Can I switch providers?

michelyn

Hi all. I'm really new to this so I apologize in advance.

I've just moved into a house as a renter. Our first gas and electric bills came and they are OUTRAGEOUS.

Gas: £193
Electric £140

This is for 27 Oct - 2 Dec (so approximately 5 weeks)

We did not budget to pay this much for energy when we moved in so we are now looking at moving out as soon as our lease expires.

I'm assuming our landlord signed up the gas & electric as we received the bills in our name without doing anything. We are on monthly cash plans through ScottishPower. If it's a monthly cash plan, does that mean we are not locked into any sort of contract? Obviously, I'd like to switch and try to lower the bill somewhat. I'm in England if that makes any difference.

Thanks for any advice.

Cardew

Did you check the meter readings when you moved in?

Are the meter readings 'estimated' or 'actual' and supplied by your landlord.

There is no way that you would use that much electricity in 5 weeks, and very doubtful that much gas!

I suspect you are paying for previous occupants consumption.

Get that situation sorted first.

michelyn

Unfortunately, no, we didn't check it. The landlord said he did the readings and we trusted that.

We first got estimated bills. The electric was estimated at £60 and the gas at £111, I think. Then the meters got read and they were readjusted.

I suppose since another month has gone by I should do another reading and compare and see if you are right.

Thanks.

Edited to add: Just did a meter reading on the gas and it looks like for those 5 weeks we used 3625kWh and since then we've used 2855kWh. I worked out a base price of £108.29 for that, plus the daily charges and VAT so it's not too far off. I think we just need out of this house!

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

There was another thread recently about a tenant whose landlord had signed them up with a very expensive supplier. Apparently the landlord gets a kickback of some kind. The supplier was stipulated in the lease so the tenant was unable to switch. I don't know if that applies to you.

I expect someone will be along shortly to remind me of the name of the supplier. It wasn't one of the "big six".

michelyn

Yikes! When we were in Scotland we weren't allowed to switch without written permission from the landlord but where we are now there is nothing in the lease about it. I just wasn't sure if I was going to be penalized somehow because it's a new account.

HappyMJ

Fruit_and_Nut_Case wrote: »

There was another thread recently about a tenant whose landlord had signed them up with a very expensive supplier. Apparently the landlord gets a kickback of some kind. The supplier was stipulated in the lease so the tenant was unable to switch. I don't know if that applies to you.

I expect someone will be along shortly to remind me of the name of the supplier. It wasn't one of the "big six".

The suppliers name is the one that shall not be mentioned on the gas/electricity forum but requires customers/members to be part of a club and the person introducing them i.e the landlord... gets a percentage of the customers spend every month credited to their own bill and if that credit exceeds their own spend the company sends them (the landlord) money every month.

However, if there is a term in the tenancy agreement preventing the tenant from switching suppliers then that term is unenforceable and the tenant can switch away as soon as they move in.

Toxteth_OGrady

@OP

[STRIKE]On the day your tenancy started did you physically read the meters yourself and agree in writing the values with the landlord?[/STRIKE]

If not you put yourself at risk of paying for the landlord's/previous tenants' energy.

Edit: Just noticed my question already answered earlier in thread.

Cardew

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

@OP

On the day your tenancy started did you physically read the meters yourself and agree in writing the values with the landlord?

If not you put yourself at risk of paying for the landlord's/previous tenants' energy.

See posts #2 and #3!

Toxteth_OGrady

Cardew wrote: »

See posts #2 and #3!

:cool:

TOG