Debt Collectors For Communal Electricity- Who’s liable?

A letter from a debt collector turned up the other day, for a sum of £1500 for communal electricity to our stair, which has 8 flats in it.

After some digging with the council and Scottish Power, it seems this is for supply to the entry system, and is for 4 years of unpaid bills. We’ve only been there for 18 months and this is first we have known of it, and obviously are not too keen to pay for 4 years of electricity when we have been there for less than 2.

Working it out seems complicated and as you would expect, the electricity company are no help, so wondering if anyone here has knowledge before I have to spend hours on hold to the electricity company again.

According to the Edinburgh Council guidance, one person is meant to take this bill in their name then collect the money from others, the electricity company say “someone” was paying this for 4 years then stopped 4 years ago.

If this was an individual flat, I know we would just have to prove to the electricity company that the previous owner had moved out and it was not our bill, but not sure if that is the same here? If we can prove the individual that was previously liable for the bill has moved, should they just write this debt off? The information above suggests that although it’s a communal supply, it is an individual liablity rather than a joint one?

It would be the owners of the building, surely? ie the people you pay your ground rent/maintenance fees to?

I suspect this is in Scotland where there’s often no management company?

I would spend the hours on the phone tbh, and get as much information as you can.

Presumably that’s £1500 between eight flats? So assuming it’s a valid claim, you’d owe ~£70?

£375pa seems somewhat excessive for a couple of light bulbs, in any case.

Why have they sat on it for four years?

Yes it’s Scotland, there’s no factors/management company. As per guidance from the council, one owner within the building has to take responsibility for paying this bill, then collect money from others.

Also just to add, I haven’t been naive in spending the last 18 months not paying anything, have stayed in Edinburgh flats for nearly 20 years and never had a communal electricity bill to pay, no idea why this one does, but it’s pretty clear in the guidance from the council that there should be some liability.

£375pa seems somewhat excessive for a couple of light bulbs.

It’s for the entry phone system apparently, the council are responsible for electricity for stair lighting but not for the entry system, apparently.
£375 p/a for an entry buzzer seems even more extortionate to me! I assume the debt collectors have whacked a whole load on top of the actual bill.

My advice? Leave it the hell alone, it wouldn’t be past an Utilities co, either through malice or their usual negligence to slap your name on the bill for a ‘correspondence address’ and suddenly it’s up to you to prove you’re not liable.

The bill is probably wildly over-estimated, unless they’ve imposed a terrible tariff with a high standing charge as the usage will be tiny. This is the usual tactic with ‘Occupier’ bills to encourage a response.

Who is the letter addressed to? Surely only the person it is addressed to (and who has signed a contract for the service) is liable for any debt.

one owner within the building has to take responsibility for paying this bill, then collect money from others.

I’d be posting the letter to one of my neighbours around now. Sounds like a right pain in the arse waiting to happen

I’ve lived in Edinburgh 15 years. I recieved one of these bills randomly addressed to me from Scottish Power about 5-8 years ago and just ignored it. Never heard from again. But there was no debt collector mentioned. We have no factor.

My advice? Leave it the hell alone, it wouldn’t be past an Utilities co, either through malice or their usual negligence to slap your name on the bill for a ‘correspondence address’ and suddenly it’s up to you to prove you’re not liable.

… which is a point in itself. It’s always best to deal with this stuff in writing just in case you inadvertently talk yourself into being liable when you weren’t previously. Certainly never, ever deal with debt collectors over the phone.

IIRC we pay for the electricity for stair lighting in our stair. Its a mixed commercial / residential building and the majority owners act as factors even tho they are not formally factors. We get an annual bill

That’s an impossible situation.

Get 1 person to pay the bill and then be responsible to collect the share from each flat.

Like that’s ever going to happen without difficulty.

This bill should be rolled into the annual service charge.

Who is the letter addressed to? Surely only the person it is addressed to (and who has signed a contract for the service) is liable for any debt.

Addressed to “Landlord Communal Supply”.
My main concern is although I may not be legally liable for the payment, and the debt collectors have nothing on me, if they cut off the supply to the whole stair, this does impact me.

Is there a resident’s association or anything? What happens in the case of any other communal work being required?

Often in Scotland there is no factor nor landlord nor residents association- the flats being freehold. Any communal issues you need to get everyone on board sorting it.

No annual service charge either

^^^ So either somebody needs to take responsibility to get it sorted or the lights are going out?

Hm, I think I organised for a door entry system for our communal stair, that was all sorted but don’t recall how the electricity bill was to be divided. It’s I guess separate from the stair lighting. I/we then sold up and moved on – some years later..

Also in Edinburgh by the way.

£375/year seems excessive. If electricity is 15p/kWh, that means the entryphone is drawing an average of 285W. Maybe there’s a standing charge as well, but that would probably still leave £300 in usage.

The lights won’t be going out. It’s just the Entryphone that won’t work. If you’re lucky, the old cable-operated system will still be in place 😁

I’m guessing a lot of the £1500 is debt collection agency fees? I would get in touch with the utility company and try and explain the situation, they would hopefully write off the agency fees even if not the actual charge for the electricity. But then yeah it sounds a ball-ache to have to nominate someone in the building to pay it who then has to recover the money from everyone else.

Once a debt collector has got involved there will be no going back to the originator, the utility company.

The debt collectors will want to get their money back from ‘buying’ the debt in the first place.

Sharks, daylight robbers the lot of them, dressed up as a legal business.

Addressed to “Landlord Communal Supply”.

Write “not known at this address” on the envelope and stick it back in the post.

Once a debt collector has got involved there will be no going back to the originator, the utility company.

I don’t believe this to be true.

Often in Scotland there is no factor

Less common in Edinburgh, virtually the norm in Glasgow and becoming more common across Scotland.

2 or 3 of those years debts are probably time barred. The utility company has to bill in a timely fashion. I would check that side of things with ofgen or whoever is the regulator and go from there.

I’d be checking the time barring too, not sure about Scotland, but here if there’s been mistakes in billing it can only go back 12 months…

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/problems-with-your-energy-bill/you-havent-received-a-gas-or-electricity-bill-in-a-while/

Applies to Scotland too:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/scotland/consumer/energy/energy-supply/problems-with-your-energy-bill/you-havent-received-a-gas-or-electricity-bill-in-a-while/

You can look for/check the meter to see if it’s an accurate bill.

Back-billing (the 1 year thing) should apply.

Return to sender – technically it’s not to a named person so it’s a nonsense that that person isn’t there.

Also you absolutely can speak to the supplier and you won’t get anywhere trying to resolve a billing issue with a debt collector.

You can of course ignored it, I’ve no idea where that will get you. Conceivably they might get a warrant and put a pre payment meter in.

Scottish power are criminals.

Should be a mprn on the bill, first job is to find that meter and actually see what it’s feeding. I cannot believe for one minute a seperate supply has been installed for door entry.

Even if they do shut down that supply, can’t you just rewire it onto eg your supply and collect a few quid per year from your neighbours?

What I mean is, the consequences of simply ignoring it seem minuscule?

8 years living in tenement flats in Edinburgh and I never, ever saw a bill for electricity in communal space. Pretty sure there wasn’t even a meter.

first job is to find that meter and actually see what it’s feeding.

This. Turn the bugger off, see what else stops working, or which of your fellow tenants starts squealing!

irst job is to find that meter and actually see what it’s feeding.

This

We havemultiple meters in a cupboard. some of them no one knows what they run and I think one office does not know where its meter is.
We often get random bills for random people as a result. I just ignore them – I don’t know if they are paid by the majority owners
We certainly do have a communal electricity supply for stair lighting and door entry system. However we have the council fitting stair lighting and then majority owner fitted stair lighting on top and I simply do not know what the communal electicity bill covers. My share is only 4.6% so its simply not worth me bothering

8 years living in tenement flats in Edinburgh and I never, ever saw a bill for electricity in communal space.

Similar here. I had a recent case where SP tried to bill a resident for street lighting tho, could be a similar error.

SP Aren’t criminals, but they are utterly incompetent

Addressed to “Landlord Communal Supply”.

Seems like everyone else is the close is dodging the letter, have been for 4 years by the sounds of it. I’d follow their lead!

Just for giggles I thought I’d take some photos of our communal meter cupboard. some meters including mine are not in it. The entry phone is off a secondary supply from another supply and has the fire alarm piggy backed off it.
DSC_0790[1] by TandemJeremy[/url], on Flickr
DSC_0792[1] by TandemJeremy[/url], on Flickr
this is the entryphone gubbins
DSC_0791[1] by TandemJeremy[/url], on Flickr