Switched to "deemed rates" - legality?

jez9999

I am the landlord for a commercial property.  The existing tenant moved out and informed the electricity/gas company that he was moving out, and presumably gave them my name.  4 months later, the first communication I received from them was to tell me that I owed them a very large sum of money based on meter readings.  Now, some electricity and gas have been used at the property, but the rates are unbelievable - a £4/day standing charge, 85p/kWh for electricity, etc.  How legal is this?  I know that "deemed rates" are a thing, but I had no communication from them until after they had decided I owed them a large sum of money.  I am pretty close to selling the property too.  What happens if I fail to pay?

Mobtr

Did you not contact the energy supplier when your tenant moved out? Surely as the landlord you should have taken reads & contacted them to say you’d taken back responsibility. If you don’t pay I would imagine they would pass your details to a debt collection agency as they would with a domestic supply 

MWT

jez9999 said:

...4 months later, the first communication I received from them was to tell me that I owed them a very large sum of money based on meter readings.  Now, some electricity and gas have been used at the property, but the rates are unbelievable - a £4/day standing charge, 85p/kWh for electricity, etc.  How legal is this?

Entirely legal, as the owner/occupier of the business premises the obligation is on you to contact the supplier and agree a new contract if you do not wish to remain on the deemed rates.

If you fail to pay then they will pursue you for the debt as they are legally entitled to do ...

Keep_pedalling

Those are business not residential rates.

MWT

Keep_pedalling said:

Those are business not residential rates.

Correct, as per the post...

jez9999 said:

I am the landlord for a commercial property. 

The_Fat_Controller

Did the tenant pay their final bill and was that based on the readings that the both of you took and agreed were correct on the date they moved out ?

That was a joint responsibility.

You cannot get out of the charges since the lease ended.

jez9999

My big issue with it is that they apparently have no obligation to contact you for months before charging you these rates.  We assumed that the rates would stay roughly the same, and certainly would not be 10 times the normal cost.  They can charge you this for over a quarter of a year before so much as sending you a letter.  How hard would it be for them to communicate a little quicker than that?

Mstty

It's your responsibility to contact them when the commercial space is vacated to be honest not for them to reach out to you.

Quarterly billing isn't even that long a time to wait.

You can't compare commercial to residential rates sadly so wipe this from your mind.

Lesson learnt I guess.

The_Fat_Controller

There should have not been any "presumably gave them my name", you should have been on top of the situation and taken positive control of the contract and ascertained what you were committed to.

Never assume anything !

QrizB

jez9999 said:

My big issue with it is that they apparently have no obligation to contact you for months before charging you these rates.  We assumed that the rates would stay roughly the same, and certainly would not be 10 times the normal cost.  They can charge you this for over a quarter of a year before so much as sending you a letter.  How hard would it be for them to communicate a little quicker than that?

You're thinking like a domestic consumer.

You're a business, you're meant to keep on top of your admin.