Small Business Gas & Electricity Discussion Area

Savvy_Sue

Sorry, only just seen this, welcome to the boards.

What does his lease say about electric?

And can he push for these items to be taken OFF his meter? ie installing a new meter, costs to be shared among all the units.

being_hopeful

Hi, sorry for delay in replying, have had bereavement.
Unfortunately he doesn't have a lease, it seema that everything has been done on 'gentlemens agreements', and the key person in this has just left the Land lords employment. They have recently installed a new meter wich my bf didn't know about so was unable to take any final reading from and it's unclear exactly what area this new meter covers.
Since I last posted they have issued him with a list of arrears some of which show a concession to the 'shared meter, with a range of discounts from 10 to 50% with no rational for why they are different, and some of them being different to the original figures he was given. In addition the bills simply say x number of units at x pence per KWh rather than actual readings. The landlord has said hthey can't provide the readings as this is how thay themselves are billed.
He's struggling to get the landlords to sit around a table with him to discuss this, would he be within his rights to refuse to pay for the electricity until the matter can be resolved?
Many Thanks

Savvy_Sue

Sorry for your loss.

I'm a bit confused: presumably he has a contract with the electricity company, so not paying that bill won't impact on his landlord.

And I would suggest legal advice before withholding any payment to a landlord if he's not looking to be evicted.

over50

my friend runs a small guest house that only opens from easter to end oct she has been informed by someone that her gas bill is actully wrong as it states the VAT is 20% and she should only be paying 5% plus she should be exempt from ccl charges she is with british gas fro both her gas and electric can any one help her on this is it right

Savvy_Sue

I know that there is a charity exemption allowing us to pay a reduced rate of VAT on our utility bills. And I also know that all I had to do was make the company aware that we were a registered charity and it was backdated for us.

I wasn't aware of an exemption for small businesses, so I suggest she phones British Gas and asks them. Failing that, if she asked whoever said it was wrong if they can show her anything in writing, she could take it forward then ...

UDOnline

The VAT exemption is availble for businesses that use a small amount of gas and electricity, regardless of the length of time the guest house was open i would assume it would still fall into the 20% rate. if you need any impartial help please just give us a call or visit the website.

nodiscount

Just saw this and thought it might help (in reply to the posts about auto contract roll-over):
For micro-businesses

The new Ofgem reforms mean that:

• Within ten days of a new contract being agreed, or an existing contract renewed, the customer should receive a hard copy of the terms and conditions and renewal terms;
• In the final four months of their contract, micro-business customers will receive a copy of their renewal terms, setting out the available options. They will then have at least 30 days to contact their supplier to negotiate a new contract or switch supplier.
• For micro-business customers that do not switch or negotiate a new deal with their energy supplier, the maximum contract roll over is now 12 months;
• Micro-businesses can give notice of their wish to prevent their contract being rolled over at any point from when the contract is agreed until the end of the notice period.

cottager

Only just spotted this sticky (even though it's at the top of the board - duh!) and hope it's OK to cross-reference a post made recently on another thread.

The Energy Advice Line (EAL) is an independent, impartial and free comparison/switching service for electricity and gas supplies for businesses only, large and small.

OH is a sole trader and we found them almost by accident last year when looking to switch. They took the hassle out of the process, and part of the service is handling any glitches or difficulties with the old/new providers if they arise.

The ongoing follow-up and reminder service has also been excellent. Now approaching the end of the 9-month contract set up then, we're in the process of switching again and they're handling that for us too. Overall we've been very impressed.

Main site: http://www.energyadviceline.org.uk/
Key Facts: http://www.energyadviceline.org.uk/key_facts.php
FAQs: http://www.energyadviceline.org.uk/questions/faq.php

More detail about our own experience in post #3 of this thread,
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3354262

niftyone

cottager wrote: »

The Energy Advice Line (EAL) is an independent, impartial and free comparison/switching service for electricity and gas supplies for businesses only, large and small.

Its just another Utility Broker there are many of them,that gave you good service.

Small Biz switching etc is covered in MSE post here : http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity#small

cottager

niftyone wrote: »

Its just another Utility Broker there are many of them,that gave you good service.

OK, entirely fair comment; but having never used a switching service before we had no prior experience of what to expect, and being usually very sceptical about all sorts of "services" offered, we have been very pleasantly surprised
Well, maybe it'll be some help to someone anyway, if only to put into a mix of other services on offer.