Crazy bills and electricity meter in the adjacent rental property

PW3371

Please can anyone help with advice? Sorry this is a bit long winded ....
My sister rents a 1 bed flat which only has an electricity supply.  The meter is in the flat next door and she can only get a meter reading via the tenant there. 
For a start is this actually legal to rent a property with no access to the meter?
When she moved in Spark energy estimated that based on a 1 bed flat a direct debit of £40 per month should be ample to cover the usage, especially as she is at work all day.  She then got an extremely large bill (approx £150 for 1 month) she called to find out why and ask for the meter to be calibrated.  They said they won't do that yet and asked her to send a 2 week meter read, as you can imagine this is not easy because the man in the other flat had to do it for her.  Anyway she did send the readings and was waiting for a response, she cancelled the direct debit but has been making payments manually to the account of approx £50 per month.  She then got a letter from a debt collection agency saying they would be sending an 'agent' round!    She called and said there was a dispute with her bill so this should not be happening, the debt collection company said they can only take instruction from Spark. So she was back on to Spark who assured her they would call off the debt collectors while this was being sorted.
Yesterday .....Bailiff on the doorstep!!!!!  She didn't answer the door thankfully as is working from home and was on a call to her boss (COVID19 precautions) so a letter was left.
She has again contacted Spark and they have now said that the meter read was not good enough as for 4 of the days the usage was very low and she explained that is because she was not at the property!!   The reason she was not there is because our mum was taken ill very unexpectedly and in hospital and subsequently died. As I'm sure you can appreciate this is an issue we really do not need at the moment   
She has again contacted Spark and they have now said that she needs to re-do the meter read.  She has to rely on the neighbour to 1) do it each day 2) do it accurately 3) read the correct meter (there are 3 meters, one for my sister, one for him and one for the cafe next door!)  With the buildings being very old and disjointed I also wondered if the cafe or part of it's sockets are connected to the supply which is going through her meter, so to try and establish this she is going to try turning off the mains into her flat at the fuse board (which she does have access to) and then look to see if the meter is still moving.
If we go into lockdown she again will not be there as I have insisted she comes and stays with my family rather than be alone at what is already a very difficult time for us.
Spark have refused to send someone out to look at the situation or to install a smart meter so the readings can be taken electronically each day.
We are really worried this is going to affect her credit rating as she is hoping to buy a property next year? 
She has now handed in her notice on the property and will move to our Mum's house rather than it be empty.
Spark have refused to send someone out to look at the situation and as she is renting she cannot give authorisation for a smart meter to be installed.
She has made notes of all the calls she has made with Spark and has email correspondence etc.
What do we do? 
How do we get them to resolve this?
Any advice would be massively appreciated, Thank you in advance 

JJ_Egan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6116663/bills-way-too-high-and-electricity-meter-in-flat-next-door-in-rental-property#latest

Previous

MWT

Even with the inconvenience of limited access to the meter, you have already set out what she needs to do... check that with the power turned off that the meter doesn't move.

Next thing is to ignore the original £40/month estimate, it is just an estimate and is not something she can rely on, she should have enough meter readings by now to figure out what her real monthly usage is likely to be and also to make sure that whatever bills she is being sent are based on actual readings, not estimates.

So, was that bill of £150 based on actual meter readings?

Also do keep in mind that by cancelling the DD she may have caused Spark to move her onto a much more expensive tariff.

There really isn't a lot that Spark need to do at the moment, as there is no proof that there is actually a fault as you seem to be reacting to the size of the first bill vs the original estimate instead of actual meter readings and calculated costs.

PW3371

Thanks for your response, I will check if it was estimated or from a reading, A very tiny one bedroom flat could not possibly be £150 for 1 months use, I pay £180 per month for a 5 bed house but that's for Gas and Electric with 4 kids who only know how to turn things on!! 

MWT

The important thing is to stop trying to compare the relative amounts per month and start looking at actual consumption.

Electric heating is way more expensive than gas heating and a really bad tariff can be 2-3x as expensive as a really good one, so yes, if everything goes the wrong way, a one bedroom flat could cost the same as your 5 bedroom house, but let's not jump to that conclusion either, just look at the actual amounts being consumed in kWh and go from there...

Robin9

The £150 may well not be from one months use - it may be that a meter reading has only just been made and all the estimates have been too low.  Other than when she moved in has she provided meter readings ?

dogshome

With an Elec meter in one flat that is serving another, highlights the fact that these flats are in a building conversion that was done on the cheap, so there is the possibility that this meter is serving more than your sisters flat - Where is your sisters Consumer Unit  (Fuse Box), in her flat or the other flat ?

Check Take meter reading and turn off everything in the flat and go away for a day or two, check meter read on return - If it's moved it's supplying more than her flat

PW3371

dogshome said:

With an Elec meter in one flat that is serving another, highlights the fact that these flats are in a building conversion that was done on the cheap, so there is the possibility that this meter is serving more than your sisters flat - Where is your sisters Consumer Unit  (Fuse Box), in her flat or the other flat ?

Check Take meter reading and turn off everything in the flat and go away for a day or two, check meter read on return - If it's moved it's supplying more than her flat

That's a good idea thank you, although I guess she would need to empty the freezer first!

PW3371

MWT said:

The important thing is to stop trying to compare the relative amounts per month and start looking at actual consumption.

Electric heating is way more expensive than gas heating and a really bad tariff can be 2-3x as expensive as a really good one, so yes, if everything goes the wrong way, a one bedroom flat could cost the same as your 5 bedroom house, but let's not jump to that conclusion either, just look at the actual amounts being consumed in kWh and go from there...

Thanks, we'll start with that and see what we can decipher

PW3371

Robin9 said:

The £150 may well not be from one months use - it may be that a meter reading has only just been made and all the estimates have been too low.  Other than when she moved in has she provided meter readings ?

Yes I think so I'll check with her

Takmon

PW3371 said:

Spark have refused to send someone out to look at the situation and as she is renting she cannot give authorisation for a smart meter to be installed.

Just so you know she can get a smart meter fitted because the meter belongs to the energy company and not the landlord and they cannot stop the meter being changed.