Are you paying for someone else’s electricity?

Electrician in Birmingham : Mr Electric asks the question

Are you paying for someone else’s electricity?

Our client shared a building in Birmingham with his landlord, thanks to an EICR test he found that he was paying for the lighting supply to his landlord’s, part of a 10,000sq mtr warehouse.

A tenant occupying a 10,000 sq mtr warehouse in Oldbury just off Junction 3 of the M5, was unaware he was paying his landlord’s huge lighting bill. A regulatory five year periodic electrical safety check, part of his tenancy agreement, showed his landlord who shared the building was only paying for the supply to the socket circuits, not the lighting circuits. The EICR which showed ￡22,000 plus VAT remedial work necessary to meet regulatory standards, and insurance criterion also identified that the tenant, had been paying for his landlords lighting, as the supply had not been properly separated.

 A Track and Trace audit, ie tracking the electricity supply and tracing who is paying for it, carried out by one of Mr Electric’s Qualifying Supervisors, Matt, showed what was happening. Both landlord and tenant were unaware the landlord was being supplied with lighting free of charge!

As a result, the rent was renegotiated to compensate for the huge overspend, and the electricity supply separated. Our client is now only paying for his own electricity usage. The payback has been immediate and goes some way to covering the cost of the rework.

This is not at all unusual states Jeff Longley Director of Mr Electric Birmingham

“We have recently attended a property in Harborne 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, the take away called Mr Electric Birmingham in panic one evening as they had no power.

On another occasion, a client, a multi million pound company in London called Mr Electric Birmingham for a track and trace on a building near Victoria train station. We found they 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.

It is always worth checking professionally as you can see. 

Jeff Longley is a Director of Mr Electric Birmingham a 24/7, 365 days per year, exacting electrical contractor to domestic, public, commercial and industrial customers. It provides NICEIC (National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting) qualified, trained, DBS checked installers with ID, in company signed vehicles, carrying out over 1,300 jobs per month.

The company is also working towards helping to reduce green house emissions as an approved Govt. Office authorised company, registered to install and offer grant funded Electric Vehicle Chargepoints.

It is also involved with Heat Genius a way of reducing commercial heating costs by up to 48% working with Energy Efficiency Award winning company, Genius Hub. 

Are you paying for someone else’s electricity? Contact

Electrician in Birmingham:Mr Electric Birmingham - covering Birmingham, Coventry, Walsall, Dudley, Sutton Coldfield, Tamworth, Nuneaton and surrounding areas.

 Unit 9 Ariane Lichfield Road Ind Est, Tamworth, Staffs, B79 7XF 0121 2850136