npower Backdated bills - where do we stand?

AndrewNFrench

Hi there, my housemate and I live with a mutual friend who is the property owner.

We moved into the property in mid September 2010.

Recently a bill came from npower requesting £657 for gas and electricity from the dates of 23/12/2009 until 15/01/2011

So for the sake of argument lets say a year

This apparently covers gas and electricity usage that exceeded estimates over the last year.

Now we are aware that we (the housemates) do not have to pay anything of the estimate exceeds before the dates that we moved in, however our landlord and friend then is in the predicament where he has to pay - roughly £550 (as we will split one quarter of this excess bill between the 3 of us - £660/4 = £165... £165/3 = £55 each).
The previous tenants have left permanently - one is in Dubai and one is frankly broke. They were also friends of ours and our landlords yet my landlord will likely not see their half of the share, whether he is entitled to it or not I dont know.

So can anyone advise on the legality of npower demanding money for usage which apparently exceeded the estimates up to over a year ago?

And also how can we prevent this in the future?

Another problem which creates a sort of awkwardness is that our boiler recently broke down. We were without hot water for 2 weeks.
Now apparently after 3 days with no hot water or heating, as tenants we can demand not to pay rent. Of course this is a hard thing to do as we are friends and I dont want to make things uncomfortable by demanding that. However, I know my landlord knows that we have been massively inconvenienced by that, and I made numerous phonecalls and waited at home several times waiting for engineers to come and repair or service the boiler. I also happen to know that he knows we are legally entitled not to pay rent for the period with no hot water or heating, but he hasnt offered that option to us.

Would love some advice, however small. Its all helpful, thanks
Andrew French

Cardew

Yes it is legal for NPower, and perfectly normal, to make such a demand.

To prevent large bills because of wrongly estimated meter readings, you should check the meter reading on each bill; and if it differs from the actual reading you contact NPower with the correct reading and they re-issue the bill. It tells you to do this on the bill.

If you live with the property owner(and thus the landlord) I doubt if you are tenants - just lodgers; or do you have a formal lease or written rental agreement?

I doubt therefore that you are legally entitled to relief from the rent unless it is written in a formal document.

DVardysShadow

AndrewNFrench wrote: »

So can anyone advise on the legality of npower demanding money for usage which apparently exceeded the estimates up to over a year ago?

And also how can we prevent this in the future?

Legality? If it is on the meter, then demanding payment for it is legal.

Avoidance: Go on to quarterly billing paid on demand. It cuts out all this nonsense if you make sure the readings are up to date.

AndrewNFrench

Cardew wrote: »

Yes it is legal for NPower, and perfectly normal, to make such a demand.

To prevent large bills because of wrongly estimated meter readings, you should check the meter reading on each bill; and if it differs from the actual reading you contact NPower with the correct reading and they re-issue the bill. It tells you to do this on the bill.

If you live with the property owner(and thus the landlord) I doubt if you are tenants - just lodgers; or do you have a formal lease or written rental agreement?

I doubt therefore that you are legally entitled to relief from the rent unless it is written in a formal document.

Thanks for putting me straight, we are technically lodgers, yes, but I wouldn't have chased that one up anyhow.
Shame that there isnt a loophole to dig ourselves out of this one, our landlord will end up taking a big hit financially
Thanks again, have a good weekend

AndrewNFrench

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Go on to quarterly billing paid on demand. It cuts out all this nonsense if you make sure the readings are up to date.

Will look into that, cheers

PNPSUKNET

and you wonder why bills are so high