Electricity meter issue

Somecrimesitry

I've lived in a property with a small business unit attached for about nine years. There was a business in the unit when I moved in but that closed after a while. Now a new business is operating but here's the thing...my landlady has only just informed me that I'm paying the electricity for the entire building as there is no separate meter in place for this new business!!! The business has been using electricity for a few months already. I still have to meet the landlady to clarify whether I was also paying for the old business in there when I moved in nine years ago too. I'm effing livid as you can imagine but would like more info before I meet her later this month.

I'm no legal eagle but I assume this is a very serious matter on a number of grounds? I understand people can't give direct legal advice on these sort of things but has anyone heard of something like this before?

If necessary feel free to use PM.
Thanks.

Michael D Not Higgins

Best thing to do is estimate your electricity usage from previous months and see how much extra is being used by the business. Get the landlady to cover you for that amount and have a separate meter installed. As for 9 years ago, you might have to let that one go.

newacc2015

You can buy an electric meter to measure their usage properly. It is pretty common in buildings, where is a different business on the different floors, but only one meter.

ongarite

How much is your bi-monthly bill? It must be quite large if you suspect you were paying for a business..

Somecrimesitry

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

Best thing to do is estimate your electricity usage from previous months and see how much extra is being used by the business. Get the landlady to cover you for that amount and have a separate meter installed. As for 9 years ago, you might have to let that one go.

The thing is the meter is inside the business unit which I have never had access to. When I first moved in I was told my bill was tied to it's own meter separate from that old business nine years ago. Now the building apparently only has one meter. So either it always only had one meter and I was duped when moving in or else maybe the old business had a business meter which ended with it's closure a few years ago. I still need to clarify that, so I suppose that's possible.

When I first learned about this the landlady refused to put in a separate meter due to the cost. I'm having other issues at this property so I'm going to move out soon anyway. Still doesn't change the fact that a private business was allowed setup, perform reconstruction / renovation work for weeks, and then open for business without anyone informing me that I was picking up the tab for there electricity usage.

Michael D Not Higgins

This is a bizarre situation to be honest. How do you know your bills are correct, you don't even know the units on the meter? My advice still is to come to some financial arrangement with the landlady. If nothing comes of that, I would suggest a PRTB dispute of failure to meet landlord obligations.

Somecrimesitry

ongarite wrote: »

How much is your bi-monthly bill? It must be quite large if you suspect you were paying for a business..

The old business would have been low usage as it was just an office used a few times a week. It was a single desk operation so a low footprint that would have gone unnoticed especially if it was part of my bill from day one.

The new business will be using far more power per day and I'd say that's the only reason this has come to my attention now. It would have been impossible to ignore the cost doubling or even trebling. The bill was was usually estimated for most of the year with the landlady sending in the meter reading once or twice during the year. So I'd say the usage spike will only appear when the meter reading is sent in. I'll be asking for this to be done immediately.

housetypeb

Whose name is on the bill for the electricity ?

Somecrimesitry

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

This is a bizarre situation to be honest. How do you know your bills are correct, you don't even know the units on the meter? My advice still is to come to some financial arrangement with the landlady. If nothing comes of that, I would suggest a PRTB dispute of failure to meet landlord obligations.

Tell me about it:)

I've lived in many different rental properties and this has been odd to say the least from start to finish.

I have already been told that any costs will be payed back to me which is fine. But if there is only one meter then who ran up what costs? It's a total mess.

Somecrimesitry

housetypeb wrote: »

Whose name is on the bill for the electricity ?

It's in my name.

Baby01032012

Somecrimesitry wrote: »

It's in my name.

If in your name why is the landlady sending in the meter reading. That's your right/ responsibility.

Somecrimesitry

Baby01032012 wrote: »

If in your name why is the landlady sending in the meter reading. That's your right/ responsibility.

As I said earlier...the meter is located inside the business unit which I do not have access to. Most of the year my bill was estimated with one or two meter readings during the year to sync everything up again.

The point is that I specifically asked when viewing the property originally if I was on a separate meter from the business unit and I was told yes. I was told the unit was on it's own meters and would have no impact on any bill for the residential part of the property. My lease also specifically states residential use only and does not list the separate address of the business unit anywhere as my responsibility. If it turns out that I was actually paying for the entire property all along then I'll expect a back dated repayment of those costs.