Price Cap on business energy?

LouiseG

I work for a landlord and manage energy bills. We had a rental property, owned by a company, on a fixed rate tariff for gas and electric. I followed Martin's advice and when the fixed tariff ended on 31/10/2021, I DID NOTHING!. Unfortunately, I did not realise that the price cap did not apply to this energy account and we have suffered unit price increases of over 5 times the rate we were paying on gas and over double the rate on electric. Our supplier (SSE business) did not notify us of the new rates and did not contact us to review out direct debits, resulting in huge quarterly bills for Nov 2021-Feb 2022 and debit balances on the accounts. We are now trying to switch away from the business energy account as soon as possible but other suppliers are not offering us the price cap rates, only fixed rates. What can we do? Don't suppliers have to offer us the price cap rates rather than just a fixed rate option?

tacpot12

If the landlord is a company, then I don't think the energy companies are obliged to offer price capped rates. The issue seems to only be an issue for void periods, when the landlord might want to heat the property just enough to avoid pipes bursting in the winter. When the property is tenanted, providing the tenant is a residential customer, the energy companies would have to offer them a capped rate.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

LouiseG said:

What can we do? Don't suppliers have to offer us the price cap rates rather than just a fixed rate option?

Business energy prices are not capped. Businesses are not considered to need the protection that consumers do.

For similar reasons, be very careful when entering into a business energy contract as your employer won't have the benefit of consumer protection law.

LouiseG

Thank you tacpot12. Sorry, I should have said this is a student property where the landlord covers the utility bills. So, it is owned by a business but it is a domestic property in that people live there, it is not a business premises. I inherited the management of this property so I am not sure how or why it was ever on a business tariff, I think it should have been on domestic rates anyway. My main question is really 'if I switch energy supplier now, does the new supplier have to offer me the variable rates (ie price cap) rather than just their fixed rate 'deals'. I get it that they want customers on a fixed rate but can I insist I want the price cap rates ? Thanks, I really appreciate your thoughts on this.

QrizB

LouiseG said:

Thank you tacpot12. Sorry, I should have said this is a student property where the landlord covers the utility bills.

I think we're cross-posting so you might have replied before I finish typing this!

Is the property a HMO - a regular house that's let to several students - or is it a block of flats? If it's a HMO you might qualify for a domestic tariff but a block of flats, with energy billed collectively, almost certainly won't.

Grumpy_chap

AIUI, an MPAN is either denoted as "domestic" or "business" and changing the designation is not done at the drop of a hat.

The price cap only applies if there is a domestic MPAN.

LouiseG said:

Thank you tacpot12. Sorry, I should have said this is a student property where the landlord covers the utility bills. So, it is owned by a business but it is a domestic property in that people live there, it is not a business premises. I inherited the management of this property so I am not sure how or why it was ever on a business tariff, I think it should have been on domestic rates anyway. My main question is really 'if I switch energy supplier now, does the new supplier have to offer me the variable rates (ie price cap) rather than just their fixed rate 'deals'. I get it that they want customers on a fixed rate but can I insist I want the price cap rates ? Thanks, I really appreciate your thoughts on this.

No-one is forced to accept new customers.

Robin9

QrizB said:

 If it's a HMO you might qualify for a domestic tariff but a block of flats, with energy billed collectively, almost certainly won't.

To my mind a HMO is more of a business than renting out a flat.

OP - when your fix ran out at the end of October you automatically went onto Out of Contract rates. Have you since taken out a new contract with SSE ?  What are the unit rates you are paying ?

pochase

Robin9 said:

QrizB said:

 If it's a HMO you might qualify for a domestic tariff but a block of flats, with energy billed collectively, almost certainly won't.

To my mind a HMO is more of a business than renting out a flat.

OP - when your fix ran out at the end of October you automatically went onto Out of Contract rates. Have you since taken out a new contract with SSE ?  What are the unit rates you are paying ?

I doubt you will get an answer, OP has not been here since March 2022

Joined: Apr 16, 2011

Last Active: Mar 28, 2022

Spoonie_Turtle

^ necrothread resurrected by a spammer.