Prepaid water meter problems, whose responsibility?

by Readers Question

9:57 PM, 18th March 2015, 11 years ago 5

Categories:

Landlord News Landlords Questions

In our flat we have a card that we have to top up for heating our water which is provided by a third party service called Insite Energy.

We top the card up £25 at a time which usually last just under 2 months but since the new year we have noticed that it isn’t even last a month any more.

We have queried it with our letting agency and Insite Energy and today we got a response from our letting agency saying it is not their responsibility to deal with the problem as it is happening from Insite Energy which is a third party service provider.

Are the letting agents right here?

Also, if we have to call out an Insite Engineer to come and look at the heat meter to check for leaks or other problems at our flat and they charge a call out fee, who should have to pay for it, us or the letting agents/landlords?

Hope someone can provide advise soon.

Thanks

Sunil

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Comments

Joe Bloggs

Member Since June 2013 - Comments: 646 - Articles: 1

10:08 AM, 19th March 2015, About 11 years ago

i would say if there is nothing wrong with the meter you pay. if there is a fault then the landlord or insite pay.

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Property Buyer

Member Since January 2015 - Comments: 3

10:59 AM, 19th March 2015, About 11 years ago

What did insite say when you queried the costs?

Do you not have a metre for this anywhere and/or have their costs gone up?

I’d agree with Joe Bloggs on who would need to pay for the call out fee. If there is a fault with something that’s out of your control then I’d say its definitely the landlords responsibility to get this fixed.

However if there isn’t anything wrong with it and it turns out its due to costs and the amount your using etc. I’d say that’s your responsibility.

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brian clement

Member Since December 2014 - Comments: 50

1:25 AM, 20th March 2015, About 11 years ago

Even if you PAYG with a card, you can still run up a debt. Check your meter to see if when you pay in £25 it shows that £25 has gone into credit on the meter. You can also see if there is a debt or problems by pressing the buttons on the front of meter. I know it sounds daft but I ran up a £60 debt on a PAYG meter. Good luck.

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Abigail Gollicker

Member Since March 2015 - Comments: 1

4:25 PM, 23rd March 2015, About 11 years ago

Hello there. We can help you with this! Please contact Insite at [email protected]. Insite is a metering, billing and payments company that provides its services on behalf of District Heating Suppliers across the UK. So we don’t supply the heat nor maintain the heating system, however if we can’t help you directly with your queries we will be able to put you in touch with the right people.

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Sunil Lad

Member Since February 2015 - Comments: 9

4:43 PM, 23rd March 2015, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by “Abigail Gollicker” at “23/03/2015 – 16:25“:

Thanks Abigail, I will do just that

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