Landlord or lettings agency refusing to supply a bill

mrsg1990

My sister rents a flat this is  100% electricty for it's energy supply from a land lord via a lettings agency. she only moved in to this property in march 2022. She was told electric would £15 a month as this was the price paid by the previous tenant. 

My sister has now been asked to pay £30 a month, and when she asked why it had increased by 100%, the reply was because of the 55% increase in April, so they've only increased by 33% (I know this makes no sense, because the increase is 100%, not the 33% they keep quoting).

My sister takes a photo of the front of the meter, showing the numbers and sends this to the lettings agency. She does not know who her supplier is nor what tarrif she is on. She has never received a bill, and has asked for a bill and asked who is her supplier and what tarrif she is on, but is getting no where.

Is she legally entitled to have a energy bill? And I find it hard to believe that her electricity bill is neatly totalling whole pounds (£15 or £30) with no pence? 

We know from meter readings on the 1st if March and April she used 130 kWh of electric.

Thank you for your help 

GingerTim

Aside from the rights and wrongs of an entitlement to an energy bill (which I think she should get), c. 28p x 130kwh = £36.40, so she's doing alright out of it!

That said, I wouldn't want to be at the mercy of the landlord/letting agent when it comes to a monthly payment.

Gerry1

GingerTim said:

Aside from the rights and wrongs of an entitlement to an energy bill (which I think she should get), c. 28p x 130kwh = £36.40, so she's doing alright out of it!

That said, I wouldn't want to be at the mercy of the landlord/letting agent when it comes to a monthly payment.

Plus the standing charge of about 32p-52p per day, so that would bring the month's worth up to £46.37 - £52.40.

GingerTim

Gerry1 said:

GingerTim said:

Aside from the rights and wrongs of an entitlement to an energy bill (which I think she should get), c. 28p x 130kwh = £36.40, so she's doing alright out of it!

That said, I wouldn't want to be at the mercy of the landlord/letting agent when it comes to a monthly payment.

Plus the standing charge of about 32p-52p per day, so that would bring the month's worth up to £46.37 - £52.40.

Indeed, completely forgot!

The_Fat_Controller

Forget the 54% rise in April, that is for the average dual fuel customer and does not apply to an electricity only user.

Roughly, the capped unit rate for electricity rose by 36% and the standing charge by 82% on 1 April 2022.

QrizB

mrsg1990 said:

Is she legally entitled to have a energy bill?

It will depend on her contract but possibly not.

In law her landlord / letting company are not allowed to charge more than the actual cost of the electricity supplied (including any standing charge) but the electrocity for an all-electric flat would normally cost £100-£200/month (depending on a lot of factors) so £30/month is unlikely to be more than the cost.

If your sister can share some recent meter readings with us, and the dates she took them, we can calculate roughly what the bill would be if she was paying the power company directly.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

I know £15 to £30 seems a big increase, but, jings, even at £30 a month only about £1 a day, tell her to get a fix on that for as long as she can.

Chrysalis

Seems an odd arrangement.

Usually as I understand it, if its a HMO, the electric is part of the rent, but not quoted separate, the rent needs notice to be raised in a rolling tenancy, and would require special terms in an AST tenancy to be raised during an AST.

If not a HMO, then the tenant pays their own electric with their chosen supplier.

However with that said your new cost for electric is still cheap and I assume is in effect a unmetered deal a true fixed price.  I would rather be paying my LL £30 a month for electric vs paying my own much higher bill as I do now.

mrsg1990

She used 160kwh in march....

Turns out that for the entire flat block there is only 1 account with EDF, but several meters...

QrizB

mrsg1990 said:

She used 160kwh in march....

If she had her own account, that would have cost about £60 (160kWh at 28.34p plus 31 days at 45.34p, national average values).

MWT

mrsg1990 said:

My sister has now been asked to pay £30 a month, and when she asked why it had increased by 100%, the reply was because of the 55% increase in April, so they've only increased by 33% (I know this makes no sense, because the increase is 100%, not the 33% they keep quoting).

It sounds like there may be a base allowance included in the rent, with an additional charge based on use...

This should be set out in the tenancy agreement...