Landlord not supplying official utility bill

graingeg

Hi everybody, new here!

Here's my situation...

Me and my girlfriend left our flat last month and on doing so were presented with an £809 electricity bill for a 9 and half month period. After discussing with our landlord how it could be so high we asked him to supply us with a utility bill. He gave us a piece of paper stating units used and tariff etc which he had written himself with a pen.

After asking numerous times for an official bill we are always met with a long answer about how it wouldn't really show us what we owe as he is billed for all three flats in the building and then deduces what we owe him from the three seperate meters in the cellar, and, how the bill is about right considering we own a small electric heater and have just had a long cold winter.

So, my question is, is it unreasonable of us to insist on seeing an official bill from the energy company that bills him before we pay him the £209 left after he took our deposit? We just feel a little uncomfortable paying so much money out without some kind of proof that we owe it.

Thank's for reading, would really appreciate some advice!!

in_the_Cotswolds

Having not been in this situation, I personally would ring the electric/gas company myself and explain the situation and see if they can tell you what the bill was.

You never know the landlord may not have told them he is renting the house/flat out.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Landlords cannot make a profit from 'selling' electricity.

However unless you read your sub-meter(one of the three in the cellar) when you moved in, and again when you moved out,(and thus knew exactly how many kWh you had used) what good would it do to see his master bill?

That said assuming that it was an all electric flat, £809 for nine and a half months over a very cold winter is certainly not high - in fact probably below average.

graingeg

Thanks for the replies! I guess it could be a reasonable bill. It just seemed suspicious that he wouldn't show an official bill. Maybe we are being bad ex-tennants!

Is it fairly common for landlords to write bills out for their tennants and not supply an actual utility bill when asked? Is it possible that he just doesn't want to go through the rigmarole of getting a bill, mailing it to us etc?

Cardew

graingeg wrote: »

Thanks for the replies! I guess it could be a reasonable bill. It just seemed suspicious that he wouldn't show an official bill. Maybe we are being bad ex-tennants!

Is it fairly common for landlords to write bills out for their tennants and not supply an actual utility bill when asked? Is it possible that he just doesn't want to go through the rigmarole of getting a bill, mailing it to us etc?

I think you misunderstand the situation. He will receive just one bill for the whole building in his name.

The purpose of the 3 sub-meters in the cellar is to apportion the bill between the 3 flats. e.g. if he pays 10p per kWh he should know from reading your sub-meter that you used 8,090kWh during your occupancy.

Unless you know how many kWh you used(by reading your sub-meter) what good would it do to see his bill for say £3,000?

graingeg

I guess seeing the bill would just confirm that his rate of 13.9 pence per kwh for the majority of the 9 1/2 months (and 14.1 for about a month) is correct. I do understand the logic of billing us from our meter, its just the confirmation of tariff rate that we wanted. Still unreasonable? Should we just pay up?

spiro

All the responses so far assume they are LL meters in the cellar and you know what assume does. If there are multiple industry meter points at the property this can easily be checked on the central register (PM address if you want me to check).

You are legally entitled to see the bill he has received.