meter rating/tariff concern

meylerfive

myself and a friend moved into an old rented property a few days ago with another friend who has been living there since last october- we have the first floor of a 3 storey house.our flat consists of two bedrooms,a kitchen and one bathroom. We talked to the other tenant about the electricity costs and realised that he had been paying a huge amount on electricity since he moved in. We have a prepaid meter. All money inserted into the meter has been dated and recorded and we discovered that electricity costs amount to on average 4euro per day. Upon online research and studying the meter I discovered that the set rate of our meter is on 'B' rather than the normal 'A' rate for households. We do not get the bill for the electricity, the landlord does so we cannot compare the electricity generated with the bill. We have the suspicion that the landlord is making profit from this arrangement as she has refused to change the account over to our name and has even refused to show us the bills. How can we change from the B tariff to the A tariff?we have ruled out the possibility that we are paying for the other flat's electricity as we waited until the meter ran out to see if the meter disk was still spinning and it wasn't.i can't think of any other reasoning as to why the meter eats up coins so quickly other than that the landlord has set a high rating.any help sorting this out would be really appreciated.

Outkast_IRE

how is the flat heated, electrical heating is expensive

Electric Ireland: David

Hi meylerfive,

meylerfive wrote:

Upon online research and studying the meter I discovered that the set rate of our meter is on 'B' rather than the normal 'A' rate for households... How can we change from the B tariff to the A tariff?

Coin meters are separate from your electricity meter, and are never installed by ESB. Is it the former or the latter meter you were studying? Electricity meters as installed by ESB Networks have no 'A' or 'B' rate. They may, however, have a day and night rate. See here for further information.

meylerfive wrote:

we discovered that electricity costs amount to on average 4euro per day.

Our electricity rates are available to view here, so it is possible to manually arrive at an approximation of what you should be charged if you have meter readings. Our Appliance Calculator may also help in this regard (don't forget to factor in the standing charge).

meylerfive wrote:

i can't think of any other reasoning as to why the meter eats up coins so quickly other than that the landlord has set a high rating.any help sorting this out would be really appreciated.

Unfortunately we cannot intervene in a matter such as this; you would need to resolve this directly with your landlord. We can only charge the billholder for the electricity used as per meter readings received from ESB Networks. What is charged subsequently via a coin meter is beyond our control.

Regards,

David.

meylerfive

'Coin meters are separate from your electricity meter, and are never installed by ESB. Is it the former or the latter meter you were studying? Electricity meters as installed by ESB Networks have no 'A' or 'B' rate. They may, however, have a day and night rate.'

ok so it's obviously not an ESB installed coin or electricity meter, it definitely has the term 'A Tariff' imprinted on it in various locations yet beside the rating box at the top corner of the electricity meter it says 'set rate : B'

'Our electricity rates are available to view here, so it is possible to manually arrive at an approximation of what you should be charged if you have meter reading. Our Appliance Calculator may also help in this regard (don't forget to factor in the standing charge).'

I have calculated the units of the appliances which i think would eat up the most electricity such as the microwave yet these calculations don't warrant an average of 4euro charge per day. The flat is heated by oil and we have no electric shower. My point is I can't imagine what appliances would use up so much electricity.

'Unfortunately we cannot intervene in a matter such as this; you would need to resolve this directly with your landlord. We can only charge the billholder for the electricity used as per meter readings received from ESB Networks. What is charged subsequently via a coin meter is beyond our control.'

ok maybe we can go to the Private Rented Tenancy Board because I can't imagine that we can resolve this with the landlord. I presumed that this was a case of somebody re-selling electricity and that, to my knowledge is illegal and is of the concern of ESB/Electric Ireland. Maybe I'm wrong. Anyway thanks for your help

Solair

There are lots of things in the Irish rental market that shouldn't be legal but are!

Your landlord is basically locking you into their own private tariff.

€240/ 2-month period would seem very high for a small flat although it would also depend on your electricity usage.

Can you find out what the landlord is charging per kWh

E.g. how many kWh does €1.00 in the meter get?

This kind of thing is unusual in normal rental accommodation, but a lot of landlords still do it with short-term lets and student accommodation.

The only way you could really know if the landlord is gouging you is to check the actual rates.

The A/B tariff are just whatever the landlord has programmed into the private meter.

Electric Ireland: David

Thanks Solair,

Solair wrote:

Can you find out what the landlord is charging per kWh

E.g. how many kWh does €1.00 in the meter get?

Some useful links that may make this process more straightforward:

• What Is One Unit (i.e. what it will get you)
• Our Price Plan Unit Rates (click 'more details')

Hope this helps,

Regards,

David.

Solair

Who's Sairo ?

Electric Ireland: David wrote: »

Thanks Sairo,



Some useful links that may make this process more straightforward:

• What Is One Unit (i.e. what it will get you)
• Our Price Plan Unit Rates (click 'more details')

Hope this helps,

Regards,

David.

meylerfive

hey solair,
can i check the actual rates by waiting until the electricity is gone,reading the meter then putting a coin in,waiting until the electricity is gone again and reading the meter.then take the second reading away from the first?

token101

meylerfive wrote: »

myself and a friend moved into an old rented property a few days ago with another friend who has been living there since last october- we have the first floor of a 3 storey house.our flat consists of two bedrooms,a kitchen and one bathroom. We talked to the other tenant about the electricity costs and realised that he had been paying a huge amount on electricity since he moved in. We have a prepaid meter. All money inserted into the meter has been dated and recorded and we discovered that electricity costs amount to on average 4euro per day. Upon online research and studying the meter I discovered that the set rate of our meter is on 'B' rather than the normal 'A' rate for households. We do not get the bill for the electricity, the landlord does so we cannot compare the electricity generated with the bill. We have the suspicion that the landlord is making profit from this arrangement as she has refused to change the account over to our name and has even refused to show us the bills. How can we change from the B tariff to the A tariff?we have ruled out the possibility that we are paying for the other flat's electricity as we waited until the meter ran out to see if the meter disk was still spinning and it wasn't.i can't think of any other reasoning as to why the meter eats up coins so quickly other than that the landlord has set a high rating.any help sorting this out would be really appreciated.

Coin meters are a debt collection thing. They only get put in when people owe money in a place. So for every 10 quid you put in you only get 7-8 euro of electricity and the other 2-3 euro is clearing a debt owed by someone else that built up over time. Happened to me before, got scammed for a fortune by the LL. Why else would they not show you the bills? You're more than likely being scammed by the LL. Simple as. I'd be contacting Threshold pronto if I was you!! You're clearing someone else's debt everytime you put money in that meter