Hi,

I have just discovered from my tennant that Scottish Power are going to fit prepayment meters to MY property which I rent to him. He has been unable to pay them the £360 per month Direct Debit they have been demanding as he is self employed and trying to keep a roof over his head.

I think this is diabloical trying to get more money then someone actually has every month to pay a direct debit, so they have advised that next week they will get a warrent and fit the meters. Now as he is my tennant and I own the property, not him can they do this without my authority? Shouldn't they just cut him off? I know that its bad, but the weather is good at the moment and he is hardly using the electricity from what I have seen.

For all they know I could kick him out tomorrow and i'm left with prepayment meters for other tennants and this is not what I want.

I have tried to search the net since hearing this news a couple of hours ago but to no avail. If someone could please help on this matter it would be greatly appreciated.

If the supply is cut off, you will have to pay reconnection fees which will be likely to be worse than switching the meters back.

£360 per month is a lot. I suspect that part of that amount may relate to arrears.

I work in this area, they can enter with a warrant without your permission and goto their meter, this is their property and can do it at anytime without permission.

I do agree the £360 will have arrears. If they cut it off the meter will be removed and if your new tennants dont pass the credit check they will have to have them anyway

Hi Angie8m,

I know this is a bad situation,however, your tnt does have a responsibility to ensure that all their bills, utility and the like are paid, after all, he cant really live without electricity, you say he aint really using it at the min, but the weather has changed, and after all, he needs lights at night & to turn on the kettle !

Any utility has rights to access a property to inspect their equipment. If they do have to enter the property I would suggest its done with full consent as if they have to break in, which a warrant allows, their will be costs for lock replacements and if the tnt loses these keys what would you be left with.

At the end of the day if your tnt moves out, the debt will follow him as I am quite certain you would provide the forwarding address details, as you would know this for when you return any deposit/bond he has, and the benefit for you, yes there is one, is that prepay meters can be simply reset back to zero for any new tnts you move in, and you will be safe in the knowledge that they also cant run up massive debts by failing to pay their bills.

I would contact the tnt and collect any correspondence he has been sent concerning the warrant visit and get in touch with ScottishPower and explain you are the landlord and you would like to be present to ensure all goes smoothly.

SP cant not speak to the l/lord due to dpa, only the tennant can

Hi Angie8m,

Just as background for you, we are currently in a big fight with Scottish Power over the same thing. Back in 2008, our tenant was unable to pay their bill and Scottish Power entered our property (as is their right) and installed pre-payment meters (as they claim is also their right). When the tenant moved out, we were stuck with the pre-payment meters.

These meters are not only a hassle, but uSwitch.com suggests to me that the prices that will be charged for both electricity and gas are higher than standard, even when the meters are not set up to pay off any arrears.

Worse still, if we want the meters changed back to standard meters, we not only need to pay Scottish Power to do this (though they install pre-payment meters FOC, of course, because they make more money from customers afterwards) at a cost of £43.99 and £63.99 for electricity and gas meters respectively, but we have been told that we would ALSO need to (a) pay £150 "security deposit" which Scottish Power will retain in case of any future default on a bill, and (b) act as "guarataur" (with unlimited liability) by being "party to the account" for any future tenant's utility bills.

They tell me that the industry regulator has approved all of their policies, and I am therefore now in contact with the regulator, Ofgem, becuase I find it astonishing that they have been given the right BOTH to change the meters TO pre-payment without my consent, and without any change, to INCREASE the prices on those meters, AND to levy so many charges and conditions when I want to have the meters changed back, so that they protect their profits. Effectively, they are saying that they have the right to take an action without consulting me, which then changes MY future relationship with my utilities provider.

I should clarify that these charges all apply even if I choose to move back into the property myself - I will now be treated as a "high risk" because I have paid them to undo a change they made without my consent. Yet if my tenant had not allowed Scottish Power to change the meters, I would not be required to provide any security deposit, and would not be required to be party to a tenant's account.

I find this an astonishing abuse of power by Scottish Power. I will let you know the outcome of my communication with the regulator.

Suffice to say, if you can avoid having pre-payment meters installed, that's definitely desirable. In our cases though, and with the current legislation, I am not sure if we have any real option?


Phil

As long as you or your tenant has a good payment record (12+ months of paying the bills on time), you can ask for the meters to be changed back without paying a security deposit or providing a guarantor. This information came from EnergyWatch (= ConsumerFocus or ConsumerDirect). If you don't know who the next tenant will be though, obviously they can't assess their payment record.

If the supplier is digging their heels in, EnergyWatch used to get involved to push them into doing the right thing however, while you've got a tenant who is struggling with the bills, you will have to go along with the prepayment meters.