneandonly

A friend of mine had a prob with his managing agent and was a director .....all those that bought their flat in the block were directors and put a letter through their door saying there was to be a meeting...held in one of there flats....they decided to look for another managing agent and sack or get rid of the existing managing agent. Just a thought for you.

Cardew

1oneandonly wrote: »

A friend of mine had a prob with his managing agent and was a director .....all those that bought their flat in the block were directors and put a letter through their door saying there was to be a meeting...held in one of there flats....they decided to look for another managing agent and sack or get rid of the existing managing agent. Just a thought for you.

The flats are leasehold on a 999 year lease.

As the OP said, they pay £100 a year ground rent to the person that owns the freehold.(the freeholder). It might well be that the Freeholder is the managing agent(or a connected firm)

That freeholder appoints a managing agent.

Under newish legislation the leaseholders have legal right to buy that freehold - but it can be very expensive.

This was exactly the position on a flat I owned in London. We leaseholders bought the freehold, and our first action was to sack the managing agents.

anniecave

A couple of things.

If it is a building that is mainly supplying where people live, and only a small amount used for other things (eg lifts, communal lighting) then someone should have filled out a VAT declaration form, stating what % is "qualifying" use - eg that 90% of the electricity is for qualifying use - where people live (domestic).
If the % of domestic use is more than 60% (I think) then it ends up being all counting as domestic for VAT purposes.
This means that VAT should be at 5% on your bills not 15%(or 17.5%)
It also means that there should be no climate change levy or renewable obligation charge as these are only charged to customers that are charged at 15%/17.5% VAT.

It could be that the management company have got a good "deal" with the supplier and may have even signed a contract which may be why they are reluctant to start changing things. It may be worth you investigating the rates being charged as you will probably be on a "business" tariff but these are often cheaper than "domestic" tariffs anyway. Also it depends on the relative costs of the day units and night units. If you have a good deal then the "day" units may be similar to what you might be paying at "all units" on a normal domestic tariff that is just one rate anyway.

Fire_Fox

How much of the dealings you have had so far are in writing? You must always do this and send recorded delivery. Are you charged the electricity as part of your service charge or separately?

If part of the service charge this is covered by the Landlord-Tenant Act 1985 - all charges must be "reasonable" and "reasonably incurred". Speak to the Leasehold Advisory Service, both for advice and to get them to formally ask your managing agents/ freeholder to attend their Mediation Service (in London, very cheap). You may also have the option of a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal, rather than going to court.