Landlord privately supplies electric?

Tilly217

Hi everyone.
I have been a private tenant in my property for 3 years now. The landlord charges me direct for the amount of electric i use. He claims he makes no money on the electric and so on. But I have started to notice a few wierd things happening with the bills. I have kept every single meter reading i have sent and the price for it he sends back.
1st time, we went on holiday for two weeks and our usage was cut in half. But the electric bill was £39 more than the previous month.
I questioned this and he got annoyed and stated again he doesn't make any money on electric.
The bill each month then started to rise while we were using the same amount of electric. I again questioned this and asked how he works out our bill. He again got annoyed and stated the same.
He owns the entire row of houses we live in and no one seems bothered. And if they are, they are quickly replaced with new tenents.
This past month I have used 628units of electric. And he's charging £157.
All this is done over text. I text the usage. He texts the amount owed. To be payed with the rent.
We are a large family 2 adults. 4 children. According to British gas, 628 units would have cost £86.19 with them.
Any help or advice on this would be very much appreciated. Am I just being paranoid? Is this normal with some private landlords?
Thanks

phillw

Tilly217 wrote: »

Any help or advice on this would be very much appreciated. Am I just being paranoid? Is this normal with some private landlords?
Thanks

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/problems-with-your-energy-supply/what-your-landlord-can-charge-for-energy/

"If you’ve been overcharged
If you think your landlord has overcharged you, ask them for a copy of the bill and ask them to explain how they worked out the charges."

Most energy companies don't bill directly for energy, so he may be doing something stupid like taking everyones readings & working out what percentage of the energy they used this month and then sharing the most current DD payment out.

If you think it could be a misunderstanding then it's worth saying you've got advice from citizens advice as you can't work out how your energy usage relates to your payments, you can even message him the link. If he's not willing to share the bill with you, then it would seem reasonable to assume he's defrauding you.

A red flag for me is that with a row of houses with individual meters, it makes no financial sense for him to take on the added paperwork and the risk of bad debts without making any profit. It would only make sense if he was able to negotiate a better deal himself for energy, or if he switched energy providers and kept the cash back for himself (which would kinda count as profit to me).

In any case I would add the energy price to the rent then compare it to living somewhere else (use your readings to find out how much you use per year and enter it into a comparison site), if it's cheaper then move. After you have left then you can again ask him to provide bills and then take him to small claims court to recover any overcharge. I'm not sure I'd recommend trying to live there and taking him to court.

[Deleted User]

Try and work out the actual cost of the units used.(.1 unit on the meter is 1 kwh.). I am paying now over 13 p kwh plus a 20 p a day standing charge in the north east .. You would have to compare the price you are paying with the landlords suppliers prices ( which could be a business supplier ) to see if he s inflating the kwh cost. He also is probably not charging you a daily standing charge which you would have to pay with alll the domestic suppliers so take that into account.
You could go on UKpower.co uk and enter your postcode and how many kwhs a year ( roughly ) you are using to compare with the cheapest suppliers in your area to get a better idea on how little or more you are being charged. your landlord may be giving you a bargain price !

Tilly217

Using that same amount of electric. He charged me £157 and British Gas would have charged £85 on the highest tariff. The highest price was £92 from eon. All £60 a month cheaper.

Tilly217

I have messaged again asking for detailed breakdown of how he works the electric bill out. Just need to be wary as next door had an issue with electric and they moved out quickly, moving van in and gone within a day. New tenants in within a week. I can't afford to rehouse quickly if any issues arise.

PeterGr

Tilly217 wrote: »

Using that same amount of electric. He charged me £157 and British Gas would have charged £85 on the highest tariff. The highest price was £92 from eon. All £60 a month cheaper.

Not sure what you mean as "highest tariff". The standard variable tariff is probably a better baseline, and is limited by Ofgems price cap. E.ON's Energyplan for London would give £114 including standing charge.


https://www.eonenergy.com/-/media/PDFs/About-Us/price-matrix/eon-energyplan.pdf?la=en

nigelbb

Tilly217 wrote: »

Using that same amount of electric. He charged me £157 and British Gas would have charged £85 on the highest tariff. The highest price was £92 from eon. All £60 a month cheaper.

Don't forget standing charges s roughly assume 25p/day & 15p/kWh so your electricity should have cost 628x15p=£94.20 plus 30x25p=£7.50 i.e. very roughly & absolute worst case about £100.

Your landlord is ripping you off.

Pete99

Don't know if this helps but I remember someone on the radio saying that it's illegal to resell electricity at more than the cost they paid to their supplier, found this on the EDF web site.


The maximum resale price is the most that anyone can charge for re-supplying electricity and gas which has already been bought from an authorised supplier. It is set by the industry regulator; Ofgem.

Anyone who changes more than the maximum resale price may face civil proceedings for the recovery of the amount overcharged, and they may be required to pay interest on the amounts overcharged.

The maximum price at which electricity or gas may be resold is the same price as that paid by the person who is reselling it (“the reseller”), including any standing charges.
An example of a reseller is where a landlord is passing on the costs of electricity and gas to their tenants.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Maximum Resale Price

Your landlord can only charge you for the kW units of energy you've actually used gas or electricity if your tenancy agreement says they can.

Check your tenancy agreement to find out if you have to pay your landlord for energy, and on what terms. Ask your landlord for a copy of your tenancy agreement if you don’t have one.

S/he can charge you for your share of the standing charge [a flat fee charged on every energy contract] and the VAT owed [5%]

Refund and lower future bills or small claims court if needed. Careful with any Green [steal] Deal scheme on money your landlord has borrowed for energy improvement.

the_mandarin

Firstly, if your landlord claims to only charge you for the energy that you use, then the fact that he has to do it for you only makes it an overhead for him with no financial benefit.

Secondly, it is clear that you have your own individual meters which is how you can accurately determine how much energy you can use.

Taking into consideration these two facts, why is the landlord preventing you from arranging your own energy provider? Is this something you can ask your landlord?

Also, once you provide your readings, I am sure there is some energy company at the other end that translates your readings into a bill that your landlord (perhaps inflates and) passes on to you. Can you ask your landlord to provide you a copy of that bill? You can claim that you "suspect the energy company has made some error in computing the bill" as surely you would not suspect your landlord's character