No Electricity Meter Readings

[Sbanishotel]

When we moved into this rented flat we were not provided with a meter reading for electricity. The meter is locked away in a cupboard controlled by the landlord. Even the agents dont have access.

So we don’t know what meter reading we were on. The last tenants had no idea either. The electricity company don’t care and say they will just send us estimated readings.

But how do we know they are accurate? Equally, if they don’t know what the meter was on when we moved in, what’s stopping us from using way more than they estimate?

Your supplier used to legally be obliged to attain an accurate physical reading at least once per annum to ensure this sort of nonsense could only persist for so long.

If they can't bill you from an accurate starting point due to your landlord's refusal to grant access to the meter, then I'd suggest you ask them to contact your landlord directly to agree a time whereby they can arrange to take a physical reading, and absolutely refuse to pay for any consumption until that 'starting point' is agreed.

There is no way the supplier can realistically expect you to pay in any case, since they have no figure with which to open your ownership of the account, and absolutely no way to determine where the liability of the previous tenant ends and yours begins.

Why will the landlord not access the cupboard for you?

Honestly, you were mad to agree to this - you should have demanded access to the cupboard and you need to do that now.

Have you asked the landlord if they took a reading at the end of the last tenancy/start of this one?