I live on a park home site. Is the site owner charging us too much for electricity?

mikespurs
mikespurs Online Community Member Posts: 1 Listener
edited November 2022 in Money and bills
I live on a park home site and I've read that the site owner should only be charging me business rates for my electricity, when actually he is charged us £0.36730 per unit this time and last time it was £0.144116 per unit and I feel this is a big jump. Is the site owner charging us to much.

Comments

  • Tori_Scope
    Tori_Scope Scope Posts: 12,469 Championing
    Welcome to the community @mikespurs :) 

    This isn't something I'm too familiar with, but I'm sure another member will have some advice to offer you based on their experiences.

    I found the following information on the gov.uk site. Is this what you're referring to? 
    Targeted support

    The government also announced today further details on the separate Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) to ensure that the £400 discount to households starting from October will also be available to the 1% of households who would not otherwise have received this support.

    Additional funding will be made available so that £400 payments will be extended to include people such as park home residents and those tenants whose landlords pay for their energy via a commercial contract. The government is committed to ensuring such households receive the same support for their energy bills. The government will introduce legislation to make sure landlords pass the EBSS discount on to tenants who pay all-inclusive bills.

    The government will also provide an additional payment of £100 to households across the UK who are not able to receive support for their heating costs through the Energy Price Guarantee. This might be because they live in an area of the UK that is not served by the gas grid and is to compensate for the rising costs of alternative fuels such as heating oil.
  • Wibbles
    Wibbles Online Community Member Posts: 3,027 Championing
    What is your standing charge (per day) ?
    34.23p/kWh
    42.77p/day
    Is what Octopus energy charge me - so your rate is OK
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,458 Championing
    32.24pKWh for me with Octopus.
    48.29p/day
  • Katrinamary
    Katrinamary Online Community Member Posts: 3 Listener
    I live in a park home. My unit price is now £ 1.09.... how?  I don't understand

  • Jimm_Alumni
    Jimm_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,713 Championing
    Welcome to the community @Katrinamary, I hope you feel comfortable here :)

    I have to say, £1.09 per unit seems... crazy... the owner cannot charge you more than they themselves have paid. Have you seen evidence of how much they are paying?
  • chiarieds
    chiarieds Online Community Member Posts: 17,214 Championing
    Hi @Katrinamary - & welcome to the community. I also live in a Park Home, so sort of presuming your circumstances are similar to mine. My site owner says he gets the best business tariff he can at the time, so we too have seen an increase (but not as much as yours).
    In this scenario, the site owner must pass on the electricity charges the same as he's paying when he resells it to you (so he cannot profit from this). There's a little info here confirming this: https://parkhome-living.co.uk/news/view/utility-charges-on-residential-park-homes

  • Jimm_Alumni
    Jimm_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,713 Championing
    edited September 2023
    I'm not sure how trustworthy it is, but from what I can see the current average business electricity price is around 30p per unit and a standing charge of between 50-250 pence depending on  the size of the business. Of course, that is current prices, if the business fixed their price at a higher cost this wouldn't factor into it at all.

    I would read what chiarieds has put up, I'm afraid it's something I do not know much about, but they have experience with.
  • Katrinamary
    Katrinamary Online Community Member Posts: 3 Listener
    Thank you every one..no I don't have proof and yes, we need proof of cost. Also, surely the site owner should do everything they can to bring the cost lower.... don't you think?
  • 2oldcodgers
    2oldcodgers Posts: 739 Connected
    Katrinamary said:
    Thank you every one..no I don't have proof and yes, we need proof of cost. Also, surely the site owner should do everything they can to bring the cost lower.... don't you think?
    No to be honest, they shouldn't.

    They have already paid the bill on your behalf and the least that they should do is expect you to reimburse them plus a little extra to cover their admin costs.

  • Jimm_Alumni
    Jimm_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,713 Championing
    @2oldcodgers The site owner cannot charge more for electricity than they paid for it. The administrative costs of anything they do should be in the rent.
  • 2oldcodgers
    2oldcodgers Posts: 739 Connected
    Jimm_Scope said:
    @2oldcodgers The site owner cannot charge more for electricity than they paid for it. The administrative costs of anything they do should be in the rent.


    Swings and roundabouts then.
    Increase the rent slightly to cover any small additional management charges. 

  • chiarieds
    chiarieds Online Community Member Posts: 17,214 Championing
    Also speaking as a Park Home resident, who does reimburse the site owner for our electricity, we do own our own homes, but not the land they are sited on, hence why we pay site fees, not rent @2oldcodgers
    Each quarter the site owner takes a meter reading, then we pay what it's actually cost him. He does try to find the best rate he can, as in his words, 'he hopes to keep his residents happy.'
     Our park is kept immaculate; the site owner is incredibly helpful even letting my son get rid of my old fence & decking through him as it would otherwise have cost my joiner, & therefore been passed onto myself. 
    Unsurprisingly it's very difficult to buy a home here despite the demand as properties rarely come up for sale. I probably wouldn't have been able to buy my home if it hadn't belonged to my son's (at the time) future father-in-law, & my son also lived here.

  • Jimm_Alumni
    Jimm_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,713 Championing
    I apologise for my ignorance on the matter, the way I read it they couldn't add anything to the energy bill, not even extra charges.
  • Katrinamary
    Katrinamary Online Community Member Posts: 3 Listener
    To be fair, I am ignorant to it too.. I have asked the question about the rate and I have received a letter saying that we are on a 2 year contract that expires October 2024. That is completely acceptable and understandable. However, I am still perplexed at the £1.9, it seems extortionate.  It is cheaper to use at night  on an economy type contract which is fine. I will come back to this later today as I have other things on but really - How can £1.9 be ok? Slight meltdown going on here! Thank you for your messages on this .. its a what to do next kind of thing 
  • 2oldcodgers
    2oldcodgers Posts: 739 Connected
    There is a huge difference in price when comparing business/commercial fuel contracts and those for the ordinary man in the street.
    It is one of the main reasons as to why businesses are closing down down especially those that consume a lot.
  • 2oldcodgers
    2oldcodgers Posts: 739 Connected
    yanni said:

    ,,,,,,ask the site owner to give you a copy of the bill and an explanation of how they calculated the electricity to be £1.09 per unit. 

    I presume you mean a copy of the bill that was sent to the site owner?
    That will show the cost to him/her per unit. If this is what they say it is - £1.09 then you will just have to accept it. It is for the fuel company and the owner to negotiate - any resident cannot intervene in those negotiations simply because they (individually) do not have a contract with the fuel supplier.
  • Goforgold58
    Goforgold58 Online Community Member Posts: 2 Connected
    2oldcodgers said:
    Jimm_Scope said:
    @2oldcodgers The site owner cannot charge more for electricity than they paid for it. The administrative costs of anything they do should be in the rent.


    Swings and roundabouts then.
    Increase the rent slightly to cover any small additional management charges. 

    Illegal to increase the Ground Rent other than by annual CPI for the relevant month which is what the fig is,  3 months prior to the month set for when increase comes into effect. 
  • Goforgold58
    Goforgold58 Online Community Member Posts: 2 Connected
    Katrinamary said:
    To be fair, I am ignorant to it too.. I have asked the question about the rate and I have received a letter saying that we are on a 2 year contract that expires October 2024. That is completely acceptable and understandable. However, I am still perplexed at the £1.9, it seems extortionate.  It is cheaper to use at night  on an economy type contract which is fine. I will come back to this later today as I have other things on but really - How can £1.9 be ok? Slight meltdown going on here! Thank you for your messages on this .. its a what to do next kind of thing 
    You are lawfully entitled to have a copy of the Electricity Contract and anyone who has a **** meter should also ensure they have a copy, whenever a Contract ends. To our cost our Committee at the time didn't see fit to request copies of the water bills/electricity contract. This is where "errors" can and did happen ...With perseverance PO's can be made to adhere to the Rules. 

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