Getting billed seperately (Southern elec+gas)

illumintai

Hi all,

I live in quite a terrible student house where the guys here don't give a Sh*t about the bills and it looks like, again, I may have to pay it all off out of my pocket.

It didnt matter in the last bill (Summer+Fall) but this one ran up to more than a thousand quid for elec+gas.

I was advised by my landlord to basically seek from the energy company to bill the tenants seperately. Admittedly the landlord isn't sure if the company can do this.

Please advise !

macman

You can't have separate bills if there is only one meter for each utility. One meter, one name on the acccount. The utility co aren't going to divide that up between x people. If you name is the sole one on the account, then you are 100% responsible for the bills.
Other tenants could add their names to the account, but then you are jointly and severally liable. What happens then in practice is that the supplier comes after the first name on the account (or the first one they can trace) for the full payment. How or if you extract the money from the others is not their concern.
Time to move out I think!

illumintai

thanks for the reply.

all of our names are on the bill (thankfully, im the last in order)

can you suggest a way to divide the bill ?

i'm terrified !

macman

Split it into equal parts? It's not exactly rocket science. If your housemates are not prepared to pay up they they'll have to do without gas and electricity eventually.
I don't understand why you are agreeing to share a house with people who aren't prepared to pay their share of the bills?

illumintai

macman wrote: »

Split it into equal parts? It's not exactly rocket science. If your housemates are not prepared to pay up they they'll have to do without gas and electricity eventually.
I don't understand why you are agreeing to share a house with people who aren't prepared to pay their share of the bills?

Perhaps I can ring the company up and explain the whole situation ?

Or just change the name that is displayed on the bill (with landlord's agreement) and pay what I can pay. So the remainder can be charged to those people?

Thanks.

macman

If the account is changed to your name alone then you will be solely responsible for the total bill! You can't split bill an account for the reasons explained above.
You are all jointly liable for the bill and you jointly have to work out between you how to divide and pay the bill. Presumably you manage to do this for other househod bills?
The utility co don't care who pays, one of you or 4 of you, as long as they're paid.

illumintai

macman wrote: »

If the account is changed to your name alone then you will be solely responsible for the total bill! You can't split bill an account for the reasons explained above.
You are all jointly liable for the bill and you jointly have to work out between you how to divide and pay the bill. Presumably you manage to do this for other househod bills?
The utility co don't care who pays, one of you or 4 of you, as long as they're paid.

I mean change the names on the bill to the housemates who cannot afford to pay while the remaining housemates will pay their portion. and I will consult this with my landlord

macman

This means opening a new account, which means you have to settle the old account.
If these people won't pay their share, how are you going to persuade them to sign up for a new account?
You can't just add people to an account, they have to agree it.
It's got absolutely nothing to do with your landlord, if the accounts are in the tenant's names he has no involvement and no liability.

illumintai

macman wrote: »

This means opening a new account, which means you have to settle the old account.
If these people won't pay their share, how are you going to persuade them to sign up for a new account?
You can't just add people to an account, they have to agree it.
It's got absolutely nothing to do with your landlord, if the accounts are in the tenant's names he has no involvement and no liability.

there are 4 of us - of which only 2 can pay their portion. when we pay our part we want our names off the bill so the company can pursue those two guys.

taking names off - is that still opening a new account ?

Thanks for your help by the way.

glider3560

illumintai wrote: »

there are 4 of us - of which only 2 can pay their portion. when we pay our part we want our names off the bill so the company can pursue those two guys.

taking names off - is that still opening a new account ?

Thanks for your help by the way.

You are NOT liable for a quarter of the bill each - each one of you are actually liable for the ENTIRE bill.

If the bill is unpaid, the supplier can come after any one of you for the WHOLE bill; regardless of who has already paid what.

macman

OP does not appear to understand the concept of 'jointly and severally liable'. Presumably not a law student...