Bill for out of contract business electricity rates on residential rented apartment

DocQuincy

Let me “briefly” outline the situation. I don't think there's anything I can do but thought I'd asked here.

• I have moved out of my home for a short period for personal reasons and moved into a rented small aprtment that is powered by electricity only
• Letting agent told me who the energy provider was and that I was free to switch
• Since I was only going to be there for a short time and I am only really there to sleep I didn't think to switch since I figured the usage would be minimal
• Agency said the energy provider, water board and council would be in touch regarding electricity, water and council tax respectively so I put it all to the back of my head
• Water board and council sent letters, nothing from the energy company
• After a while (weeks), I hadn't heard anything so contact the energy company the letting agent said, they said no record of the account
• I tried searching it online and no energy company would take me on since it was down as a commercial connection, wierd as it's just a studio apartment in a huge residential area, no businesses there at all
• Contacted the letting agents and they said acccording to the Nation Grid I am with British Gas
• Tried to create an account with British Gas but it kept blocking me due to it being a commercial connection
• Called Britsh Gas and they said it was with their Lite sister company, made for small buinsess and I would have to contact them
• They have no phone at all and I ended up contacting them through live chat
• Live chat agent said it was both a commercial connection and the fixed rate deal has elapsed and I was on their more expensive out of contract tarrif but he could switch me over the the domestic arm of BG and backdate it to when I moved in to avoid me paying the more expensive tarrif. It would take up to 2 weeks and I'd be contacted by British Gas domestic once the transfer was complete
• The transfer completed but I was given a final bill at the out of contract business rates: it was nearly £700 for just less than 3 months of use on a studio apartment where I was hardly ever in and was frugal with the heating (just a single electric radiator); the standing charge alone was ~£2.60 a day!
• Contacted Lite and mentioned the backdating and was told “there no record of it and we can't do that and I have to pay the bill in 14 days”. Stupidly, I never saved the chat where he said that.
• He said I should let the letting agency know. I've forwrded the chat but heard nothing back.

Sorry for the long list but that's it. Is there anything I can do? I'm now on a normal domestic rate my predicted usages has gone from about £250 a month down to £85. So I'm basically being overcharged by about £350 for the time it took to transfer it over.

And why on earth would the previous tenant want a more expensive energy provider? Is it some business scam?

MWT

DocQuincy said:

And why on earth would the previous tenant want a more expensive energy provider? Is it some business scam?

The previous tenant wouldn't and probably didn't, the letting agent on the other hand probably received a referral fee for moving the supply to a business supply.

Similarly the agent was totally incorrect to suggest that the energy company would contact you, when you move into a new property you remain on a deemed contract with the existing supplier until you make alternative arrangements or switch elsewhere.

This is not the first time we've seen reports on here about letting agents and business tariffs.

I would complain to the agent about the misinformation provided, but I doubt you will get them to admit that they moved the contract to a business account.

Regrettably the delay in contacting the supplier and switching has left you with a large bill and back-dating the switch would have been a win, but not something I would have expected to happen.

The only legitimate reason I can think of for being on a business tariff would be if they have been doing short lets including energy bills as that probably would require a business tariff, but even so, they should have warned you about this...

DocQuincy

Ouch, that's a few undred quid down the drain then. Thanks for your input. Lesson learned I guess.

I have sent all the info on to the agency but heard nothing back.

saajan_12

MWT said:

DocQuincy said:

And why on earth would the previous tenant want a more expensive energy provider? Is it some business scam?

Similarly the agent was totally incorrect to suggest that the energy company would contact you, when you move into a new property you remain on a deemed contract with the existing supplier until you make alternative arrangements or switch elsewhere.

To be fair for normal residential contracts at least, the energy company does normally write a letter addressed to 'occupier'. i'd guess this is presumably triggered by the outgoing tenant / LL closing their account with the energy supplier. 

However its not obviously incorrect if the agent was just going by experience. 

DullGreyGuy

DocQuincy said:

Let me “briefly” outline the situation. I don't think there's anything I can do but thought I'd asked here.

• I have moved out of my home for a short period for personal reasons and moved into a rented small aprtment that is powered by electricity only
• Letting agent told me who the energy provider was and that I was free to switch
• Since I was only going to be there for a short time and I am only really there to sleep I didn't think to switch since I figured the usage would be minimal
• Agency said the energy provider, water board and council would be in touch regarding electricity, water and council tax respectively so I put it all to the back of my head
• Water board and council sent letters, nothing from the energy company
• After a while (weeks), I hadn't heard anything so contact the energy company the letting agent said, they said no record of the account
• I tried searching it online and no energy company would take me on since it was down as a commercial connection, wierd as it's just a studio apartment in a huge residential area, no businesses there at all
• Contacted the letting agents and they said acccording to the Nation Grid I am with British Gas
• Tried to create an account with British Gas but it kept blocking me due to it being a commercial connection
• Called Britsh Gas and they said it was with their Lite sister company, made for small buinsess and I would have to contact them
• They have no phone at all and I ended up contacting them through live chat
• Live chat agent said it was both a commercial connection and the fixed rate deal has elapsed and I was on their more expensive out of contract tarrif but he could switch me over the the domestic arm of BG and backdate it to when I moved in to avoid me paying the more expensive tarrif. It would take up to 2 weeks and I'd be contacted by British Gas domestic once the transfer was complete
• The transfer completed but I was given a final bill at the out of contract business rates: it was nearly £700 for just less than 3 months of use on a studio apartment where I was hardly ever in and was frugal with the heating (just a single electric radiator); the standing charge alone was ~£2.60 a day!
• Contacted Lite and mentioned the backdating and was told “there no record of it and we can't do that and I have to pay the bill in 14 days”. Stupidly, I never saved the chat where he said that.
• He said I should let the letting agency know. I've forwrded the chat but heard nothing back.

Sorry for the long list but that's it. Is there anything I can do? I'm now on a normal domestic rate my predicted usages has gone from about £250 a month down to £85. So I'm basically being overcharged by about £350 for the time it took to transfer it over.

And why on earth would the previous tenant want a more expensive energy provider? Is it some business scam?

You'd need to ask the prior tenant, anything else is just pure speculation.  

Your main issue is that you didnt fulfil your obligations of informing the suppliers that you had moved in yourself and let the agency do that for you. Getting it switched etc would have still been a bit of a pain but you'd almost certainly have been able to do it quicker had you called them the day you got the keys or better still, the day you signed the tenancy agreement. 

Hopefully you did at least get meter reads on taking possession and so can confirm they are inline with expectations? 

DocQuincy

Yes, meter readings were done. It's a smart meter anyway so there were no issues there.

In hindsight, it could've been done quicker but you can't call British Gas Lite as they don't have a phone number and I was told by the agency it was with another supplier and that I didn't need to do anything unless I wanted to switch supplier.

silvercar

Make sure they aren't charging you the CCL supplement and a higher rate of VAT.

DocQuincy

No, just high standing charge and KW per H.

MWT

saajan_12 said:

MWT said:

DocQuincy said:

And why on earth would the previous tenant want a more expensive energy provider? Is it some business scam?

Similarly the agent was totally incorrect to suggest that the energy company would contact you, when you move into a new property you remain on a deemed contract with the existing supplier until you make alternative arrangements or switch elsewhere.

To be fair for normal residential contracts at least, the energy company does normally write a letter addressed to 'occupier'. i'd guess this is presumably triggered by the outgoing tenant / LL closing their account with the energy supplier. 

However its not obviously incorrect if the agent was just going by experience. 

The point is that it is the wrong advice to give to a new tenant, especially if you know the property is on a business tariff, and the agent has no excuse for not knowing that, as it is part of what they are being paid to manage...