wow prepayment electricity.. too much now

MWT

borderline said:

frugalmacdugal said:

Hi,

mmm, if voucher not in your name then that's fraud, stealing, would you take a cheque into a bank to cash it in somebody else's name?

not stealing really.. the former tenant cannot make any use of this voucher because it goes on the meter that I pay, it's not money for me to spend on something else

You are taking a risk.

The money is being given to those who have an electricity account in their name.

You do not have an account in your name so you do not qualify for the money.

We do not yet have any details that would give certainty that you are going to be able to get the £400, so why wouldn't you want to be certain and get the account in your name?

Robin9

£400 for a 5 minute phone call  ! 

Better than going out to work 

borderline

HampshireH said:

borderline said:

frugalmacdugal said:

Hi,

no, if previous tenant had a pre pay meter installed because of a default on paying previous bills, then pre pay meter would be set to recover that, you might still be paying that debt.

it's the choice of the landlord, we are 3 flats here and we all have pre-payment. 

It may have been their choice to have it installed but it has been your choice to keep it for 10 years. 

You definitely need to put the account into your name.

It would be wrong if you ever accrued a debt for them to chase the former tenant.

And as above you definitely could have paid off their debts. You should always put the things you are responsible for paying for into our name.

In this case you could dip out financially if you don't. If vouchers are given to account holders rather than by meter number.

That said how do you know it's in the former tenants name? Do you receive bills addressed to them still? They may have closed their account when they left (won't necessarily have stopped you paying any debt if there ever were one)

yes, letters from SSE come addressed to his name.. it's not even the previous tenant , my landlady told me.. so I don't know how many tenants ago that was.. but it wasn't the one before me for sure.. 

borderline

MWT said:

borderline said:

frugalmacdugal said:

Hi,

mmm, if voucher not in your name then that's fraud, stealing, would you take a cheque into a bank to cash it in somebody else's name?

not stealing really.. the former tenant cannot make any use of this voucher because it goes on the meter that I pay, it's not money for me to spend on something else

You are taking a risk.

The money is being given to those who have an electricity account in their name.

You do not have an account in your name so you do not qualify for the money.

We do not yet have any details that would give certainty that you are going to be able to get the £400, so why wouldn't you want to be certain and get the account in your name?

I will try to contact SSE and see what they say.. I don't have an issue with being on my name but I don't think the other tenants it's under their name either.. other letters from SSE comes under my landlords name so I don't see why the one for my flat it's under the tenants name.. it's just if there is any electrical  problem that needs to be sorted I don't want to be the one paying just because it's under my name 

Ultrasonic

borderline said:
it's just if there is any electrical  problem that needs to be sorted I don't want to be the one paying just because it's under my name 

Are you expecting the previous tenant to somehow be responsible now? 

Marvel1

pochase said:

borderline said:

Mstty said:

As far as I am aware they would arrive at the property address but in the previous tenants name.

Definitely change it into your name ASAP but they should still arrive.

I will open the envelope and take the voucher to the shop .. I guess it should be fine.. 

And what are you going to do if they want to see a proof of identity?

I hope they do, to prevent fraud e.g in error deliver to wrong address or something.

ampersand

Hello borderline - 
Please accept that everyone is trying to help, based on the information you give. (Don't worry about what other tenants are doing.)

I'd turn it round.

Write to, or ring, SSE.  Be prepared to hold on.  Ask, 'Have I been paying off a previous tenant's accrued debts?  I've been here for 10 years but you've never changed the account over to me.'

Ask if the vouchers have been wrongly sent to one of those previous names.  You will have proof of your decade's residence via rent paid, I'm sure.

Best of luck.

Mstty

ampersand said:

Hello borderline - 
Please accept that everyone is trying to help, based on the information you give. (Don't worry about what other tenants are doing.)

I'd turn it round.

Write to, or ring, SSE.  Be prepared to hold on.  Ask, 'Have I been paying off a previous tenant's accrued debts?  I've been here for 10 years but you've never changed the account over to me.'

Ask if the vouchers have been wrongly sent to one of those previous names.  You will have proof of your decade's residence via rent paid, I'm sure.

Best of luck.

The vouchers won't be issued til October at the earliest

SAC2334

borderline said:

stewie_griffin said:

Prepayment meters are often installed to collect debt. When you moved in there could have been £1000 debt on the meter that you then paid off over the next few years. What would you do if the meter stopped working?

I don't really understand this. How can be debt on a prepayment meter? if you don't top up, that's it , you get no electricity , just about £5 of emergency that gets deducted on the next top up..  or are you saying if the former tenant owned money elsewhere not related to electric this can be taken from the meter?? 

You press the blue button, with Key installed and go to screens S and T . These are the screens which show total debt and how much a week is taken off.. Maximum debt I ve seen installed on a prepayment meter is £9000 ! and I d say that £2000 was not at all uncommon and it would take years to pay off ..
This is for the old type prepay meters not smart meters.. I ve no idea how they work but will have similar menus to scroll through 

SAC2334

borderline said:

MWT said:

borderline said:

frugalmacdugal said:

Hi,

mmm, if voucher not in your name then that's fraud, stealing, would you take a cheque into a bank to cash it in somebody else's name?

not stealing really.. the former tenant cannot make any use of this voucher because it goes on the meter that I pay, it's not money for me to spend on something else

You are taking a risk.

The money is being given to those who have an electricity account in their name.

You do not have an account in your name so you do not qualify for the money.

We do not yet have any details that would give certainty that you are going to be able to get the £400, so why wouldn't you want to be certain and get the account in your name?

I will try to contact SSE and see what they say.. I don't have an issue with being on my name but I don't think the other tenants it's under their name either.. other letters from SSE comes under my landlords name so I don't see why the one for my flat it's under the tenants name.. it's just if there is any electrical  problem that needs to be sorted I don't want to be the one paying just because it's under my name 

As a long time meter reader I understand how very common this is especially when tenants come and go several times a year . The outgoing tenant s do not tell anyone because probably no one has ever told them thats what they must do..Landlords are not  at all bothered about it neither. Its not their concern 
The whole prepayment meter business appears to be a UK answer which does nt really work IMO and we should never have started off down this road and have  done what the other Countries do..eg if you refuse to pay what you owe you get disconnected. This works in most countries including the USA