My landlord owns the whole building I live in and she has said that bills come quarterly and she controls who the gas is with, can I change this as I do not believe it is fair? I should be able to shop around for the best deal surely and I moved in in December so surely I should have had a bill by now? Do you think I can change it or do I have to stick with it?
Does each apartment have it's own gas meter and it's own separate supply? If so, there shouldn't be any reason why you can't use a different supplier at all. If you are paying the gas bill then you have every right to decide who your supplier will be. I can't understand why the landlady believes she has the right to control this - perhaps she's on a backhander from the energy company?
Thank you! That is what I thought! We do have our own meters and supplies as they keep having to switch them off because they are doing mains work. I will definitely have a word with her about it because it is unreasonable especially as we are with e-on and would have a discount if we got both gas and electricity together. I know right? God knows how much she is tacking on the end of the bill!
That doesn't sound fair at all. Are you paying some sort of average rate of everyone in the building? In other words, is she merely taking the total cost of the gas used for the building as a whole and simply dividing it by the number of units? If so I would definitely complain, because there are probably others in your building who are using their gas far more than you, and it's not fair for you to have to subsidize them if you yourself are using far less gas. I would definitely look into comparing the rates from the company you are currently stuck with vs. some of their competitors. It's also possible that perhaps she negotiated some discounted rate with the current gas provider, which is why she is forcing all of you to use the same company. Or perhaps she had some bad experiences with some of the other gas providers not providing good customer service, or damaging the property, or whatever.
You can also decline to use the mains gas supply and buy your own unit. These cylinders are affordable and you can then control the amount of gas that you are going to use. I don't think your landlord should have much leverage if you decide to follow this route. How about switching to electric cookers which are cheaper?
I always like to be in control of my consumptions. In this case it's advisable you talk things over with your landlady that you are interested in getting your own private gas supply. This way you can better control how you consume the product and there is no room for cheating. I guess she should be opened to the request even though she owns the apartment.
