Renting Question

ilovesleep

First time renter here. Recently moved out of home and into a 1 bedroom apartment.

the only bill i have is an esb bill. have yet to talk to the letting agent about it so hoping someone here might be able to help until i get talking.

how does the esb bill work. as in how do i get my name on a bill? didnt receive anything yet but would like to be prepared. also when do i start paying? would i be required to pay since the moment the last tenent left or from the moment i sign the lease and move in. As far i know the place has been empty for a few weeks.
also what do i do with the last tenents mail.


would welcome any advice that ye may have about renting.

i have a feeling i will be in here often.

Little Miss Cutie

When you move in take a meter reading and then ring ESB and ask to transfer the account to your name and give them the reading. You start paying for electricity from that reading on. Bills are generally bi-monthly so you will get a bill about 9 weeks after you move in. Be prepared that unless you set up a DD you will be required to provide a deposit of €200/€300 to ESB.

Regarding post what I just do is cross out the address and write in the forwarding address. TBH I wouldn't worry about that too much it is there own responsibility to arrange getting there post sent to the correct address.

I hope you settle into your new home quickly

ilovesleep

thanks for this information. i wonder why wasnt i told this last week when i first moved in. do they expect everyone to know this?

how do i take a meter reading? i am clueless.

Thanks for the warning about the derit debit and esb. will sort that out. hopefully the bill won't be too high. its just me renting.

thanks for the well wishes. i'm not here too long and i love it even though its going to take up the majority of my wage.

tenchi-fan

ilovesleep wrote: »

thanks for this information. i wonder why wasnt i told this last week when i first moved in. do they expect everyone to know this?

how do i take a meter reading? i am clueless.

Thanks for the warning about the derit debit and esb. will sort that out. hopefully the bill won't be too high. its just me renting.

thanks for the well wishes. i'm not here too long and i love it even though its going to take up the majority of my wage.

Hi, there will be an esb meter on a wall inside or outside of your house. you might need a key to open the box it's kept in. Note the meter reading!

The last tenant will usually have taken a final reading & paid their last bill. You are advised to phone esb immediately with the current meter reading to make sure you don't get overcharged or end up paying for the previous tenant. I found esb to be easy to deal with.

ESB bills are generally pretty manageable. Electric heaters, immersion heaters, washing machines, tumble driers, etc, are your enemies! I dry my clothes on a clothes horse or line, replaced all the bulbs with energy saving bulbs, i've an electric shower rather than heating a tank of water for only one person, and i wash my clothes at 30 degrees. I don't care about the environment but I like keeping my electric bill low, I have enough other bills!

ps the reading itself . there are something like 5 digits followed by a 6th in red (which is only part of a unit and isn't included in the reading). The 5 digits are your meter reading. e.g. 34343
If they read 34343 and the last reading was 34200, it means you used 143 units so that's what you will be charged for.
Your esb bill will usually be estimated. You can phone esb with the correct reading to avoid paying too much or too little (because if you pay too little for a few months you will be hit with a huge bill later on)

ilovesleep

Thanks a million for this techi fan. im not in a house. im in an apartment. i know what the meter box looks like at home in my parents house but haven't a clue where to start lookin for it in the apartment. i wandered around the place last night and downstairs on the ground floor there are grey boxes on the wall (note its not the postboxes) by any chance would these be meter boxes for the apartments.

when ringing esb am i going to need an account number or will the actual address do.

thanks for your advice techi fan. im staying well away from the storage heaters. i never want to use them. amazingly the apartment is very very warm. i had to go around a few times since moving in to make sure that they are off. im roasted there i am. my clothes dry over night on a clothes horse! thans a mil for the all the other advice. have to get cracking and phone the esb.
could i just leave the other persons mail into the letting agents?

D3PO

honestly its pointless checking now anyway. you will have to accept the first bill as you have no way of arguing what the meter was at when you moved in.

ilovesleep

D3PO wrote: »

honestly its pointless checking now anyway. you will have to accept the first bill as you have no way of arguing what the meter was at when you moved in.

Ah crap!

i am doing everything i can to keep it as low as possible. heres hoping i dont get a shocker of an esb bill. Wish i was told about this when i first moved in last week.

tenchi-fan

ilovesleep wrote: »

Ah crap!

i am doing everything i can to keep it as low as possible. heres hoping i dont get a shocker of an esb bill. Wish i was told about this when i first moved in last week.

I don't think the previous poster is correct. I moved into my house and didn't phone esb until after one week. they asked me to confirm the reading, and she called out the last reading the person moving out registered. It seemed reasonable so I didn't argue.

ztoical

tenchi-fan wrote: »

I don't think the previous poster is correct. I moved into my house and didn't phone esb until after one week. they asked me to confirm the reading, and she called out the last reading the person moving out registered. It seemed reasonable so I didn't argue.

Yeah the last place I was in had been empty for a while ESB said there was some difference between my reading the last reading they'd been given but started my account from the reading I gave....no clue if it was a massive difference or if they followed the last person up for it.

If you've rented via an estate agent you should check with them if they took a reading. A decent estate agent will have done that but alot of estate agents are a joke so always best to take a reading yourself for your own records. Regarding post ask the estate agent if the last person in the flat arranged with them to forward mail....our current place was owner occupied before us and had made arrangements with the EA to forward any mail...most likely they haven't and you should just write "no longer at this address" on the mail and pop it into a post box

gurramok

Take a photo of the meter readings as well for proof

You will need the MPRN number of the new place you are in also.

ilovesleep

I would like to thank you all for the advice i got here. it was towards the end of last week when i got a chance to call into the escate agent to sort out the esb. was happy to learn that it was the escate agent that sorted it for me and transferred my name for an esb account. off i went happy totally forgetting to ask how i would take a meter reading and forgot to ask did they take a meter readimg when the last tenent left.

i sorted a DD for esb.

sure didnt it just dawn on me this morning what if the escate agent supplied an old meter reading? would i not be left paying for the previous tenents bill if they didnt pay.

also it was only this week when i got a chance to clear out the postbox. i was told to pass it all onto the landlord. but he keeps away and i never meet him. and turns out one of the mail is from esb (in the previous tenents name). i just hope to god the last tenent paid her bill and i dont get slapped with paying her bill.

ilovesleep

Update: i recieved my very first esb bill yesterday and its not bad i must have to say. I was dreading it. Now I dont know what all the fuss was about. I suppose i didnt know what to expect really. I had visions that i was going to be slapped with the previous tenents bill.
Anyways its a bill for three weeks for 22.28. Not bad.

Thanks for the advice that i got here, and thanks to the person who warned me to set up a DD.

H8GHOTI

One more ESB tip for ya, even though your bill was low, so you may not need it
If you are on the Nightsaver tariff, electricity will be cheaper at night time. To check if you are or not you can look at your bill and it should mention how many units you used. If it shows day units & night units, the night units should be about half the price, you'll be on Nightsaver. If all units are the same price, then you'll be on the normal tariff. (Actually if you check here, it'll tell you how to check what tariff you're on).

You need two meters for that tariff, so you're apartment block may or may not have it.

Anyway, the tip - We have timers on our washing machine & dishwasher and put them on just before we go to bed, so they run during the night. Night units are used after 12am during summer & 11pm in winter.