Please help - Landlord has decided to put in a coin meter for electric??

Smiley_Mum

Is the flat all electric, or do you have gas CH at all? Do you use a tumble drier at all, that can go away with a lot of electricity. How often do you use your washing machine etc. I'd budget for say £30 a month electricity to start with and see how you go. If it's just yourself and you're in total control of the electricity usage then just go canny on what you'd normally use and see how things go. Who is the electricity supplier also and do you know what the tariff is? Ask your landlord for the tariff and the costs per unit etc. Then you can keep tabs on the electricity usage and budget accordingly. Get a note book and keep a note daily of the meter reading, also how much you are feeding the meter etc.

Why doesn't your landlord have a prepayment card meter instead, where you can just buy tokens or get the key charged etc. I wouldn't be keen on having a coin meter, in case I was burgled because of it. That way you don't have to carry large amounts of change etc etc also too. If he is insistent on changing the meter, ask for it to be a key or token meter instead as you'd feel uneasy about having a coin meter in case it was targeted by thieves etc and the fact that you have to have cash lying round to feed the thing. Having a prepayment meter will be more expensive, but it's a safer option than a coin meter. There will be standing charge that will come off at the start of every week to cover the costs of the meter etc too.

Good Luck.

Rain_is_Insane

If the property is indeed attached to the house and classed as the same dwelling, I doubt the electric company would be willing to put in 2 seperate card meters. I'm guessing he is just going to fit a coin meter to your supply because he thinks his bills are too high. Do you get a council tax bill at all?

RAS

Hi

I suppose that you do not know which company is providing the electricity?

There used to be rules about how much a landlord could charge for metered supplies on top of the electricity company tariff - we nailed ours on this at the time.

This may still apply.

lazy&indebt

Thank you everyone for your help.

I have spoken to some kind people at the energy watchdog place.

They have told me that he isn't allowed to set the charge at anything higher than what he gets charged and I am entitled to see one of his bills to check. As I said, my landlord is a nice bloke and I've never had problems with him so I don't think he would rip me off, I just wanted to be sure.

I do not have a tumble drier or a washing machine (luckily, mom lives round the corner!) my cooker is gas and my central heating (gas) is part of his - my radiators only come on when his do and they never are so I am always cold! I have an oil filled radiator which is on all day every day and a seperate halogen heater for when I am really cold. I don't think I will use that much hopefully x

nicola1982_2

I can't believe coin meters still exist!!!!

Surely he'd be better off putting in a card meter and not having to deal with your utilities at all - basically you pay for what you use, if you don't buy the card you don't get the gas/electricity. A lot of landlords do it to save them getting huge gas bills due to dodgy tennants giving fake meter readings etc.

itsnever2lateisit?

Sounds to me that the electricity co only provide one supply to the whole property, and the coin meter will be a 'sub meter' of his own cost and choice. I would guess that the annex was originally provided for a dependent relative, by taking in a tenant the LL should have advised the Local Authority, and Council Tax applied separately. I would be careful not to rock the boat, either the tenant or the LL