Advice on offer from developer

footyguy

borkid wrote: »

Hi I live in a house backing onto a field where building is going on ie a new village hall. Yesterday the site forman called at my house asking if when they put up the cabin, to be used as an office, they could connect to our electricity supply. he said it would be for about 6 months. In that time they would pay all our electricity bills. basically it would mean that we get free electricity for however long they use it.

I do have a couple of reservations over this but can anyone tell me is this legal?

I think we'll just turn his offer down and suggest he gets a generator.

How are they going to connect to your electricity supply exactly??? :huh:

A 13A extention cable piugged into one of your spare sockets is one thing (and will probably cause issues with H&S at the building site) but anything more permanent tapped into your electricity supply would be much more worrying.

Hopefully you have all this laid out in a contract the builder has provided you with to study. Perhaps if you could post a legible copy of such contract here, someone could advise you.

No contract = no supply!

You will still be responsible to your energy supplier for any energy recorded as conbsumed by the meter, and any modifications made that that you allow that result in energybe extracxted without being recorded by the meter will could result in you being in very hot water indeed, as I am sure you are aware.

footyguy

borkid wrote: »

@savvybuyer and Ilona the whole project has been badly managed, wrong sized frame, cash flow problems and other stuff which I can't remember.
From what I can tell it's a one man business who contracts out different parts of the job to different contractors. He has had a few projects ie small housing developments in the county.

Thanks for all the replies.

And you ask for advice here from anonymous internet users??? :cool:

Good luck!

spiro

The is also the issue of VAT and Climate Charge Levy, if the builder used more than 50% of the combined usage (your house and his office) it would become a commercial supply subject to 5% CCL and 20% VAT.

cranford

As somebody has said before the new building will need connecting at some point.
For the sake of the builder paying you £250 for the six months its not worth taking the risk that the builder will still be in business when the final bill has to be paid - by you in the first instance. You could have a very large bill to pay before the builder pays you.
You could also have a problem getting your elec supplier agreeing to £43 DD next year.
You could ask the builder to give you an advance of at least £2000 but I doubt if he will otherwise he would just fork out to get connected.

And if the generator is noisy you can complain to the local council.

borkid

footyguy wrote: »

And you ask for advice here from anonymous internet users??? :cool:

Good luck!

I was really asking for 'advice' from the point of view of peoples ideas and hence give me something to think about. A few things have been mentioned which I didn't know about, others have comfirmed my own thoughts. Thus it has been a useful exercise and has confirmed my gut feeling.

Raxiel

There is pressure in the industry to connect sites to the mains and off generators as soon as possible, although that would typically refer to the sites own connection. Source: it's one of the questions on the CSCS card test.
I'd agree with others that it's worth considering provided it's in writing and it's only the cabin and any plant is run off a 110v generator as and when it's need (a couple of lights and some phone/laptop/work light chargers shouldn't consume too much). Sounds better than having a generator humming away all summer

teddysmum

I would be very suspicious and my first question, as above, was about how that connection would be made. What happens on building sites for housing estates, as they usually start with a site hut having an electricity supply for lighting, heating etc.? Surely they don't plug into the nearest house.


Also, industrial tariffs differ from domestic ones and if the latter are the higher, it could be a costs fiddle or your supplier may object to losing out on industrial rates.

dogshome

Sounds very fishy
Why would a builder who has to organise a proper Electicity supply at some point during the build, the cost of which will be included in the build contract, load himself up with an extra bill that is not contracted for ?
Only a guess, but is it down to cash-flow going out from an underfunded business?

Likelyhood is, is that this Village Hall is being built for the Local Council or even Parish Council with stage payments scheduled as the build progresses.
If I was in the OP's shoes I'd being asking questions

borkid

dogshome wrote: »

Sounds very fishy
Why would a builder who has to organise a proper Electicity supply at some point during the build, the cost of which will be included in the build contract, load himself up with an extra bill that is not contracted for ?
Only a guess, but is it down to cash-flow going out from an underfunded business?

Likelyhood is, is that this Village Hall is being built for the Local Council or even Parish Council with stage payments scheduled as the build progresses.
If I was in the OP's shoes I'd being asking questions

The builder only got planning permission to build his other houses in return for building the village hall, for free. Another builder didn't have to provide open space on his small estate in return for paying the legal costs of said village hall. So basically the village will have ( eventually we hope) a hall for free in exchange for allowing land not normally allowed to be built on to be developed.

We told the builder yesterday that he couldn't connect to our electricity supply so he's going to use the generator he already had on site!!!

macman

Correct decision. Building work will require a lot of power tools, and remember that whatever you have 'in writing' with the developer, you would remain 100% responsible to the energy supplier for the bill. So, if the developer fails to pay or goes bust, you would have to. It would be like signing a blank cheque.