I run a small business on an industrial estate with no heavy machinery and single phase electricity. My landlord has a large meter which feeds smaller meters in each unit. He bills the occupants monthly for electricity, adding his own standing charge, climate change levy, and administration charge all priced per unit. I didn't think anything of this, as my bills have been reasonable for my use, they all had readings, and I assumed he was getting these from the larger meter. He read my meter (which has no identification number) for the first time in two years yesterday. He called me later that after noon to say that there was a TEN THOUSAND pound difference between his estimates and the actual reading. Nowhere on my bills did it say they were estimated, and i never thought to check the readings against his bills as I should have done. There is no way i have used this much electricity, I need to get my meter independantly tested, and I have no idea who the main supplier is. Anyone help?
2006-09-02 23:16:19 · 7 answers · asked by gavin 1 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
That sounds bogus to me - how could he have run up a bill like that and not passed it along to the person responsible? And take two years to figure it out? I smell a rat there. Something is very wrong with that picture. I don't know about foreign power systems (you mention pounds, and I am American) but it does not make any sense to me that a bill of that magnitude could possibly have been running up for two years without someone catching it a LOT sooner. The main supplier would have been billing your landlord for the usage, even if he had not been reading his smaller meters. I am sure that they are reading their large meter and billing him for it, so he should know exactly how much electricity is being used. And since it never said that your bills were estimated - for TWO YEARS - it is just nonsense. Where I live, when they estimate bills, it is always recalculated annually. They say on the bill if it is estimated, and at the end of 12 months you either get a credit on your account or owe a balance. Then they base your usage this past year to average your usage for the following year. Your landlord needs to get his act together - ten thousand pounds is just outrageous. I would ask the other tenants how much their bills have been, and if he told them they owed a lot more, too. I am sure that they will be very sympathetic when they hear how much he is trying to soak you for. If there is no comparable difference on theirs, your meter must be broken. Tell your landlord to get it tested; I can't believe he would let a bill like that go on for so long. He can't possibly expect you to pay all that when he has let it go for two years. He is at fault for not checking it on a regular basis, especially if it is broken.
Also, if he has been "estimating" for two years, then the bill has already been paid - by everyone else. He bill is probably current with the main supplier, so the ten thousand pounds has been split up onto everyone else's bill for the last two years. 10,000 pounds divided by 24 months is about 400 pounds per month, divided by the total number of smaller meters - if there are 10, then eveyone's bill would have been about 40 pounds higher per month for the last two years. Ask him what he is planning to do with the money - if he is right, and you used that much, then he would owe it to the other tenants. I bet he has no intention of giving them a dime of it.
2006-09-02 23:46:45 · answer #1 · answered by Jeannie 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ok, if you know which meter is yours, shut down everything in the office and take a look at it. The meter should be stopped completely or else moving very very slowly. If it's still running fast, then you know you either have a power leak somewhere, or the meter isn't hooked up correctly and you're being billed for someone else's usage.
2006-09-02 23:18:47 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would contact your local City Public Service and see if they can send out a technician to inspect it. I have a feeling your landlord is "padding the bill" and making the tenants pay the difference.
2006-09-03 00:04:32 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Get the local electrician fast, & get the meter tested, he would also be able to tell you what the problem is for your bill
2006-09-02 23:26:55 · answer #4 · answered by dereckdsouza 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like you live in UK also. Try contacting Energy Watch they have a website www.energywatch.org.uk or consumer helpline on 0845 9060708 they give independent help and advice. Hope it helps.
2006-09-02 23:23:55 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
check the book of business , it can be any kind of business book & from there u can see all kind of company working as supplier.If u don't have one ,then get one & so thaz all i can help...Easy!
2006-09-02 23:21:19 · answer #6 · answered by yani 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like your kid is growing POT in the attic.
2006-09-03 00:16:40 · answer #7 · answered by larry m 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋