Landlord using my supply for communal lighting

sonastin

poppysarah wrote: »

And what powers that?

Batteries usually

<sebb>

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Lighting uses relatively little energy

Depends on the lighting really!

I just got one of those energy monitors and I could hardly believe how high it jumped when I turned on the bathroom, hall or kitchen lighting (all spot lights - not energy efficient). Compare that with my lounge with energy saving lightbulbs and the difference was huge. And remember this communal lighting is on 24/7. From what my energy monitor says, then £10 per month doesn't seem unreasonable.

lynzpower

Is there a hardwired fire system in the communal areas staircases? What powers them?

Fire_Fox

<sebb> wrote: »

Depends on the lighting really!

I just got one of those energy monitors and I could hardly believe how high it jumped when I turned on the bathroom, hall or kitchen lighting (all spot lights - not energy efficient). Compare that with my lounge with energy saving lightbulbs and the difference was huge. And remember this communal lighting is on 24/7. From what my energy monitor says, then £10 per month doesn't seem unreasonable.

It doesn't depend on the lighting, you didn't read my post properly. This is only five lamps, it will use RELATIVELY little energy compared to heating, hot water and tumble dryers not compared with energy saving bulbs!

flibblesan

Fire_Fox wrote: »

If you are paying too much for electricity you need to look in the mirror to find the culprit. Lighting uses relatively little energy - it's heating, hot water (shower, washing machine) and tumble dryers that eat electricity. £40 a month is actually very low even for a one bedroom flat.

!!!!!! don't waste the time of an overstretched charitable organisation on your personal vendetta, behave like an adult and send a recorded delivery letter to your landlord.

Ok I don't have a tumble dryer, electric shower or electric heating. Hot water and central heating come from the combi boiler. Unsurprisingly the central heating is not in use currently (not that it would make any difference to my electricity usage).

I don't own a television either. All my personal lighting is on energy saving bulbs and I never leave lights on in an empty room.

There is no 'personal vendetta' of any sort here. I'm very sure that if you found out that for the previous year you have been forking out money for electricity used by somebody else you would be quite cross about it and would want money back at the least?

Anyway I've got an electrician from E.ON coming out tomorrow to check everything for me. Apparently they have no record on their system of the second meter I found.

And as I stated earlier I have written to the agent. I have no direct contact with the landlord, who lives in another city.

flibblesan

lynzpower wrote: »

Is there a hardwired fire system in the communal areas staircases? What powers them?

Yes there is. It's powered from my flat with battery backup in case of power outage. For obvious reasons I haven't disconnected this.

Communal lighting has been turned back on also. I felt a bit daft turning it off.

jamesd

It's not uncommon for there to be mistakes in assigning meters to flats when a building is converted.

E.ON will resolve this in the visit on Friday, doing the same sort of tests as you did. It may be the case that you have been paying for the electricity used by someone else for the time that you've been there. If so, that will be sorted out as well. No way to tell yet whether your own bill will be higher or lower, though, that'll depend on the meter readings for the correct meter. Don't be surprised if it takes them a few weeks to get things recalculated once they have done the checks.

These things do happen, my meters are registered by ID number to the other flat in the building and some years ago in a different place I noticed air conditioning causing my electricity bill to increase in the summer. The small problem was that I didn't have air conditioning. Turned out to be the flat next door. Got a corrected bill and refund.

maninthestreet

poppysarah wrote: »

And what powers that?

battery powered???

lynzpower

flibblesan wrote: »

Yes there is. It's powered from my flat with battery backup in case of power outage. For obvious reasons I haven't disconnected this.

Communal lighting has been turned back on also. I felt a bit daft turning it off.

You might want to reiterate to the LL that this is the case.

If you got disconnected, or chose to discon ( ie moving out) Do you mean that the hard-wired system would cease to be powered?

If there were a fire and the system didnt work, I think he insurer would be having something to say on this!

flibblesan

lynzpower wrote: »

You might want to reiterate to the LL that this is the case.

If you got disconnected, or chose to discon ( ie moving out) Do you mean that the hard-wired system would cease to be powered?

If there were a fire and the system didnt work, I think he insurer would be having something to say on this!

Have done. The E.ON guy came round and looked at everything. There is no separate supply for the landlord at all and the meter has been registered to the tenants living in my flat for the last 4 years. So the landlord has never been paying anybody for any electricity supply.

The second meter isnt from e.on, it's a sub-meter fitted by somebody else. My tenancy agreement makes no mention of having a sub meter or having to pay the landlord for electricity usage (which I assume is what normally happens when you have a sub-meter).

Anyway the problem needs to be sorted by the landlord. What a lovely mess.