New build flat - Gas Bill

tonysala32

Hello everyone,

We moved into our 2 bed new build apartment on the 23rd October 2020, and we have only just received our first gas bill (our gas is for for hot water and radiators only) from the letting agents (LPS) who manage the building for the developer (YPG).
We were surprised to learn we do not have a meter for our flat but just one main meter for the whole apartment block. So it seems they have just divided the bill for the whole block by the number of occupied units, here is the breakdown we were given:

23/10/2020 – 31/10/2020 - £20.00

01/11/2020 – 30/11/2020 - £150.00

01/12/2020 – 31/12/2020 - £130.00

01/01/2021 – 31/01/2021 - £130.00

01/02/2021 – 28/02/2021 - £130.00

Total Due £560.00

As you can see this is not a fair bill given the gas is only for hot water and radiators, also seen as the building is only at about quarter capacity at a guess (as some units are still under construction) it would seem every tenant is also paying for the gas used in the unoccupied units which have the heating on constantly, we noticed on the bill that the developer has been charged late payment fees, enforcement fees and payment plan fees by the gas company, I believe these fees are also being wrongly passed onto us.

I would like to know what rights we have to contest the bill when it's obvious we are being overcharged and the agent has no way of knowing how much gas anyone is using as there is no meter for our apartment.

Below is an email accompanying the bill, (The statement "When you moved into the property it was explained that the heating and hot water are provided via a main’s gas supply" is not true and there is no mention of it in our contract)

Dear Resident,

Please find below some questions and answers that will provide more information about the bills that you recently received.

 

1. Why am I getting a bill?

 

When you moved into the property it was explained that the heating and hot water are provided via a main’s gas supply. The Developer, YPG, is responsible for the mains supply of the gas. The Developer has received the bills recently from when the flats first were occupied, from YU Energy. Your bill is a fair apportionment for your unit from the time you moved in, correlating to the bill from YU Energy.

 

1. Who are the bills from and to?

 

There is one main bill from the supplier, YU Energy, provided monthly. The bills are delivered to the Developer, YPG on behalf of the main gas unit into 49 Hurst St.

 

1. Why are LPS collecting the Gas utility bill?

 

YPG have asked LPS, as managing agent to collect these, on their behalf – as we have all the resident’s contact details. All funds received go to YPG to pay the bills.

 

1. What does the Gas supply do for me?

 

The gas supply into each property at Hurst St heats your hot water and your radiators via the HUI system in the storage cabinet. Your radiators are heating via the gas HUI Boiler system.

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.

They're probably trying to say that you have a Heat Interface Unit (HIU) as part of a District Heating System.  If so, that's bad news because it's virtually unregulated.  Worst of all, it's unmetered, so you'll be paying for those that turn the heating to maximum and open the windows if it gets too hot.  However, new builds are supposed to be individually metered.

Sounds like you may have been mis-sold.  Did you not check what you were buying / leasing?

matelodave

Perhaps you need to get together with your fellow resident and insist that heat meters are installed so they can more fairly apportion the bills according to consumption rather than a wild guess. This where a decent tenants committee can apply some pressure to the letting agents/landlord/building owners to try and get it sorted out

As Gerry has said, if you've got a centralised heating and hot water system (called District Heating) then you dont get gas directly to your flat but hot water  is fed to all apartments to heat the rads and hot water tank. However it is possible to measure the amount of heat that you are consuming by means of a heat meter and then get charged by the number of kwh that you are consuming. It's unfair that some people will take advantage of the situation and feel that they can use as much as they like knowing that they wont have to pay the true cost.

Unfortunately District Heating schemes aren't regulated in the same way as gas & leccy and many landlords/letting agents etc can and do ramp up the charges, either by high cost per kwh or by high maintenance charges (fr frequently both). This is something that should have been pointed out when you signed all your agreements. Although it sounds a great idea that someone else has all the aggro of sorting out the heating system and paying the bills, there's often a sting in the tail just like this.

ToomanyPies

Is there a breakdown as to how they calculated your charges? Was it done on the floor area (m2), number of rooms or by the number of apartments? Are there any communal areas that are heated? Do you have your own electricity and water meters? If you don't know then find out as you may be in for another shock.

MWT

I'm surprised you didn't look into this sooner as if there was nothing explained to you when you moved in didn't you try to find the gas meter so you could get a reading and open an account with the current supplier?

If you hunt thorough the contracts you signed when purchasing your flat you'll find there is a reference to the scheme in their somewhere and yes, if it is not being based on heat metering then you have a really bad system installed and one that would have caused many to decide not to purchase in the first place...

Those numbers look very odd as well since they don't seem to vary by month at all so it looks like they may have just taken the entire consumption over the period and divided it out instead of the monthly totals.

I'd certainly want to know how it was calculated to make sure you are only paying your share and not covering unsold flats for example...

leonj

This is terrible news, I suppose it's 99% investors that buy these apartments so they don't care anyway.

MWT

It is bad news now, and bad news later when it comes time to sell and move on as it makes the flat very unattractive for new purchasers as well...

Hasbeen

MWT said:

I'm surprised you didn't look into this sooner as if there was nothing explained to you when you moved in didn't you try to find the gas meter so you could get a reading and open an account with the current supplier?

If you hunt thorough the contracts you signed when purchasing your flat you'll find there is a reference to the scheme in their somewhere and yes, if it is not being based on heat metering then you have a really bad system installed and one that would have caused many to decide not to purchase in the first place...

Those numbers look very odd as well since they don't seem to vary by month at all so it looks like they may have just taken the entire consumption over the period and divided it out instead of the monthly totals.

I'd certainly want to know how it was calculated to make sure you are only paying your share and not covering unsold flats for example...

OP: As above 

"When you moved into the property it was explained that the heating and hot water are provided via a main’s gas supply. The Developer, YPG, is responsible for the mains supply of the gas. The Developer has received the bills recently from when the flats first were occupied, from YU Energy. Your bill is a fair apportionment for your unit from the time you moved in, correlating to the bill from YU Energy."

A district heating scheme is not regulated and charges can be increased randomly.  High costs per kWh and high charges for maintaining the system.

Did you not check this when purchasing? Personally would not touch a flat like this with the proverbial bargepole.

There would have been documentation info provided?

Get your fellow tenants/owners  together and try and get heat meters installed to apportion a fairer way of costs to each flat.

Gerry1

The OP refers to a lettings agent, so let's hope he's the tenant rather than the owner !

tonysala32

Thank you for all your replies and help so far. Yes we are tenants and not owners, nothing was stated about this in the tenancy contract so we are trying to flag them up on it. Thanks again 

Gerry1

Not exactly a shining example of Plain English, but before querying the bills a close read of the relevant parts of the HEAT NETWORK (METERING AND BILLING) REGULATIONS 2014 (AS AMENDED IN 2015 AND 2020) might be very beneficial.