landlord charging tenants business rates for Electricity

valeriej43

My Grand daughter has recently moved from a flat into a shared house, and it seems the previous landlord has not changed the Electricity for that flat from business to domestic rates
Her final Electricity bill came after leaving the property which seemed very high, and NPower who are the suppliers couldnt find her details at first,even though the bill had gone to her,it now emerges that it is because its under a business account no
What can she do about it,will the landlord have to reimburse her for the amount she owes, as it is going to be much higher than it should be

macman

It's not the LL who's charged the tariff, it's the supplier. When she took up occupation she would have signed up for a tariff, did she not then realise that the flat was listed as a business, as the supplier would have put her on a business tariff? Her bills would make this clear, as she would have been charged 20% VAT not 5%.
I don't think the LL will accept liability if this was never bought to his attention.

footyguy

valeriej43 wrote: »

My Grand daughter has recently moved from a flat into a shared house, and it seems the previous landlord has not changed the Electricity for that flat from business to domestic rates
Her final Electricity bill came after leaving the property which seemed very high, and NPower who are the suppliers couldnt find her details at first,even though the bill had gone to her,it now emerges that it is because its under a business account no
What can she do about it,will the landlord have to reimburse her for the amount she owes, as it is going to be much higher than it should be

I don't understand.

Who does your granddaughter pay for her electricity? i.e. does she have her own metered account direct with a supplier?

Or does she pay the landlord a portion of his bill? In which case, why has your dranddaughter received a bill from nPower?

:huh:

btr30

The VAT rate changes between 5 and 20% on business accountsfor electricity supplies consuming more than 33 kWh per day. An average domestic user uses between 10 - 15 kWh per day so account should be charged at 5% VAT.

Also business account unit rates tend to be more favourable than domestic, so I don't think the fact that the account is registered as a business account is the issue, unless there is a crippling standing or availability charge being applied.

footyguy

btr30 wrote: »

The VAT rate changes between 5 and 20% on business accountsfor electricity supplies consuming more than 33 kWh per day. An average domestic user uses between 10 - 15 kWh per day so account should be charged at 5% VAT...

The applicable VAT rate should be based on the principle use of the energy supplied; it is not related to the quantity as far as I know.

macman

I read it that the daughter has an account with nPower: the phrase 'landlord charging' is misleading.

btr30

footyguy wrote: »

The applicable VAT rate should be based on the principle use of the energy supplied; it is not related to the quantity as far as I know.

Business users only pay VAT at 5% if electricity consumption is below 1000kWh per month and 4397 kWh per month for gas..

From Energyhelpline.com:
What rate of business VAT should I be charged for my gas or electricity?

VAT for business consumers of energy is generally in line with standard VAT rates, and is normally charged at 20%. However, some businesses will meet the Deminimis requirements of using an average of 33 kWh per day, and then you would be billed at 5%.

How is VAT Deminimis Applied to Gas?

Supplies of not more than an average of 5 therms or 145 kWh per day (150 therms or 4,397 kWh per month) of piped gas to one customer at any one of his premises are billed at 5% VAT. This quantitative limit applies whether the bill is based on a meter reading by either the supplier, the customer or on an estimate.

nPower

valeriej43 wrote: »

My Grand daughter has recently moved from a flat into a shared house, and it seems the previous landlord has not changed the Electricity for that flat from business to domestic rates
Her final Electricity bill came after leaving the property which seemed very high, and NPower who are the suppliers couldnt find her details at first,even though the bill had gone to her,it now emerges that it is because its under a business account no
What can she do about it,will the landlord have to reimburse her for the amount she owes, as it is going to be much higher than it should be

Hello valeriej43,

Thanks for your post! We would only amend the account from business to residential if we’ve been notified.

If you request the landlord to contact us we can send him the relevant forms to return

If you need any further information you can find our email on our profile and send an email for my attention.

Thanks
Laura

valeriej43

Thanks everyone for your replies,all sorted now, it turns out that the landlord had the premises down as a business,which it was, but when my grand daughter and her partner moved in the account was just changed to their names ,and left at that, apparently the landlord or someone NPower didnt say who,only changed it to a domestic tarriff in May of this year,a month before she moved out,
Anyway NPower are going to backdate all her gas bills for the last 2 years from when she moved in, at the proper domestic rate,and have also as a goodwill gesture given her 2 months free, which maybe because her and partner have queried this many times and never got anywhere with it, but it is being looked into properly now,so yes its NPower who are at fault not the landlord apparently
Thank you all again for input:T
EDITED to add, it was one of NPowers reps who at first said she had to sort it out with the landlord which is why the title says landlord,
Also sorry it was te gas not Electricity