Tenant arranged removal of night rate meter in flat with electric heating?

Tenant arranged removal of night rate meter in flat with electric heating?

9:36 AM, 26th September 2022, About 2 years ago 28

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Hello, Advice appreciated!

I have a flat that has no gas, and has electric storage heaters which were on night rate electricity.

The tenant left, and we found he had arranged for SSE to change the meter to one without the night rate facility.

This was without our permission, and when asked, the tenant said it was because he couldn’t get the storage heaters to work.

Setting aside that obviously we would have helped him with the heaters if he had let us know, we now have these issues:-

-We feel it would be unfair to let the flat to another tenant due to the higher cost of heating night-stores with day rate electricity.

-Are we likely to persuade SSE to re-instate a night rate?

-Where do landlords stand with regard to insisting that utility companies contact them regarding major changes like this?

-If SSE might charge for re-instating the meter, is it allowable to withhold this against the deposit, or does this not count as “damage”?

Thank you.

Wendy


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Comments

Gromit

16:04 PM, 27th September 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by John Allies at 27/09/2022 - 15:39
Just to be clear then. The EPC is dependent upon the tarriff the user chooses as it is possible to have night storage radiators on a "whole house" tarriff (e.g. Octopus Go which is 7.5p/unit form 12:30am to 4:30am), which uses a single meter (SMETS2) that sends usage back based on time of use?

John Allies

19:25 PM, 27th September 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Gromit at 27/09/2022 - 16:04That is an interesting synopsis. Being realistic the current EPC methodology is based on standard occupancy and recogonised tariff systems. There are obviously new tariffs out there which have come about due to the rapid increase in electric cars, but these are not necessisarily going to be recognised by rdSAP system and will still be considered as single tariff systems. I am not sure this is the type of thing that is going to help Wendy in her current predicament but I am certainly interested and will look further into it.

Seething Landlord

19:51 PM, 27th September 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by John Allies at 27/09/2022 - 19:25
Your interesting explanation seems to confirm that the existing EPC rating system is really not fit for purpose when so much depends on the results. Is that a fair observation?

Gromit

20:17 PM, 27th September 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by John Allies at 27/09/2022 - 19:25
I've heard from another EPC Assessor that the current system is based upon cost rather than efficiency. Citing that installing ASHP instead of a gas boiler would actually reduce a properties rating not improve it.

This makes a total nonsense of the Government drive to improve EPC of properties and reduce carbon emissions.

John Allies

21:01 PM, 27th September 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 27/09/2022 - 19:51
Possibly harsh to say that it is not fit for purpose, but there are always going to be a lot of anomalies that need to be sorted out. Every single property is different, and the standard occupancy system was built on the basis that you assess all elements and come out with a reasonable conclusion. Take a three bedroom semi-detached house in the centre of the country and build and subtract on it depending on the property you are surveying and come out with an answer following the guide lines provided which gives you a fair rating, that is what the EPC is intended to do.

John Allies

21:12 PM, 27th September 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Gromit at 27/09/2022 - 20:17
Simply can't disagree with that. My argument has always been that the survey has been based on fuel costs and not on energy conservation. I have made several representations but been ignored, so I just carry on.

Louise

0:14 AM, 5th October 2022, About 2 years ago

Hello Wendy.
I have the exact same situation with my tenant.
He didn't inform me before the change (which I would have tried to persuade him not to do) and now I am unsure of how the storage heaters will work in the way that they did before.
Do I have to replace them if the metre cannot be changed back to the original ecomony 7 metre? Who is now responsible for paying for that change? The company is also SSE.

Notaportfolio

9:27 AM, 5th October 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Louise at 05/10/2022 - 00:14
I feel for you Louise! After hours of frustrating calls to the electricity supplier, we finally spoke to someone who seemed to understand. (We hope...). They say they should be able to remotely change the metering back on an appointed date next week. We have put the storage heater switches on, but nothing happened (it would have been peak rate anyway) , so they are not working at the moment. The void continues, the previous tenant is proving expensive!!

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