Deemed Contracts for Energy in rental properties

mrsnonsmoker

My daughter and friends signed a tenancy agreement for a student property. They paid half rent for July and August on the proviso that they could not have any access to the property - no keys.  This is a pretty standard student agreement.  The only exception was they had to make an appointment to store a few bags in the house, they were accompanied by the agent and told to leave within  few minutes, she stood inside with them. They were not allowed to look around etc.
When they moved in mid September, they read the meter, there was a letter from Glide the student bill company saying we are your current energy provider so  please get in touch.  The agent had left a  note of meter readings which appeared to have been taken mid-August. One of the girls rang Glide, was asked to give her bank details and unfortunately did so in all innocence!  Glide have now said there was a Deemed Contract from 1st July and they have estimated the bill for July and August to be over £400.  I have read OFGEM guidance saying they are allowed to do this, and charge a "reasonable" amount.  
Apparently neither the previous tenants, the agent or the landlord ever read the meter each believing it to be someone else's problem, so now the girls are left facing a large debt when they had no access to the house and no control over who read what meter when.  I say its the landlords liability.  What do you think?

Aylesbury_Duck

If they have a tenancy agreement from 1st July they are liable for utility charges from that point unless it says otherwise in their agreement.

It sounds like there's an estimate in play.  Ask the energy company what closing readings were taken on or around 30th June.  Presumably the outgoing tenants haven't been billed properly if they didn't submit a closing reading.  Once the students moved in, they should have taken a reading and surely the estimate will be adjusted to reflect reality.  If the £400 was a gross overestimate, they'll have a very small or even zero bill soon.

Of course, it's possible the outgoing tenants submitted false closing readings, in which case I'm not sure where you go from there. 

mrsnonsmoker

The tenancy agreement only states they are not allowed access to the property from 1st July to 31st August, and no closing readings were taken.  New tenants including my daughter moved in, in September as stipulated under the terms of the tenancy agreement, and read the meters.  Glide are claiming that money under the terms of Deemed Contracts which states they are allowed to charge a "reasonable amount" (OFGEM) but they set the tariff.  

Aylesbury_Duck

Can't they challenge the "reasonable amount", especially now they have three months of actual usage to work with?

mrsnonsmoker

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Can't they challenge the "reasonable amount", especially now they have three months of actual usage to work with?

They will, but Glide are notorious for this sort of thing, its a nice little earner for them!

Sandtree

The fact its estimated is simply because they dont have the new meter reads and will have assumed the property is occupied. If they give the accurate reads they should be able to recalculate the bill and that will leave the account in credit. They can then either leave the credit there and get a cheaper monthly fee whilst the credit is eroded or can ask for a refund of the credit balance.