Electricity Meter Advice please

bigwedgie

My Daughter has a small lock up hairdressers which has a meter fitted, above the shop is a flat which (as far as I am aware) has no meter and is drawing electricity via her meter, she has confirmed this by switching the supply off at the fuse box which results in the flat losing all electrical power supply.

The landlord for her shop and flat are the same person, she only has a lease on the shop not the flat.

Can someone please tell me if this is legal and if there is any regulation that would allow her to put pressure on the landlord to ensure that both shop and flat have their own seperate supply ?

Meanwhile her commercial rate bills are crippling the business ....thanks for your help / suggestions

Premier_2

Yes it's legal.
Obviously she can't be expected to pay for electricity used by the flat upstairs.

Normally in such situations, the landlord takes responsibility for the the bills to the supplier and then can either:
a) cover the cost within the rent paid (that would depend on the wording of the Tenancy Agreement)
b) install separate sub meters to accurately divide the consumption between the two properties
c) come to an agreement with all parties involved as to how the bill should be divided (risky)

The trouble with all these is that the supplier will probably bill based on a business tariff and that includes the higher VAT which the flat occupants would otherwise not have to pay and probably wouldn't be recoverable by your daughter as input tax if she is VAT registered (unless possibly the landlord happened to be VAT registered too)

bigwedgie

Thank you for your help ...that's most useful :T