Estate agent is charging more Power bill..

Cardew

bengasman wrote: »

The agent can not re-sell energy legally, but is entirely within the law when charging an admin fee, handling charge or a number of other costs. Without seeing the lease contract, all comments are entirely speculative.

Agreed, but the thrust of the OP's post was to question if £30 a month was reasonable or not.

bengasman

Cardew wrote: »

Agreed, but the thrust of the OP's post was to question if £30 a month was reasonable or not.

I could be wrong, but it stands to reason that trying to find out whether or not it is reasonable, is done from a point of view of trying to get it canceled.
I doubt that if the general consensus was that £180 is unreasonable, the op would say: "Oh dear, I've been ripped off for nearly two hundred quid. Ah well, never mind, it's only money."

krish2011

Hi, Thanks for the reply. When I asked for the MPAN (Meter Point Administration Number), Serial number, Kwh rates and Tariff plan
for the property the agent sent a reply saying :

I do not have the details requested. The amount of £30 per month was clearly advised to you when you first took possession of the property (completion letter attached yesterday) it is charged as a % of the full bill for the whole premises and apportioned for the occupiers of 164d accordingly.

If you intend disputing this claim of £180 please notify me by return, so that I can inform the Landlord.

Could you please advice how to proceed further

spiro

krish2011 wrote: »

Hi, Thanks for the reply. When I asked for the MPAN (Meter Point Administration Number), Serial number, Kwh rates and Tariff plan
for the property the agent sent a reply saying :




Could you please advice how to proceed further

What did the letter/lease say about apportioning the bill? Is the £30pm fixed or variable? This means there is only one meter for the whole property. The most you can ask to see are the readings the amount is calculated from and the price paid.

bengasman

If the letter indeed states that this will be charged, and you accepted, the only thing you can do is read the next contract better before you sign it.
There might be a chance that you can fight it in court and win, but the amount is too puny to risk the cost of a legal challenge.
Read the contract and the letter referred to below several times, and if you don't see a clear get out, consider the money gone.

The amount of £30 per month was clearly advised to you when you first took possession of the property (completion letter attached yesterday)

macman

Seems to me that you have accepted a fixed service charge for £30 of electricity each month.
What does your STA say?

krish2011

The letter has been sent to me by post during tenancy start however I have not made any acceptance on it (no signature of my mine). I completely forgotten about the letter during my tenancy otherwise I would have asked the agent during my tenancy itself.

krish2011

bengasman wrote: »

If the letter indeed states that this will be charged, and you accepted, the only thing you can do is read the next contract better before you sign it.
There might be a chance that you can fight it in court and win, but the amount is too puny to risk the cost of a legal challenge.
Read the contract and the letter referred to below several times, and if you don't see a clear get out, consider the money gone.

The letter has been sent to me by post during tenancy start however I have not made any acceptance on it (no signature of my mine). I completely forgotten about the letter during my tenancy otherwise I would have asked the agent during my tenancy itself.

bengasman

krish2011 wrote: »

The letter has been sent to me by post during tenancy start however I have not made any acceptance on it (no signature of my mine). I completely forgotten about the letter during my tenancy otherwise I would have asked the agent during my tenancy itself.

You could try to bluff the agent by playing hardball writing (emailing) him with a bold statement that no money will be paid unless he can provide written evidence complete with signature as required by law.

macman

So if it post-dated the start of the tenancy, what were the arrangements for payment of the electricity bill that were either set out in your STA, or (bizzarely) maybe given verbally at the time? Since you had registered for the gas supply but not electricity, you must have been aware of some arrangement?