Electricty to flat: Powercard meter, coin meter, or what?

[Frank]

Hi I am currently planning some wiring modifications for the two flats in a building I own. One flat on the ground floor and one is on the first floor.

I plan to have the ground floor flat supplied directly from the original elec board's power supply meter for the building. I plan to have a submain coming from that to the first floor flat, going via a payment meter of some kind (coin or card perhaps). My plan is that the occupier of the ground floor flat will be responsible for paying the elecricity bills for the whole building, while the occupant of the first floor flat will either:

A) Pay for his electricity via a coin meter to which the ground floor occupant has the key and has the right to collect the coins at regular intervals.

or: B) Pays for his electric via a card meter, buying cards from the electric supply company, so that when he buys the cards, the amount paid will be credited to the ground floor flat resident's account. Is that feasable, and if so, would it be simpler/better than using a coin meter? How much do the supply companies typically charge to install such a meter?

Are there any other possible options? I do not want to go to the expense of having a second mains supply installed for the first floor flat by the supply co just yet. However, I may well decide to, in a year or two, if (a) or (b) above proves problematic/inconvenient for any reason.

Thank you,

Frank.

[Colin Wilson]

Don't try and dump the problem onto the tenant of the ground floor flat - pay to do it properly and be done with it.

[Martin Warby]

well as Colin points out neither A or B is really suitable as it places a lot of responsability on the ground floor.You could install your own meter in the ground floor flat,you pay the bill for this,you then install 1 extra meter for downstairs and 1 for upstairs,you collect money/sell tokens and then pay the bill.I'm sure there ae also rules about how much you could charge for electricity when you are reselling it,

Personally I would think the only long term solution is two supplies one for each flat each with thier own 'proper' meter

Martin

[Stuart B]

I'd never rent a property that used cards or coins to supply my juice .Do you realise how much more they cost .?

[Lurch]

On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 19:10:38 +0100, Frank mused:

Not a good idea at all.

Never heard of one, and also see above.

If you must have coin\credit meters then sub both supplies from the mains and you pay the bill and collect money from the meter or sell credit to the tenants.

[Lurch]

On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:07:41 +0100, Stuart B mused:

Do you? They can be set for various rates, you have obviously only experienced greedy tenants.

[Phil L]

The rest of this post is invalid because submeters aren't allowed any more.

You'll have to pay to have a new main run upstairs, or forget the whole thing - there isn't another way.

(and before anyone jumps on this post, existing submeters are an exception, but the leccy board are already aware of those and they are being phased out)

[Frank]

Thanks for your comments. I agree that a second mains supply is the best long-term solution. I plan to pay out for that when finances permit - perhaps next year.

In the meantime, I need to decide on the next-best alternative setup. I will probably be living in the first floor flat myself, with a tenant in the ground floor flat, in coming months.

I don't know the actual cost of getting a second mains supply installed; does anyone here have any idea? I'm guessing it won't be cheap (£500-ish+?). Modifying the existing wiring, on the other hand, (e.g, installing coin or card meters) is easy to do.

Frank

[Phil L]

£270 for the flat we've just completed, the EB won't allow submeters.

[Stuart B]

I was actually speaking of Power Supply companies card charges .

[ARWadsworth]

£320 for the flat I have just worked on. Not bad for running a but of armoured upstairs.

If you think that is expensive wait untill the water co finds out and make you have two new water supplies fitted with meters. £2000 at the same flat.

Adam

[Lurch]

On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 22:38:55 +0100, Stuart B mused:

So something else entirely different to what the OP was asking then.

[Stuart B]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- or: B) Pays for his electric via a card meter, buying cards from the electric supply company, so that when he buys the cards, the amount paid will be credited to the ground floor flat resident's account. Is that feasable, and if so, would it be simpler/better than using a coin meter? How much do the supply companies typically charge to install such a meter?

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[auctions]

The easiest temporary solution would be to rent the other flat with elctricity charges included in the rent and just pay the whole bill yourself.

A

[Lurch]

On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 09:55:35 +0100, Stuart B mused:

Well, as you can't actaually do that I disregarded it. Anyway, something or other, I don't know.

[Stuart B]

I'm not sure that they will charge for installing a Powercard Meter in place of a credit meter as they make so much on the sale of Powercards .

[Colin Wilson]

Not on the end of someone elses' cable they won't* - it has implications as to who takes ownership and responsibility for the submain.

• in some cases where there is a rising main in a large building they will

[Stuart B]

WTF are you talking about ???? I am speaking of consumers who get their Elecy supplied via a Powercard Meter as opposed to getting it supplied via a Credit Meter .The former will definitely pay much more than the latter.

[Lurch]

On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 09:52:01 +0100, Stuart B mused:

And all because you just randomly inserted a comment that wasn't particularly helpful. Would have been better if you just hadn't bothered. ;)

[Colin Wilson]

They won't fit a card meter *or* a credit meter on a submain they didn't put in, so your suggestion was completely spurious (unless i'm really missing something here - this is the same thread as Frank the botching flat builder right ?)