Business tariff in domestic property

chocky1

In 1989 we bought a small country house hotel , retiring in 2008 and ceased trading then. We have now  lived here for 30 years.  The electric meters (2) have always been on business electric tariffs.  We have never changed the meters as the cost would have been expensive so stuck with business electricity.  It seems we will not be eligible for the energy help offered by the government to residential customers.    Our property is no longer a hotel,  we have not traded since 2008.  Does anyone know how we might also benefit from the government help afforded to everyone in a domestic tariff ? Thx 

QrizB

I don't think you can.

You might be paying hugely over the odds for your electricity, too. Who is your supplier and what is your current tariff?

Neil_Jones

chocky1 said:

In 1989 we bought a small country house hotel , retiring in 2008 and ceased trading then. We have now  lived here for 30 years.  The electric meters (2) have always been on business electric tariffs.  We have never changed the meters as the cost would have been expensive so stuck with business electricity.  It seems we will not be eligible for the energy help offered by the government to residential customers.    Our property is no longer a hotel,  we have not traded since 2008.  Does anyone know how we might also benefit from the government help afforded to everyone in a domestic tariff ? Thx 

You probably won't as you're technically not a "domestic" customer.

Should have had the tariff/meter switch done at the time.  Yes it would have cost but you'd have saved a fortune in energy costs as business energy is horrifically expensive, especially if you're not in any form of contract/agreement.

Mstty

In all honesty if you have been paying business tariff rates since 2008. I don't think you will miss £800.

Best thing to do now is bite the bullet and get them swapped over to domestic. I don't think there is a cost unless you are saying the cost to go down to one meter?

Robin9

chocky1 said:

......  We have never changed the meters as the cost would have been expensive so stuck with business electricity.  ......

I don't understand that  logic - normally just needs the databases changed. The meters might not even need to be changed.

macman

Just out of morbid curiosity, what unit kWh rate and s/c are you currently paying on a business tariff?
I suspect that you have wasted many thousands of pounds in excess charges over the last 14 years.
Hopefully you can still get the October to March discount if you re-register now.
I too can see no need for the meters to be physically changed, but even if they had, the charges would have been recouped in a few months.

QrizB

I'm now wondering whether the property is still paying business rates rather than Council Tax, and whether the property is still a business asset.

Plus, potentially, benefit-in-kind liabilities.

Did you deal with all these issues when you wound up your business? And if you did, how did the electricity supply slip through the net?