Posted 8 November 2021
Tenant leaves. pre pay gas meter on 'emergency credit'
I know I'm not responsible for any debt and I have a picture of the meter on the day but what is Emergency Credit? Is this used after they clock up a normal debt?
Its Scottish Power if that makes a difference.
TIA for any responses.
Its Scottish Power if that makes a difference.
TIA for any responses.
Community Updates
37 Comments
sorted byEven if the debt is 5 pounds and you pay it off. It's best too put the meter in your name until you get new tenant's as there's usually some money sent back too the person whose name the bill is in as for some reason the meters don't always charge correct amount. Don't forget there will be a standing charge which increases the bill everyday and tentants may not have gone up by much. Best ring and then tell them.
Doesn't make sense. Yes it's a inconvenience for not being able too use the gas electric, it's silly paying for tenants debt when they really don't need too do that they just need ring the company and wait for a few days for them too come reset the meter 9r send a new key/card or whatever they do.
I made the mistake of paying off someone else's debt once before they won't give it back too you once you have paid it even if it's by mistake.
community.scottishpower.co.uk/t5/…/69
quick with the mouth and slow with the brain. Just like the real Paul Merton. You probably felt quite smug with that response but evidently didn't bother to read the FAQ. It includes these words
'and any payments you are making towards previous debt'
which is why I asked for help understanding it. Perhaps I should have asked for responses from anyone who knows what they are talking about rather than an onanist. I do so now.
Because it is an Emergency Credit and as far as I know it's even less then £10. But it's probably too hard for the TO to call the company and asked.
Don't be silly; in this case it's simply the tenant used up all of their prepaid gas, and rather than topping it up, they let it run out and activated the emergency credit instead. This used to be capped at £5 and was just to supposed to give enough time to sort out an appropriate top up. (edited)
In that case, the account is presumably in the tenant's name; so it is their debt, not the property (or the landlord). In this case, the meter is simply showing that there is no credit, so once the emergency credit is used up the gas will be shut off until the meter is credited.
The OP will need to apply some credit if they want to keep the heating on, at that point they'll find out how much of the emergency credit was used before they left (if they add £10 and only £7.50 shows on the meter, then the used emergency credit was only £2.50). At that point they can decide whether it is worth chasing up the previous tenant.
You think the tenant should pay the landlord for something the tenant owes to a utility company? Why not take your weeks shopping out his deposit too?
How do you know the debt isn't £2000? Should he just pay that and move on if it is? Or maybe ring them and get it sorted out?
It might not be a small amount.
The debt to the supplier lies with the pre-payment meter which is in your property. Bit different scenario me thinks
ah right sorry, i didn't realise you had access to the meter and have checked what the debt is? A lot of prepayment meters are fitted because there is a debt outstanding, obviously you know that wasn't the case here, or that the tenant has paid off any outstanding debt that was initially there when it was fitted.
Don't be silly, the OP even quoted this from the scottish power website
'and any payments you are making towards previous debt'
The debt could be £0.00, £10.00, £5000 for all you know.
If you need to use gas before the new card arrives then ask the supplier. You'll probably need to top up to clear the debt then claim a refund.
It's not unlimited , some people don't pay there bills and prepayment meters are fitted and there debt is added onto it. Then I am not exactly sure but I think 30 percent of a top up is used too pay the debt off.
The emergency credit is still limited to a fairly small amount i think around 10 pounds. But the difference is if nobody tops up the meter for 6 months or say longer the meter will keep adding a standing charge. Which I think is wrong as you aren't using any electric gas in them days anyway.
But if you then topped up with say 10 pounds certain amount gives towards your debt and you are still allowed too use a small amount of the money you top up the debt doesn't need clearing . Im not sure if there is a time limit on how long this is allowed too carry on.
If that all makes sense
are you just making things up?
The OP said it is prepayment and the tenant may have left debt on it.
If that is the case, then topping it up will mean the landlord is paying his debt.
He says he doesn't want the gas cut off over the winter period, so presumably he isn't expecting someone new in next week.
Why should any new tenant be responsible for the previous tenants debt?
Heres what scottish power say about it
What do I need to do when I have a tenant moving in or out of a property?
It's really important that you let us know when you’ve a tenant moving in or out of a property. If you don't tell us we might end up billing the wrong person for energy that has been used at the property.
Landlord Details: When there is no tenant residing in a rented property the landlord is responsible for the daily standing charge and any gas and/or electricity used at the property during this time, for example heating/lighting whilst showing potential tenants around the property. The landlord details will be used to maintain contact with the landlord including issuing bills for any energy costs during this time.
Is there a Prepayment Meter at the property?If there is a Prepayment Meter at the property we will also need to know the current credit or debit balance on the meter. You can insert this into the additional commentary box at the bottom of the web form.
If the property has been vacant for a long time, there may be a debit balance on the Prepayment Meter and we will need to clear this for the new tenant to re-connect the supply. We will need to do this before the new tenant purchases any credit for the meter.
community.scottishpower.co.uk/t5/…/67
But hey, I'm sure you know better than the actual utility company.
they have a leeway credit for when people run out and hasn't had a chance to top up the key. i believe the tenants would be billed for this if you don't top the meter as they would still get monthly bills on a prepay meter.
That sounds more like it. Thanks Mutley. I'm guessing my tenant has debt on top of the emergency credit. Now dreading a long call to SP to sort it out.
scottish power is really bad so i think you may have your work cut out there.
when we bought the house, we top up the key with £30 just to get the gas working as the gas was shut off and the electric was still going on the emergency credit. i think they can cut the gas off on emergency credit but not electric.
does it say how much the debit is? as that is the amount owed i believe. it showed the amount owed on our meter.
we opened an account with british gas and got them to change the meter to a normal meter. i think we were lucky as the account was with british gas, who are a lot easier to deal with.
a valid point in one way but it misses the fact that the former tenant will cause the landlord problems sorting it out. the easiest way to sort it is to clear the debt so i can top up the meter without the gas for the CH being cut off in winter months when pipes freeze.
well then you need to ask the tenant as there are very strict rules in what you can withold any part of the deposit for, and it would have to be something that had caused you a financial loss. You can ring the utility company and get the utilities into your name therefore no financial loss. If however, the tenant changed the meter to pre-payment without your permission and you want to change it back, then holding the cost of doing so (if any) would be justifiable as that would be a direct financial loss
if i remember correctly, when we opened the account with british gas, we asked them to refund us the money that was taken from our key as that was topped up after the completion of the purchase and they refunded us the money.
so you could ask scottish power if you could do this, which would enable you to use the meter again and claim the money back from them. in the mean time, you may have justification to withhold part of the deposit as you have incurred an expense in paying off the debit balance on the meter, and return this to the tenants when you get the refund from scottish power after the tenants have settled the outstanding amount on the final bill.
not all landlords are professional landlords and knows everything about the law. we are professional landlords and we still can't claim to know everything about the law as it is very complex. we have been in the business for a very long time and managed the properties ourselves, so we have learnt a lot simply from experience.
not all landlords manage the properties themselves either and will use a managing agent to do so. in which case they would not know much about the law and all the issues that come with it.
some people just rent their place out when they move in with their partner so they haven't started out a BTL business as such. they wouldn't be any clued up than the next ordinary person.
I take it your not a landlord then.
Yes I do think the tenant should pay the bill, but will not in my experience
Having been a landlord for 10 years, I think my post above is fair.
Why should landlord pay it ?.
He shouldn't, which is why he should ring the utility company to get it switched to their name, you know, like he is supposed to anyway?
That's exactly how I remember it working when I last lived in a property with a prepayment meter, admittedly over 20 years ago but very difficult to believe emergency credit is now effectively unlimited, which is what it would need to be to run up a 2k debt.
That would only apply if the gas account was in the landlord's name, and they made no mention of this in the original post. It's quite normal for meters to be fitted in rental properties with no outstanding debt since it's just easier to manage.
i found that it is not always possible to set up a new account if the old one had not been closed. this is why i always stipulate that tenants must close their utility bills when they leave as data protection means the landlord can not close the account even though it is his property.
it can become very messy if the previous account had not been closed by the account holder.
How would the meter know who's name it is in? You take the key/card to the shop, saying, £20 please, they add it, you put the key in the meter and it adds the credit minus any emergency and debt. How does the meter know the person putting the key in isn't the person who owes the money?
You have to ring, get it switched to your name (as Multley says, not that easy at times, and I feel for the OP if it's Scottish Power!) you get a new key, then when you top it up, nothing comes off the credit apart from useage.
None of which applies to the OP, unless the metered account is in their name and the tenant somehow accrued debt against that account. It's usually not the responsibility of the landlord to transfer the account, it's their responsibility to ensure that the new tenant does so. Typically many smart meters will show any outstanding debt repayments without having to contact the supplier.
In this case, the OP would probably just need to top up the meter to clear the emergency credit and keep the gas running to the premises until the new tenancy starts, then the new tenant picks up the account and any outstanding debt repayments registered against the meter.
If there is no new tenant imminently moving in to the property, then the OP should probably contact the supplier to inform them that the property is vacant, clear the outstanding debt from the mater and pass on any details that they have for the previous tenant.
it can take a long time even with a good company like british gas to sort it out. when we bought the house, british gas came to change the meter and put the account in our name about 2 weeks afterwards. we couldn't leave the house without heating for 2 weeks as it was in the middle of the winter and we needed to put in a new boiler straightaway as the old boiler was broke when we got the house.
if the OP can wait for scottish power to sort it out then that is fine but it may take them a while to do.
Or has it just gone into emergency credit? Which I assume can only be £5 or £10?
In anycase, the meter should still be deducting the standing charge even if gas is not being used?
A lot of speculation going on on this thread.