elctricity

evertonian2010

hi i was hoping someone can help
my parents sublet a house of my dads boss who leases the property from the local council which is a attached next to the shop my dad works 77 hours a week, they have lived there since 2005 they pay £50 a week rent plus £20 a week electricity as the shop and house electrical supply is one bill, my dads boss has now installed a secound electric meter to split the bill from shop and house which would be ideal as my parents will know how much electric the house is using, the problem is my parents will not get an electric bill from scottish power as scottish power have not been informed on the second meter so will carry on sending one bill as before which my dads boss will still recieve and then he is going to tell my parents how much the elctric bill is so they will give it to him to pay it. my parents are now starting to worry about paying this bill as they have always had a pre payment meter,
they havent been told when the bill will be due plus i think it is set as a buisness rate for the shop.
i would be graetful for any advise as they are worried that if they say anything to his boss incase he loses his job and home and with having two young children who live with them .

keith1950

Hi, could you clarify one point. You initially said that they pay £20 to the boss for electric and later said they have always been on a prepayment meter.!! All they have to do now is make a note of the meter point ref. number and ask the boss to see the new bill as it will be split in two sections. If he doesn't show them the bill, don't pay. If they just save the £20/week until he shows them the bill they should be ok.

Cardew

keith1950 wrote: »

Hi, could you clarify one point. You initially said that they pay £20 to the boss for electric and later said they have always been on a prepayment meter.!! All they have to do now is make a note of the meter point ref. number and ask the boss to see the new bill as it will be split in two sections. If he doesn't show them the bill, don't pay. If they just save the £20/week until he shows them the bill they should be ok.

I suspect the OP means that they always had a pre-pay meter in previous properties, prior to moving into their present property in 2005; so they have no experience of using a credit meter.

The bill will not be split into 2 sections, for as I understand it, the new arrangements entail fitting a new sub-meter which will show the consumption of the OP's parents house. e.g. The bill will show that, say, 1,000kWh have been used and the sub-meter will show that the OP's parents have used, say, 200kWh.

That arrangement is very common in a house with bedsits.

It is illegal to sell electricity at a profit so it depends at what rate the shop owner gets his electricity, and how much they use, to determine if they will be paying more. £20 a week is low for an all electric house so they could be looking at a much higher bill.

A further complication is the owner will pay VAT at 17.5%(soon to be 20%????) and of course he can reclaim that VAT; domestic supplies only pay 5%.

Surely the best bet is for the OP's parents to see what the owner comes up with - what rate he charges them - better/worse than domestic rates?, position on VAT etc - before complaining.

Scottish_Power

Hi evertonian2010

Thank you for your post. I hope I can help.

Is your dad fully responsible for the shop? Does he have a lease or tenancy agreement for the shop? If he does, he could ask his boss if the ScottishPower account for the shop could be put in his name and for the bills to be sent to him. That way he will know exactly what charges are being requested from us and he will also be able to check that the meter readings we are using are correct and in line with what is showing on the meter at that time.

If your dad's boss does not want the account name changed, however wants your dad to pay for all the electricity used in the shop then, like keith1950 has stated, he will have to ask him for a copy of the bill to see the charges himself.

The house supply should really be seperate from the shop supply and there should be 2 electricity meters for each property. Each meter should have its own electricity supply number and receive a bill seperately. This way the shop can be billed on a business tariff and the house billed on a domestic tariff.

It is also possible that your dads boss has installed a submeter for the electricity used within the house and he will still receive one bill for the original meter which records all electricity used within the shop and house. He will then divide this bill by looking at what is recorded on the submeter. The only way to know if you are being charged accurately in this case is to know what is being recorded on the submeter. This unfortunately is a third party issue and we cannot get involved. If your dads boss has the account with ScottishPower then it is his responsibility to pay the bills issued. If bills are not paid then it will be your dads boss that we will pursue.

I hope that I have been of help. Let me know if you have any further questions.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

dogshome

Hi evertonian 2010 - The new arrangement, on the face of it seems fair, as the power your Dad uses is recorded on the sub-meter.

However to actually be fair, your Dad must see a copy of the suppliers bill to the shop and have access to the sub-meter, so that he can check that the bill from the Landlord is fairly proportioned.

Two things to be wary of are 1) The VAT and 2) A Commercial Electicity Supply contract

1)As a domestic user your Dad's power attracts 5% VAT whilst the Shop is rated at 17.5% - So when the bill is split, your dad should pay 5% on the cost of what he's used, and not a percentage of the VAT listed on the suppliers bill

2) As listed on various threads, the way small businesses have been signed up for hugely expensive Commercial Supply Contracts has become a national scandal. If your Dad's boss is a victim of this, the price of power being passed onto your Dad will be massively more expensive
than any domestic tariff - Check the rates on the suppliers bill against domestic tariffs on the Switch sites.
All the best