Rented Property - Extortionate E On Bill

mr364

From September 2012 to June 2013 I was rented a student property along with 6 other people.

This rental was in general an absolute nightmare, there was large bits of the property where there was no roof meaning rain water constantly entered creating mould, damp etc. There were rats in the roof and the property had a lot of structural issues to do with damp etc. There were 6 people living in the house but the rent was around £100 per person each per week.

The landlord denied the majority of our deposit back and we are now undergoing proceedings with the TDS.

However, when the tenancy began the property was not inhabitable. It took a few weeks for all 6 rooms to become available and even longer for the bathrooms/kitchen to be fully functional. What this meant is we never received an official tenancy check in, including things such as an electricity meter reading (as far as we knew).

We were sent electricity bills by E On which we always paid - on time and gladly left the property in June! We have now received an electricity bill for the amount of £3700 for the year. I have absolutely no idea what to do about this, I have no idea how to even begin to address the matter and who with. It seems extremely high? I do not understand how we could have racked up such an electricity bill. We each paid £200 admin fee to the estate agents - I was under the impression that part of this was for them to sort of the energy providers etc at the start of the tenancy? I am SO fed up of the landlord and the estate agents and this whole matter in issue. I spent hours and days over the course of the tenancy attempting to get the landlord to make repairs to the property - to no avail - and hours and days putting forward my case to the TDS attempting deposit negotiations. I have no idea what I am supposed to do next... please can someone advise me?? Do I contact E-On or the estate agents? I have no idea what I am dealing with now.

Many thanks.

Andy_WSM

Sorry it's probably not what you want to hear, but the responsibility sits with those that USED the energy. Not the landlord, not the agent.

You need to contact Eon. They should have the names of all the tenants on the bill, however, be warned - they can pursue any one of you. It is not their responsibility to split the bill or work out any local issues with one not wanting to pay.

It's also entirely down to you, as householders, to take meter readings and make the energy provider aware of them for accurate billing.

mr364

Andy_WSM wrote: »

Sorry it's probably not what you want to hear, but the responsibility sits with those that USED the energy. Not the landlord, not the agent.

You need to contact Eon. They should have the names of all the tenants on the bill, however, be warned - they can pursue any one of you. It is not their responsibility to split the bill or work out any local issues with one not wanting to pay.

It's also entirely down to you, as householders, to take meter readings and make the energy provider aware of them for accurate billing.

Hi, thanks for your reply!

So we have no choice but to just pay it?

I am shocked it could be such a large amount of money. I never saw any entry/exit meter readings.. I am just so confused about what to do.

Thanks again.

Andy_WSM

mr364 wrote: »

Hi, thanks for your reply!

So we have no choice but to just pay it?

I am shocked it could be such a large amount of money. I never saw any entry/exit meter readings.. I am just so confused about what to do.

Thanks again.

First off, contact the agent and ask if they have them...? This will make life easier.

If there are no readings, then you can only trust what Eon have in front of them - Are they using ACTUAL or ESTIMATED readings? You'd have no way of proving them to be right or wrong. If no one was reading the meter how on earth could you expect to keep your energy use under control? It's very very easy to burn through hundreds of pounds of electricity with free standing heaters if they are just turned on and forgotten about because no one has taken accountability for the cost...

It's really every householders responsibility to take regular readings. Your contract for energy is with the provider, not with the agent or the landlord and a contract is formed the moment you start using the fuel (turn a light on for example).

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Morning mr364,

I have to agree fully with what Andy has already said.

I understand you didn't take any opening or closing readings, but there are things we can do.

First speak with the letting agent, ask what readings they have.

Then speak to us, check the bill is charged from the dates your tenancy started and closed on the day it ended. Ask us what reads we have used (although this information should be on the bills) and let us know what the letting agents have given you.

If you have paid every bill as they came in, it sounds like these were estimated, have you got the bills to check? Ask us about the payments we have received.

You don't mention gas, was the property all electricity? If so a 7 bedroom housed heated with electricity only along with other electricity used is going to be expensive.

Do you know what heating it was, storage heaters? etc and what sort of tariff you were on?

I'm really sorry about all the questions, but these are some of things you will need to ask us to establish why the bill is the amount it is.

We may be able to agree to a payment arrangement to spread the balance, but splitting the bill between the other tenants is not something we would get involved in.

Hope this helps you.

Let me know if you need any further help from me.

Helena

macman

mr364 wrote: »

Hi, thanks for your reply!

So we have no choice but to just pay it?

I am shocked it could be such a large amount of money. I never saw any entry/exit meter readings.. I am just so confused about what to do.

Thanks again.

Those readings are your responsibility to take-nothing to do with the LL or EA. As is registering for the supplies and choosing your tariff. (if you didn't, you are defaulted to Standard-the most expensive). If you didn't bother, then proving your actual usage over the tenancy is near impossible, so you've shot yourself in the foot. When you received each bill, did you not think to check it against the actual meter readings? Approx how much did you pay over the tenancy in electricity bills? £3,700 plus bills paid is very high, even if you were squandering power 24/7. Was the heating and hot water all electric?
You are all jointly and severally liable for the full amount-which means it's not divided by 6. The supplier will come after whoever they can find for the full amount.
PS: the state of dilapidation of the property has no relevance to your electricity bill responsibility.