Do they charge you 1 euro per day for electricity and gas plus VAT?

hago123

[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Hi folks,[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I will be moving to Shannon next month and spoke with the rental agency today. She said that even if I don't use the electricity and Gas I am supposed to pay 1 Euro per day for each of the supply plus VAT. The apartment is GFCH and an apartment. The minimum bill will be 75 Euros per month mandatory.[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Is this right? Could some one explain me?[/font]

[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Thanks in Advance[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Hago[/font]

colm_mcm

Are you going to be paying the bills to the letting agent or dealing directly with the gas/electricity company?

You mention apartment and house, is it like a granny flat, i.e. A small apartment joined to a house?

Standard combined gas and electricity standing charge would be around €22 per month

hago123

Sorry, it is an apartment. Not granny flat.
which is better, paying directly or paying to the letting agent?

colm_mcm

Are you signing a 12 month lease?

padyjoe

Standing charge applies to your energy supplies everyday regardless of you using it. Taking random EI standing charges it's at least e250 for a year (gas+electricity).
And could be the PSO levy on top of that. And you haven't used anything yet...

Taken from here
Low user standing charge

hago123

with the landlord/rental agency? I will find the answer tomorrow.

OldMrBrennan83

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padyjoe

Patww79 wrote: »

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Good question!

hago123

"but are the rental agency looking a payment and looking for the tenant to pay the bill also?"
you mean will I be paying some more money apart from the rent to the agency?

OldMrBrennan83

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hago123

Let me talk and confirm this.

LirW

But 1 euro/day standing charge for each plus VAT as stated from the OP is a lot. Like seriously a lot. Clarify with the EA and also do research how much the standing charges are on different plans. That sounds a bit excessive.

rsynnott

1 euro per day ex vat for standing charge sounds a bit high (they’re not meant to be quoting you ex vat prices, anyway, unless you’re a business), but not totally outlandish. Think mine is a bit under 300 a year, inc vat.

Edit: just saw that you said for _each_ service, not both combined. Assuming this is domestic service, that sounds totally mad.

fritzelly

Standing charge is about 240 (not counting any combined discounts etc) plus PSO levy comes in around 345 - not far off a euro a day but not for the extra VAT they are quoting as well which adds another 70 to that

astrofool

If the gas goes into your name, there will be a deposit required as well (usually about €300).

If I was a landlord, I'd have everything on pay as you go, utility companies can't seem to handle people moving house, and always seem flustered what to do (it should revert to landlords name, with a final reading taken by tenant and verified by landlord, any new tenant should get details, EPRN, GPRN, from landlord directly, along with starting readings).

1874

LirW wrote: »

But 1 euro/day standing charge for each plus VAT as stated from the OP is a lot. Like seriously a lot. Clarify with the EA and also do research how much the standing charges are on different plans. That sounds a bit excessive.

Yoy'd be surprised, it could work out at a euro per day for standing charge costs and other standard costs such as PSO, carbon tax and vat easily.
I pay on a credit account about 32 euro including vat for the standing charge and the carbon tax alone, the PSO levy is fixed by the CRU. See table

https://www.bonkers.ie/guides/gas-electricity/what-is-the-pso-levy/

Its possible this has been a miscommunication between the agent and tenant.
If the meters are a prepay type and the OP doesnt use the utilities or doesnt think they do, the bill provider will deduct a charge at a set time to cover the standing charge, PSO levy and carbon tax (the last is unit use dependant), from what I know, they dont gain from this they merely pass these charges on eg the standing charge is for the network provider (gas or electric) to maintain the infrastructure of the specific network), being mindful, that a low use below set levels can also incur a low usage charge also.
If there is no credit on the account, the charge still builds up so it is a good idea to keep that type of meter topped up regularly to prevent the utilities being cut off, which may incur a reconnection fee.
The agent may have just estimated a round figure easy to remember for themselves (they may not be conversant in the charges and their purposes, just that they exist at about that cost) and easy to recal for the the tenant. The actual flat rate standing charges probably wont be much less than about a euro per day.

Just double checked it on my own out of curiosity, all the standard applied charges including vat at 13.5% come to just under 1 euro per day, thats before you start paying for your units and vat on top of that.

LirW

But OP is supposed to pay that seperately for electricity and one for gas, at least that's what it seems like in the OP. Over 1 Euro excl. VAT per seems quite excessive.

1874

LirW wrote: »

But OP is supposed to pay that seperately for electricity and one for gas, at least that's what it seems like in the OP. Over 1 Euro excl. VAT per seems quite excessive.

The OP didnt seem to be very clear about it themselves or that they would be paying bills on top of the rent, they say it is an apartment, so maybe its all electric and no gas, maybe its on prepay, they might not have an option in that regard, ie they could be in the situation that they can choose their own supplier but limited to a prepay meter, they really need to contact the agent to clear it up.

myshirt

Is this a valid way of circumventing the rent caps?

OldMrBrennan83

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1874

myshirt wrote: »

Is this a valid way of circumventing the rent caps?

How much extra are they going to get this way really, doesnt seem like it would be worth the hassle.
Id say its more likely the place has a prepay meter or meters to ensure any tenant tops up regularly to avail of electricity or gas.
It might suit some people or just be better for them if they have it that way, rather than receiving a large bill in one go they cant budget for, it has less options and benefits than paying after the bill arrives, but that way usually includes large deposits in advance too. Utility providers want to get people on contracts with direct debits for the same reason, as they dont want to be chasing them up to pay in case they forget because that means having people employed and paid to do that.