Re-energising retail property

Sobi80

Hi I hope someone is able to offer a word of advice. 

I am the landlady for a retail property, whose electricity supplier is British Gas. When the bills were on my name they were always paid on time. I leased the property out to an individual who did not keep up with rent payments or electricity bills and absconded from the property. British Gas de-energised the property while the lease was in her name as she owed them money. 

Fast forward 14 months and I wish to reenergise the shop so that I can let it out again. British Gas have informed me that I am responsible for paying to get an engineer out to reenergise the shop at a cost of £250. This seems really unfair as the original debt was not in my name. They’ve also told me that no other electricity company would reenergise the supply. 

Is there any way around this or will I have to stump up the cash? Is it worth going to Ofgem?  

Sobi80

Bumping for help! 

Robin9

I presume you will also be getting an electrician in to check it over and do an EICR - if its all been switched off its had to say what the condition of the building is - electricity may be only one of your issues.

Pay up but before you rent it out you need a contract with BG or others - make sure you use a very low consumption / standing charge  as you may have to break the contract - or keep in you name and rebill your new tenant.

Phones4Chris

Sobi80 said:

Is there any way around this or will I have to stump up the cash? Is it worth going to Ofgem?  

I would at least ask OFGEM, I don't know what the rules are in this situation. It does seem unfair. You could also try asking Citizens Advice.

Sobi80

Robin9 said:

I presume you will also be getting an electrician in to check it over and do an EICR - if its all been switched off its had to say what the condition of the building is - electricity may be only one of your issues.

Pay up but before you rent it out you need a contract with BG or others - make sure you use a very low consumption / standing charge  as you may have to break the contract - or keep in you name and rebill your new tenant.

Hi Robin, can I please clarify something? Will BG need to reenergise the property before another supplier puts meter in? I’m just mindful of the time delays with this. I’m looking at 5 weeks to get the shop reenergised and from experience the wait is usually the same (if not more) to get new supplier. If BG reenergised, would they be able to connect to their own supply straight away? 

Sobi80

Phones4Chris said:

Sobi80 said:

Is there any way around this or will I have to stump up the cash? Is it worth going to Ofgem?  

I would at least ask OFGEM, I don't know what the rules are in this situation. It does seem unfair. You could also try asking Citizens Advice.

Thanks Chris, I will make official complaint to BG tomorrow and take it from there 

Robin9

I would expect the supply needs to be live before it can be metered 

Phones4Chris

Sobi80 said:

Phones4Chris said:

Sobi80 said:

Is there any way around this or will I have to stump up the cash? Is it worth going to Ofgem?  

I would at least ask OFGEM, I don't know what the rules are in this situation. It does seem unfair. You could also try asking Citizens Advice.

Thanks Chris, I will make official complaint to BG tomorrow and take it from there 

As I said, I don't know what/if rules cover this, just ask OFGEM - send them an email, you have nothing to lose by doing so.
As the supply isn't live, I'm not sure BG can stop you moving to another supplier as the debt isn't yours, it's a case of would another supplier take it on and "re-energise" the supply (just a case of putting a service fuse back in I would imagine, or reconnect the meter tails to the service cut-out - depends on how it was disconnected). Don't just take BG's word for it.
What region are you in? You could check with the Network Operator if BG are registered as the supplier. If they aren't, it won't have anything to do with BG. And if they aren't, who is?