Electricity bill... advice needed

Daz178

Firstly, we are 5 first year students living in a 6 bedroomed house since 17th september. When we first agreed the tenancy before we moved in we also signed upto a company called glide that for a fee of £13 a week will pay our gas/electric/water/tv licence/internet and phone. When we first moved in we gave the meter reading (and took pictures). However, as far as we were concerned we were then with glide (with it being our first house we werent aware of any procedures to take when we first moved in). Around early october glide told us we werent with them for gas and electric and needed to contact the suppliers. So we contacted british gas and then npower and at the time i was told on the phone for npower that they were objecting the switchover because we needed to update our current details and then they would lift the objection. So i told them the new details and gave them a meter reading. Next thing we know about 4 days ago we recieved an electricity final warning bill of 979.98. This covers electric upto 18th jan when they decided to finally switch us over. So thats 4 months, equating £245 p/m. And for half a month in December until early Jan, nobody was in the house as we all went home for christmas.
Our house is an all electric house except heating. We dont have anything like dishwasher/dryer. We watch television occasionally on a night and most housemates are cautious of leaving the light on so always turn it off after themselves. One housemate does have an electric heater set up in his room that he turns on a few hours every night, i am aware electric heating is far more expensive than gas.
Firstly, i would like your opinions on whether you think the bill is high.
Also, due to the circumstances (npower just sending us a bill when as far as we knew we wasnt being supplied by them) can we do anything about that.
I'm sorry for the long post but i wanted to paint a clear picture of our problem.
Any help is highly appreciated, Thanks.

lithopsian

Sounds like Glide is taking you for a ride. They, or you, have unreasonably low expectations for your utility bills. I think they are sucking you in with suggestions that you'll only pay that amount but you'll end up paying for actual usage that will be a lot higher. And as it turns out you have

It does seem like you have one immediate avenue for comeback. You signed up to receive certain facilities through them and they haven't held up their end of the bargain. Whatever the reason might be they don't seem to have made any efforts to correct the situation or even to keep you informed. I wouldn't take that lying down.

You might be shafted with nPower though. If you were with them then you owe them the money. It would be difficult to get any sort of compensation from Glide, other than some sort of refund of moneys they shouldn't have received because they weren't supplying the service. Chances are your electricity bill with Glide would have been basically the same.

Terrylw1

Before doing anything else check that the readings are corre/t from your suppluer, have they billed your account starting at the read when you moved in and is the change of supply reading the one you gave. If it does, you owe it as long as the consumption is correct and there are no faults with meter, people stealing your elec, etc.

Also, does your tenancy agreement cover you for utilities? If so, your landlord pays them and charges you. If your tenancy agreement doesn't, ensure that all tenants are on the accounts because that makes you liable to them, never miss any names off or you may end up trying to prove other parties when the payments go wring.

withabix

For a start, Glide quote PER PERSON PER WEEK.

So that's £3380 per year or around £282 per month for your household of 5.

Daz178

First of all, during this time we have been getting billed £20 a month from glide but we presumed that covered electric but not gas. Glide told us on the phone we need to contact our current suppliers and ask why they were objecting which is why i contacted the suppliers in the first place. The whole glide agreement is based on paying £13 a week and if you go under your allowance you get refunded at end of year and if you go over they take it off you end of year. I've checked that the meter reading is correct for the date we first moved in but i've now been advised by npower to contact glide who gave them our new meter readings to make sure they got the correct reading. We've had the exact same problem regarding gas although the only difference is that when i rang british gas they said they were objecting cause we owed money so we ended up paying them £367 for 4 months of gas. But Npower told me over the phone that there shouldnt be anymore problems once i gave details, she specifically said we didnt owe anything so we should be switched over shortly. This was in early october. I rang them yesterday they do have records of me saying that we wanted to be switched over and at the time i gave them the meter reading but they claim they told me to ring them back with the meter reading - which doesnt make sense as i was in the house at the time and the electric meter is seconds away from my room and i remember giving the meter reading.

Our tenancy agreement doesn't cover us for utilities but we are all on the accounts. We have no problem accepting we have used electricity that we have to pay for, but the amount is very high so were questioning if its correct and were annoyed with how it's suddenly just been thrown upon us. We can't really afford to pay that much and were having to get our parents involved to try and resolve it - one has got the electricity usage sheet and getting it copied so i will post it up tomorrow hopefully if that allows you to get a better understanding.

Also, as i always seem to deal with managing bills and i have persued all this i have given my details and the bill is addressed to me but at our house. If say one of my housemates refused to pay, would i be the person liable to pay the bill - as in they would chase me and not anyone else.
Thanks for all your feedback so far its really appreciated.

t0rt0ise

If the account is in your name, it is you who is responsible. If the account is in all of your names, it is each of you who is responsible, but not for their portion but for the whole. So even if everyone is named, whoever they bother to pursue will be responsible for the whole bill.

How much of what you pay to Glide is their fee? I looked on the website but they carefully don't say what they charge. I'd think that it probably isn't worth it.

Terrylw1

Whoever the utility has as the named account holder, is liable for the debt. However, as long asd you have the tenancy agreement you can always prove your shared utility.

If anyone doesn't contribute enough, you will all be in arrears. So to protect yourself you need to be able to prove what you are paying and how. Then if it does end up in a debt scenario after you have moved on, the utility can either remove your name noting you have given sufficient proof or they my so it the remaining debt off to a new account, it depends on their systems, processes, need for easy audit trails, etc.

On a live account though while you are still living together, any money owing us owed by you all and they won't accept proof. This is classes as a third party dispute and not their problem.


Debts on student housing can be really messy so sort it out with them now so they are all clear on this. Your parents are a good source of help but this site will help as many posters work in this industry and know how this works from the other side.

LilMissEmmylou

electric heaters EAT electricity. We are on PAYG heating and noticed £15 would last us 5 days if OH used the space heater in his room to take the chill out of it for a few hrs a day.... normally it lasts us 7 days! So using that as a sample cost - the space heater alone over 3 - 4 months could be over £100 of that bill... and with how cold it WAS in December and January... I susspect it could be WELL over £100 of the bill.

For a bill for 5 students.... i actually dont think the bill is wrong, it is a little steep... but errors like the heater no doubt account for this. Can I ask, if your cooker is electric... do you try to cook at the same time or use it individually? because cookers can eat electricity too. Do you share loads of washing? or do a load each (in which case I would assume they are half full as u will have lesser amounts of whites, darks and colours to put in)?

Daz178

An update - I've rang Npower and we've resolved the bill - it turns out glide gave them a wrong meter reading but they recognised it as wrong so they estimated. The bill now stands at £350 max (which is also estimated, they will give a final bill within 10 weeks). They have lodged 2 complaints for us, 1 for the initial bill which was over £600 overcharged, and 2nd for the service they gave by telling me at the time we were good to go to get switched over and didnt need to pay anything. Also, we have found out that one meter (off peak electricity i think?) hasnt moved since we've been living here. I raised this with Npower cause we got an estimate bill (we have 2 electricity meters) and they said we dont need it because we dont use electric heating at night... or somewhere along the lines of that and were getting charged £5 a month just for having it. So now im trying to have steps from our current supplier to get it removed.
We have 10 weeks for the bill to be amended so we wont be asked for money or have to pay until may which is a massive help as we can afford it then.

t0rt0ise - The account is only in my name as i am the only housemate to contact any supplier regarding bills. It's a closed account so i presume its too late to add additional details such as my other housemates. I'm not sure what fee Glide take from the weekly fee but from what we've experienced in these past 4 months but from this experience with gas and electric bills to me it seems cheaper to use them and get the other stuff such as tv licence, water and internet aswell. And it's alot easier to manage just one fixed payment every week.

One housemate (who we've all had disputes with) has said they aren't willing to pay the bill but we do have his parents number. However, if we get no reasoning from them i'll keep in mind this information if it gets into a dispute.

Regarding the electric heating - we are aware it uses alot of electric and we tell the housemate but he insists a few hours won't hurt, i think i'll have to show him this to make him realise. I'm guessing it would be cheaper to have the heating on constant for a few hours rather than have the electric heater on for a few hours? Also, we do have an electric cooker, one housemate cooks for 4 of us whilst the other keeps himself to himself as we kind of dont get on.

I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to this thread you have been a great help and its hugely appreciated, i've gained some knowledge of this area that will help me in the future!

Terrylw1

Check with your landlord because its not your property and he/she can object. If that happens the only way would be to close the account or get the landlord to pay you this standing charge. If it supplies a communal area it should be in the landlords name, if not he/she should have dealt with this and the tenancy agreement as he/she has knowningly put you in this position.

If its connected to nothing, the landlord shouldnt have a problem. Npower should really have thought if that.