Help! Been paying neighbours electric bill for 14 years!

sonypc100

Petriix said:

This all seems ludicrously expensive. Running a second meter and paying two sets of standing charges doesn't make much sense in the current market where you're effectively paying a double contribution to the collective fund that pays for things like the smart meter rollout, all the failed suppliers and various network costs etc. On the other hand you presumably got a second bite at the £400 grant last year...

So the question is what's the best option for now and the future?
You need a smart meter for Octopus Go so the meter will need replacing anyway. My radical suggestion is to have the garage meter removed (or transferred to the other property if they want to keep it) and run some SWA from your main meter out to the garage. That way you're only paying one standing charge and you get the benefits of the cheap overnight charging window for your domestic usage as well. 

A few months ago I had a smart meter fitted so that is in place.

Yes I agree why pay twice if we can work out a way to pay for the use, my only caveat is that I will be on Octopus Go for cheap overnight EV charging so not sure how we manage that?

sonypc100

MultiFuelBurner said:

I think I asked this before but how much does this garage meter covering the two garages cost you per year? 

Sorry may have missed your previous question, its about £30 a month

sonypc100

Moneysavingchap said:

sonypc100 said:

Moneysavingchap said:

Where is the consumer unit? Is it right next to the meter in the neighbours garage?

Yes that’s correct 

Is there a written agreement for this setup, that you "own" the supply and it is shared between garages? As if not, I am not sure how this is really your meter.

Weve lived here 14 years and the bill for the garage is addressed to our flat in our name, I have spoken to the previous owner of our flat and they also paid the bill, they had about 20 years here so for 34 years the bill has always been addressed to and paid for by my property.

I recently had a smart meter installed again if I didnt own the meter or supply then I couldn't change it on someone elses meter or supply.

Just to add when we first moved in the cost was £5 a month hence why I didnt really pay much attention to it.

The neighbour we are talking about has her gas feed and meter in the cellar that sits under me, are we saying that I can claim or disconnect her gas supply?

ArbitraryRandom

sonypc100 said:

The neighbour we are talking about has her gas feed and meter in the cellar that sits under me, are we saying that I can claim or disconnect her gas supply?

I think what we are saying is (depending on what's written in the deeds you've still not looked at) she can't disconnect you, but you also can't disconnect her... so you can argue about who's meter it is as much as you want but it's kind of irrelevant as you will need to agree the way forward (i.e. you can't unilaterally decide she needs to pay several thousand to have 'her' feed removed from 'your' meter). 

£30 a month is interesting though - about half of that would be the standing charge I assume, so £7 (each) a month seems a lot for a lightbulb... perhaps also consider getting some cheap LED bulbs?

sonypc100

ArbitraryRandom said:

sonypc100 said:

The neighbour we are talking about has her gas feed and meter in the cellar that sits under me, are we saying that I can claim or disconnect her gas supply?

I think what we are saying is (depending on what's written in the deeds you've still not looked at) she can't disconnect you, but you also can't disconnect her... so you can argue about who's meter it is as much as you want but it's kind of irrelevant as you will need to agree the way forward (i.e. you can't unilaterally decide she needs to pay several thousand to have 'her' feed removed from 'your' meter). 

£30 a month is interesting though - about half of that would be the standing charge I assume, so £7 (each) a month seems a lot for a lightbulb... perhaps also consider getting some cheap LED bulbs?

Yes, I agree my neighbour and I can argue all day long who the meter belongs to, she (the landlady) has just refurbished the property the garage is associated with and its now on the market as a 3 bed family home - as yet untenanted.

If an old lady moves in and has 1 LED bulb in there and nothing else then in exchange for a few bottles of red a year and going halves in the standing charge - I'll happily keep things as they are 

However I have a feeling it will be let to a family and most likely have a washer/tumble dryer/fridge freezer etc in there and then it becomes necessary to work something formal out

ArbitraryRandom

sonypc100 said:

ArbitraryRandom said:

sonypc100 said:

The neighbour we are talking about has her gas feed and meter in the cellar that sits under me, are we saying that I can claim or disconnect her gas supply?

I think what we are saying is (depending on what's written in the deeds you've still not looked at) she can't disconnect you, but you also can't disconnect her... so you can argue about who's meter it is as much as you want but it's kind of irrelevant as you will need to agree the way forward (i.e. you can't unilaterally decide she needs to pay several thousand to have 'her' feed removed from 'your' meter). 

£30 a month is interesting though - about half of that would be the standing charge I assume, so £7 (each) a month seems a lot for a lightbulb... perhaps also consider getting some cheap LED bulbs?

Yes, I agree my neighbour and I can argue all day long who the meter belongs to, she (the landlady) has just refurbished the property the garage is associated with and its now on the market as a 3 bed family home - as yet untenanted.

One slightly unethical option would be to make a proposal to the current owner for the future that you would be happy with (get it in writing)... and suggest that it would be a shame for this to be a dispute that she has to declare as part of the sale. Then it would form part of the information given to the new buyers and they'd likely accept it as just how things are. 

Easier to get the current owner to agree to an arrangement that won't materially change things for them. 

born_again

sonypc100 said:

Petriix said:

This all seems ludicrously expensive. Running a second meter and paying two sets of standing charges doesn't make much sense in the current market where you're effectively paying a double contribution to the collective fund that pays for things like the smart meter rollout, all the failed suppliers and various network costs etc. On the other hand you presumably got a second bite at the £400 grant last year...

So the question is what's the best option for now and the future?
You need a smart meter for Octopus Go so the meter will need replacing anyway. My radical suggestion is to have the garage meter removed (or transferred to the other property if they want to keep it) and run some SWA from your main meter out to the garage. That way you're only paying one standing charge and you get the benefits of the cheap overnight charging window for your domestic usage as well. 

A few months ago I had a smart meter fitted so that is in place.

Yes I agree why pay twice if we can work out a way to pay for the use, my only caveat is that I will be on Octopus Go for cheap overnight EV charging so not sure how we manage that?

So is this you house meter or the meter in the garage that is now on GO?

sonypc100

born_again said:

sonypc100 said:

Petriix said:

This all seems ludicrously expensive. Running a second meter and paying two sets of standing charges doesn't make much sense in the current market where you're effectively paying a double contribution to the collective fund that pays for things like the smart meter rollout, all the failed suppliers and various network costs etc. On the other hand you presumably got a second bite at the £400 grant last year...

So the question is what's the best option for now and the future?
You need a smart meter for Octopus Go so the meter will need replacing anyway. My radical suggestion is to have the garage meter removed (or transferred to the other property if they want to keep it) and run some SWA from your main meter out to the garage. That way you're only paying one standing charge and you get the benefits of the cheap overnight charging window for your domestic usage as well. 

A few months ago I had a smart meter fitted so that is in place.

Yes I agree why pay twice if we can work out a way to pay for the use, my only caveat is that I will be on Octopus Go for cheap overnight EV charging so not sure how we manage that?

So is this you house meter or the meter in the garage that is now on GO?

This is a separate meter in the garage just for the garage electricity, so we are billed twice a month, once for the meter in the house and once for the meter in the garage

sonypc100

ArbitraryRandom said:

sonypc100 said:

The neighbour we are talking about has her gas feed and meter in the cellar that sits under me, are we saying that I can claim or disconnect her gas supply?

I think what we are saying is (depending on what's written in the deeds you've still not looked at) she can't disconnect you, but you also can't disconnect her... so you can argue about who's meter it is as much as you want but it's kind of irrelevant as you will need to agree the way forward (i.e. you can't unilaterally decide she needs to pay several thousand to have 'her' feed removed from 'your' meter). 

£30 a month is interesting though - about half of that would be the standing charge I assume, so £7 (each) a month seems a lot for a lightbulb... perhaps also consider getting some cheap LED bulbs?

Deeds have just now been looked at and as expected there is nothing about the garage electrics - I'm not surprised, weve had to look at them before and they are not really fit for purpose.

born_again

sonypc100 said:

born_again said:

sonypc100 said:

Petriix said:

This all seems ludicrously expensive. Running a second meter and paying two sets of standing charges doesn't make much sense in the current market where you're effectively paying a double contribution to the collective fund that pays for things like the smart meter rollout, all the failed suppliers and various network costs etc. On the other hand you presumably got a second bite at the £400 grant last year...

So the question is what's the best option for now and the future?
You need a smart meter for Octopus Go so the meter will need replacing anyway. My radical suggestion is to have the garage meter removed (or transferred to the other property if they want to keep it) and run some SWA from your main meter out to the garage. That way you're only paying one standing charge and you get the benefits of the cheap overnight charging window for your domestic usage as well. 

A few months ago I had a smart meter fitted so that is in place.

Yes I agree why pay twice if we can work out a way to pay for the use, my only caveat is that I will be on Octopus Go for cheap overnight EV charging so not sure how we manage that?

So is this you house meter or the meter in the garage that is now on GO?

This is a separate meter in the garage just for the garage electricity, so we are billed twice a month, once for the meter in the house and once for the meter in the garage

So is car going to be charged via house or garage supply?