Can utility providers put up rates without notice

twaddilove

Hi,
My energy provider has sent me a bill, it is from June to October and they have put up the prices of the gas, water and electricity without telling me they were going to do this. Is this allowed?
The gas prices have gone up massively also, as in from 0.0382 to 0.35. is this justifiable?
Thanks

KimYeovil

Whether it is justifiable is debatable and debated (see other threads).

But they can - they can wait 90 days before telling you (65 working days.) The good news is that if you know an alternative supplier who can offer you a decent tariff you can swtich to them and receive all your power from the price change to the switchover at the original price.

You have to notify your supplier of intent to change within a week or two of being informed of the price increase and your new supplier has to contact them promptly as well.

penrhyn

I find it hard to believe that your unit rate has increased by 100%.

Are you using the same units?

0.0382 to 0.35?

davidgmmafan

What energy supplier supplies gas, water and elec? I'm lost.

grahamc2003

penrhyn wrote: »

I find it hard to believe that your unit rate has increased by 100%.

Are you using the same units?

0.0382 to 0.35?

It's worse than 100% - it's an 830% increase (only it's not really, the op has just got mixed up somewhere along the line!).

Possibly from 3.5p/kwh to 3.82p/kwh (i.e. an 9.1% rise).

KimYeovil

Or they have been migrated to a standing charge model from a two-tier one. (35p is a typical gas standing charge).

twaddilove

Hi its more complicated that it sounds... basically i live in a block of flats. We are billed by the owner of the property for our gas electricity and water and are all under the same provider. We have one massive boiler for the property. We have individual meters and get individual bills. The owner put a bill through our door on the 10th of this month for june to october. Our previous rate (on last bills) for gas was 0.0376 per unit and the new bill has gone up to 0.384 per unit. I know that there is confusion on gas regarding kw/h and cubic meters etc but my meter reads 602 kw/h and this is whats been charged at 0.384per unit so the sum is 0.384 x 602.
I know in normal situations we could move elsewhere but we can't in our case so we are tied to these price rises. To add to this they have added a £30 admin charge to our bills per month (£10 for each utility).
All flats are un happy and we have collected a petition but we don't know where we stand legally.
Are they allowed to charge these gas rates do they sound right? we understand our old rates were low but the new rates sound to high? Also we don't know where we stand legally on this admin charge as we already pay rent which surely should cover admin fees?
We are asking to see utility bills to justify our charges but we doubt we'll get anywhere with any of it, the company are not very helpful!
If anyone can help further it would be greatly appreciated we have 67 un happy tenants but who don't seem to know where they stand legally.
Thanks

jd87

They surely didn't intend to increase your rate ten-fold. Has anyone asked them if they are aware the price rise is so big? It looks like a simple case of a misplaced decimal.

Pincher

Your "meter" is recording GAS coming into your flat from a "massive boiler"?

http://www.mhsboilers.com/site/79/25.html

Have a look at the Sales Brochure at the bottom.

A distribution unit costs circa £2,000 in single quantity,
but probably more like £1,000 each for bulk orders. They also have components that eventually need replacing.

Somebody has cottoned on to the fact that an industrial central boiler with a metered distribution system is a professional undertaking, with a budget to match.

I think they were losing money at 3.82p per kWh of metered "hot water supplied", so 35p per kWh is an attempt to make up for the losses, as well as paying for ongoing costs, future renewal and profit margin.

As a tenant, you have no need to know what it costs to repair the roof etc. . You only have to decide whether you think you are getting value for money.

You can form a Tenants Association, and demand a justification for the high unit cost and admin charge.

spiro

If as you say you have your own 'sub meter' the LL can only charge you what he pays when he charges you. This is law and you are entitled to see proof of what he is paying. Remember if he is a business he will pay a higher VAT rate but can only charge you the lower rate.