Change of gas / electric provider without permission

Jane_Woodvine

We own a second property and have decided to let it on a short term lease. As we have not done this before we have engaged the services of a management letting agency within an estate agents. The first let went quite well and we have just come to the end of a six month lease with new tenants going into the property within two weeks of the previous tenants leaving. Having taken gas and electricity readings I had a bit of a runaround trying to find the gas/elec provider as it was no longer with the provider I had engaged prior to the first tenants. It came to light that the tenants had changed provider from NPower to British Gas. When the tenants left, I was told by British Gas that the letting agent had changed the provider from British Gas to Eon. Having spoken to Eon and explaining that I do not want to change providers again, I was told that they would not cancel the contract and I should talk to the letting agent as I had obviously given them permission within the terms and conditions to change service providers. THe letting agent had not talked to me and neither can I see any terms and conditions where I have agreed to let the letting agent have carte blanche with my service providers. Having put it to Eon that the letting agent may have struck a deal with their company on a commission basis in bringing in new customers, Eon said that their company did do this but would not comment on whether this was the case in this instance. Can they do this without my permission?

KimYeovil

It is the tenants that the letting agents are messing around with, not you. It is none of your business and none of the letting agency's business who your tenants choose to use for gas and electricity.

Essentially, yes, the letting agents can mess around by sticking their noses in and annoying tenants with their suggestions - you should not be involved.

nikki_angel

Kim is right. As the tenant is the one using the utility, they are the ones that have the right to choose who they purchase it from.

tbs624

You need to sort your relationship with your LA - they act for you, not the other way round.

If the utility bills are to be in Ts names then it should be up to the T which firms they use.Simply ask them to confirm in writing when/if they switch.

Many of the utility companies do seem to have been hard at work persuading LAs and some LL s that they should switch their entire property portfolio over to their company , but in doing so they are effectively tying a T into a rate which may not be the best for them.

Tell the LA in writing that they are to switch the utilities back to what they were before and that if , as a result, any penalty payment is due to EON then the LA can pay it.Don't ever let an LA dictate to you,

Jane_Woodvine

I agree that it is the tenants choice - I do not have a problem with that. There is a two week delay before new tenants move into the property and it IS my responsibility to pay the bill for those two weeks. Not only did it take me over an hour to trace the paper trail from NPower to British Gas to Eon, but the service provider was changed by the letting agent after the previous tenants left and before the new tenants arrived. As I am paying the bill in the interim I do not expect the letting agent to decide to change the service provider as they get a commission for putting business Eon's way and without my permission.

mynameisdave

Jane_Woodvine wrote: »

I agree that it is the tenants choice - I do not have a problem with that. There is a two week delay before new tenants move into the property and it IS my responsibility to pay the bill for those two weeks. Not only did it take me over an hour to trace the paper trail from NPower to British Gas to Eon, but the service provider was changed by the letting agent after the previous tenants left and before the new tenants arrived. As I am paying the bill in the interim I do not expect the letting agent to decide to change the service provider as they get a commission for putting business Eon's way and without my permission.

Sign up to quidco and change to someone else. It won't achieve much but the agent likely won't get any comission if the service was provided for such a short time.

clutton_2

""Not only did it take me over an hour to trace the paper trail from NPower to British Gas to Eon,"" - gosh only an hour ? you were lucky !!

all part of being a LL Jane... its the part i hate the most.. dealing with utilities... but it has to be done...

moromir

Jane_Woodvine wrote: »

Not only did it take me over an hour to trace the paper trail from NPower to British Gas to Eon.

Really :cool: an hour?

I used to work for a company dealing with commercial property and I was always having to call in opening and closing meter readings and take accounts in and out of names. If you call a service provider and they no longer serve the property they look it up on their national database and tell you the current supplier, and 95% of the time that was it, 5 minutes job done.

This could have taken longer if you didn't know the tenant/s' names, the post code to the property or the outgoing tenants did something silly like put the account in your Agent's name because they didn't know your name.

None of these scenarios are your Agent's fault.

Has your Agent actually told you they changed the supplier? Or have you simply assumed this because the supplier told you that the Agent's name was on the account?

I can tell you now that if you called a supplier five times and spoke to five different employees and asked them to do the same thing, you'd have a different conversation every time.

My point? Take what they say with a pinch of salt.

If I were you I would be taking a deep breath and enquiring (politely) to your Letting Agent whether they had made any arrangements with the supplier, if they have, politely ask them to refrain from doing so in future. If they haven't, be glad you stayed calm and didn't make a fool of yourself.

tbs624

I agree with Moromir’s point - establishing who currently supplies a property really shouldn't be a major issue, whether for a new OO, a T or a LL.

Calling the Meter Point Administration Service line on 0870 608 1524 will identify the gas supplier, and contacting the local electricity distribution company (in the phone book under 'electricity') will identify the electricity supplier.

Jane_Woodvine

Thanks to everyone for their comments - I have had confirmation from the letting agents that they changed the service provider after the last tenants left and before the next tenants go in. I am in 'negotiation' with them at the moment. Thanks to Moromir and tbs, I didnt ask British Gas if they knew who the new providers were and they didnt offer. Its certainly a point worth remembering for the future. Cheers. Jane x

Ignite

I would raise this as an erroneous transfer. At what point did the LA have a contract with an energy supplier? At the start of the last tenancy, it went from you to the tenants. At the end of the tenancy, it went back to you, not the LA. If the LA wants to transfer the energy supplier, then they will have to be a customer. Let them pay the bill for the next 2 weeks!