Landlord charging extortionate bill

kriis_94

Backstory is, me and two friends had rented a 3 bed house with all bills included but in the small print it has a fair usage policy where the landlord agreed to only pay 45 a month towards electric and 55 on gas and that we where to pay the excess we went over by. So during out 6 months tenancy we had been going over our bills every month and not once did anyone the estate agents or land lord bother getting in contact with us to let us know but instead decided to drop a huge bill of 628pound on us right at the end of moving out and expected the payment within 5 working days.. However I gave my dad all the invoices from the utility suppliers and he said that we have been charged in the first month of our tenancy based on estimate readings and not actual ones and this is where a big part of the gas bill has come from. 
I'm not that familiar with how it all works so any advice on what to do would be good, because surely they can't charge us based on estimated values and surely we can't of used 283 pounds worth of gas during that month.  

Robin9

When you moved in did you read the meters ?   If you have relied on your landlord then you are stuck>
I can't see how your fair usage bit works - are you saying that the first £100 of every month was included in your rent - if so don't you owe £820 less the £600 you have paid ie £220.

Did you ever read your meters while a tenant ?

dogshome

From the dating, it seems that this bill was for the first month of your tenancy, and is from suppliers who issue monthly bills, so where are all the following bills and do they also ignore the L/lords £100 contribution ? 

Robin9

On the 11th December did Simpler Energy change your meters ?  The new meters are reading 0
Can you read your meters today ? if so you can calculate what you should have paid in that period.

Talldave

If the new meters are smart and all subsequent readings are "actual", you've got a good record of average daily use which could be extrapolated backwards to correct the estimated reading.

Always read and photograph meters on tenancy start, end and monthly.

The arrangement with the landlord is stupid; you could have rent £100 less and take full responsibility for the bills, using your choice of cheap supplier (those rates are excessive). As it is, your crazy tenancy agreement makes you responsible for bills that are not in you name and you have no control over. And in summer months the landlord is making a profit out of you. Once again the renting sector needs regulation to outlaw stupid terms like this which can only result in the tenants being worse off.

SnowTiger

dogshome said:

From the dating, it seems that this bill was for the first month of your tenancy, and is from suppliers who issue monthly bills, so where are all the following bills and do they also ignore the L/lords £100 contribution ? 

I think the issue is that the OP and friends began their tenancy with estimated meter readings.  Later readings are probably not important.

Electricity: 

27th November 2019 to 11 December 2019: 14 days, 580kWh, 41.4kWh per day.
11th December 2019 to 27th December 2019, 16 days, 179kWh, 11.2kWh per day

Gas: 

27th November 2019 to 11th December 2019: 14 days, 598 units, 42.7 units per day
11th December 2019 to 27th December 2019: 16 days, 105 units, 6.77 units per day

I guesstimate using estimated opening meter readings have cost the group about £250.  About 420kWh of electricity and 5,530kWh of gas.

OP: does tenancy agreement mention anything about meter readings?  The agent or landlord should have taken them when you moved in as they were, effectively, reselling electricity and gas to you..  I wouldn't be happy paying a bill based on estimates.

MWT

Agreed, the initial consumption up to the actual reading on the 11th December is not credible.

However, it looks like the 27th December reading is an estimate again so it is hard to use that as a baseline either...

Talldave

Interestingly, the 27 Dec electricity reading is show as "Reading", whilst gas is "Estimated reading".  So perhaps a typical smart meter installation where the gas meter is not communicating with the electricity meter?

kriis_94

The agreement was we pay 323.50 each to our landlord, this was supposed to be with gas and electric included with the rent. But then in the fine print of the contract they stated they are only willing to pay monthly 45pound on the electric and 55pound a month towards the gas bills. So if we where to go over any of them monthly we have to pay the difference. We moved in the property on the 29th of November. The gas boiler wasn't working for the first couple of days. And there was no smart meter installed when we moved in, the thermostat didn't even have any batteries in as well. and we all went home during Christmas for a week so there was a week the property was left alone. We got a smart meter installed in January. We mistakenly did not take any meter readings upon moving in which is a big mistake on our behalf. I just feel like we are being unnecessarily over charged

MWT

You are quite probably being overcharged but without the meter readings you have no evidence...

... and the other-hand, without the meter readings your landlord has no way to prove what he is asking for is correct either...

You need some real meter readings though, especially for the gas, can you at least get some current readings from the meters or have you already moved out?

If the other bills had actual readings on them then use those to estimate the correct bill for the first period and make the landlord an offer...

kriis_94

Dec - jan

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