10 Feb Are you paying for someone else’s electricity?
After an EICR test carried out by a tenant in a 10,000 sq ft warehouse in Birmingham, he found he was paying his landlord’s huge lighting bill.
As part of the tenancy agreement, the tenant has agreed to have a five yearly EICR electrical safety test. On doing this, it showed his landlord was only paying for the supply to electricity sockets, not the electric lighting supply.
The £22,000 + VAT remedial work which the EICR flagged necessary to meet regulatory standards, and insurance criterion identified that the tenant, had been paying for his landlords lighting, as the supply had not been properly separated.
A Track and Trace audit, i.e. tracking the electricity supply and tracing who is paying for it, carried out by one of EICR testing Qualifying Supervisors, showed what was happening. The tenant was completely unaware the landlord was being supplied with lighting free of charge! and the tenant controlled his landlord’s lighting!
“This is not at all unusual” says Jeff Longley, Director of EICR Testing, Birmingham.
“We have recently attended a property in Edgbaston where the upstairs tenant was unaware he was paying for the electricity supplied to a Chinese Takeaway downstairs, until he turned his electricity off and found he had cut off the Takeaway’s electricity, and called us to sort the problem out.”
On another occasion, a client in London, a multi million pound company found it had overpaid £54,000 over a 5 year period, as the property hadn’t had the electricity supply professionally split.
This can easily happen when properties are let and sublet and so it is always worth checking professionally.
If you are concerned about whether you are paying for someone else’s electricity you can contact our experienced team at Eicrtesting.com who can provide fully certified electricians to come out, conduct tests and where necessary sort any problems.
Eicrtesting.com work under the same ownership as Able Electrics covering Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Walsall, and the surrounding areas
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