Paying for someone elses electricity

lyndeno

I live in a rented flat that is supplied with electricity only. Last winter I was hit with electricity bills that seemed extraordinarily high £850 for 3 months for one of them even though I was very strict with the amount of heating I used.

I ended up paying as the units used matched up with my meter read. Once paid I promptly switched energy supplier.

Now last night our landlord had an electrician round to look at our flat and next doors as he thought something was odd with the electric. Following further investigation it seems that two plugs in next doors apartment are being fed by our meter and vice versa. But next door have had an electric heater plugged into their plug and we have an energy saving bedside lamp in our plug that’s being fed by them, needless to say I know who is losing out on this!

I have written an email off to the landlord today but does anyone know the best course of action to seeking a refund of some sort, is it the landlord, energy supplier or both?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Lynden

Premier_2

Neither, the best way to resolve this is by conversation with your neighbour and agreeing a settlement figure.

lyndeno

Cant speak to the Neighbour as they moved out in November and we have only just found out.

Cardew

The developers of the flats are to blame, but you might have difficulty pinning them down.

Your landlord is not at fault, neither is the energy company - they supplied all the electricity that was used and properly paid for by the two account holders.

macman

It can't be an individual socket that is being fed from the wrong meter, it must be a whole circuit.
Or are you saying that someone has rigged up an illegal connection from your meter in order to get free electricity?

lyndeno

It can't be an individual socket that is being fed from the wrong meter, it must be a whole circuit.
Or are you saying that someone has rigged up an illegal connection from your meter in order to get free electricity?

My flat is joined onto the neighbours and on my end wall/their starting wall it appears that the people who built the flats have wired the plugs wrong so one of their sets of plugs is being fed by our meter and one of our plugs is being fed by theirs, basically they connected the wrong ones.

I assume there is nothing I can do about getting any money back from anyone then?

macman

So one of their double sockets is connected to your ring main and vice versa. Quite bizzare.
As Premier said, it's between you and the neighbours-and if they have now left, little you can do.
Has the electrician reconnected the sockets correctly?

Premier_2

lyndeno wrote: »

Cant speak to the Neighbour as they moved out in November and we have only just found out.

Looks like you have problems then.

The neighbour owes you for what they used and you paid for and vice versa. The simple way, as I said, was to come to some agreement. The formal way would be to sue them (which may be difficult to make stick)

However if you don't know where they are, you are kinda stuffed, unless you can find them somehow.

The good news is that if they've left, they won't be using your leccy but you'll be using theirs still I presume... :cool:

Premier_2

lyndeno wrote: »

My flat is joined onto the neighbours and on my end wall/their starting wall it appears that the people who built the flats have wired the plugs wrong so one of their sets of plugs is being fed by our meter and one of our plugs is being fed by theirs, basically they connected the wrong ones.

...

What type of flats are these? Purpose built ones or some cowboy conversion? :eek:

I can't imagine how what you suggest could possibly happen unless you only have a basic stud wall between you and your neighbour. If that's the case, then a few quid on the leccy bill is the least of your worries. You may want to think about moving... asap.

macman

And there's no way of quantifying what was erroneously used by each party anyway.