how to approach landlord suspected of using our electric...

G_M

esmy wrote: »

I'd suggest removing the question marks.....you know this, you're not asking.

It's how people talk these days? A pet hate of mine?

baldelectrician

Shakin_Steve wrote: »

Surely the electricity would still have to pass through the tenants meter, and so be registered, first? Plus, I doubt the LL would be best pleased with someone doing unauthorised work on her property.
I have, in the past, been accused of being ...errr....brusque, but I'm afraid I would be in her face.

Sorry, I should have quoted. This is in reply to Baldelectricians post.

The suppliers meter should be left untouched


A decent electrician can add a 'sub meter' to the second consumer unit (this will show how many units the other stuff costs) after the original meter.


I get the point about the LL and non-authorised work but the LL is taking the urine with her tenant.

alfred64

baldelectrician wrote: »

the LL is taking the urine with her tenant.

LL`is`p.i.s.s.i.n.g`all`over`her`tenant

FBaby

Your letter is full of accusations. Your electrician might be right, but what if he's not, or not fully?

I would do what electrician has suggested and the write to say that you have been investigating your high (no need of dramatic with 'way higher') consumption of electricity and that the person who came said that usage could be associated with the area she uses. Say that to be sure that this was the case, you've bought a separate meter and will let her know the outcome.

Say that if indeed this identify that you've been paying for her usage, you are certain that this is a misunderstanding on her part and that the matter will be resolved. Say that maybe she could come over, with 24h notice next time she is over to discuss.

moneyistooshorttomention

Quick side-thought - you say you are with GB Energy (now to be Co-0p)

- just noticed an article about them in this weeks MSE email (summat about them going bust).

In case you decide to swop supplier in the course of this.

Personally - I'm with E-on (seemed to be one of the best deals - and it's a German firm - so I figured correctly that I would have few problems with inefficiency).

moneyistooshorttomention

Sadie23 wrote: »

**UPDATE**

So, electrician has been and there is a separate fuse box running off our meter in the same cupboard which is labeled along the lines of 'Shower/sockets/ect'. Electrician switched off (?) the other fuse board, and our meter turns halved in speed, along the same lines as everyone else's meter in the building.

SO, we've left it turned off - confirming that we are paying for her electric in not only this space (she owns 3 of the 4 flats) the flat below us, she has also converted that storage space into a kitchen area and our meter is also feeding that.

Now to the most awkward bit of all... how do i approach this?!

That's reading to me like the other fuse board is hers and your supply wouldnt be affected at all by just leaving it "switched off"?

In that case - then do just leave it "switched off". It's in your cupboard - which she can't get at. She will obviously realise at some point her electric isnt working any longer. At that point you let her electrician in to your flat (under YOUR eagle-eyed supervision) and put an innocent look on your face and say to him how there must have been some "mistake" made at some point and her supply was "accidentally" connected to your meter and he will need to re-arrange things accordingly.

Perhaps time for you to arrange for your meter to be swopped to a "smart meter" (correctly set up of course) because your old meter is "obviously faulty" (maybe you got told that courtesy of swopping to a new supplier???)

NB; Your current proposed letter is coming over distinctly weak. Those question marks are a positive "killer". If I was on the receiving end of a letter like that I would think "Weak as dishwater - will roll over and die if I say so". One can be polite - but firm at the same time. Firm means making the facts very clear (eg in numbered points) and then stating what action you require (have already taken....) to put matters right. You've given her way too much room for manoeuvre with the tone of your suggested letter - and I would say she'll push it to the ultimate and take it as you just "expressing a wish" and if she "expressed a wish" back to leave the status quo - you would do precisely nothing...

More to the point would be a letter stating that "My new supplier required an examination of my meter. In the course of this he found that the following mistakes had been made with the meter connection. He has now rectified these mistakes and, in the course of this, changed the meter to a smart meter (ie as these are going to be installed in town x shortly anyway). I am notifying you of this accordingly for your information".

TBagpuss

think your letter is too vague and framing eveythign as a wuestion is a bit wishy-washy. II'd suggest something alson the lines of

"Dear *****,

We recently called out an electrician to check our meter, as our electricity bill has been much higher than expected, given the size of our flat, and our usage, ever since we moved in, so we wanted to check whether the mneter was faulty.

On inspection, the electrician found that there is a separate fuse box running off our meter, for your storage room/bedroom/shower and another feed for what we presume is kitchen area in No5’s storage area.

We turned off the supply for our flat at the fuse box, and the meter was still turning quickly. When the fuse box for the extra areas was turned off this stopped, showing that that electricity is being used by your areas from our supply.

From this, it appears that we have been paying for your electricity use electric in these rooms ever since we first moved in. Clearly this is an error, and should not have been happening - it is not something which we agreed to at any point, and clearelty it is nor appropriate for us to be paying your electricuty bill.

We are writing to bring the situation to your attention so that you can make arrangemetns to have a separate meter set up for the supply to your areas, and so you can make arrangements to reimburse us for the payments we have made for your supply from the date we moved in until now.

We don't yet know exactly how much of the costs we have paid so far relate to your supply but we propose to leave the supply to your areas turned off at the fuse box for a month [ or however long you need to get a reference reading - might be less than a month if you can monitor your costs online ]to calculate what our normal usage is, and will be able to use that information to work out what proportion of the previous bills relate to our nomral useage and what relates to your rpoperty, so that we can agree with you how much you will need to reimburse.

Youirs sincerely,

Tenant "

Pixie5740

Write the letter, try and get to the bottom of it by all means but I think it's going to be one of those cases where you're looking for a new home come the end of your fixed term. Either your landlord won't do anything about it so you'll want to move, or your landlord will want you out so she can get some other [STRIKE]sucker[/STRIKE] tenant to pay for her electricity usage.

Rain_Shadow

If the LL has a kitchen then they may well have a freezer. Switching that off may cause a problem.

Niv

Rain_Shadow wrote: »

If the LL has a kitchen then they may well have a freezer. Switching that off may cause a problem.

Not to the person paying the bill.