Renting with electricity included, but electricity was cut off today

GrimCheaper on 04/05/2021 - 15:57

I rent with all utilities included. Water, internet, gas and electricity.

Today the electricity got cut off and a letter was left at our door by ausgrid. Turns out someone wasn't paying the bills.

I told the real estate agent who at first, didn't know if they were responsible, or if the owner was. We also told the agent there were some letters from agl in our letter box for the last month, so we asked them if we should open them. We never thought to at first, because we assumed the name on it was the previous tenant, and we also only open mail addressed specifically to us since we live in a sub divided apartment shared with another person.

Turns out the name on it was the property owner, and they hadn't paid the electricity since Dec last year. We gave them to our real estate agent who said they will pay asap.

Provided we get electricity back in the next day or two, my main concern is all the groceries and frozen food in the freezer (about $300 worth). It's absolutely full to the brim, and we are too scared to open the fridge in case it defrosts quicker.

We never thought to get home insurance as we live in an apartment in a safe neighbourhood. So can't claim insurance for the groceries. Any other options?

Home & Garden

Comments

  • SaveMeMoney17 on 04/05/2021 - 16:10

    That's pretty rough. I don't know what avenue you could possibly take, however maybe speak to the rental authority of your state (e.g. QLD is RTA).

    • IVI on 04/05/2021 - 16:17
      +2

      Photograph your Losses (food, etc.)

      Argue, that - since Elec'y is - at last - being Paid,
      you had every reason to believe, that You were
      Not responsible for power (ah, read your Lease,
      first, to make sure they didn't sneak-in "by Ten."
      after Electricity).

      Add an honest cost for your Losses, & - if they
      refuse to pay - talk to RTA.

      • brendanm on 04/05/2021 - 16:43

        Electricity
        You have ruined my food now
        Please pay the bill soon

        • brendanm on 05/05/2021 - 16:57
          +1

          Why is my haiku getting negged :( I just wanted to be like IVI.

      • AndyC1 on 04/05/2021 - 22:26

        IVI, Your posts are crap to read. Please use a PC or MAC to post from.

        • JIMB0 on 05/05/2021 - 09:42
          +6

          Fixing the formatting won't help that much.

          • AndyC1 on 05/05/2021 - 09:46

            @JIMB0: It will make it easier to read. IVI is a serial poster who has wrapping set to make the reading very hard and does not take any feedback on changing the way the posts. are formatted.

            • OpayuOnam on 06/05/2021 - 07:16

              @AndyC1: I think he types on a CRT terminal 😅

    • GrimCheaper on 04/05/2021 - 17:19

      Yeah, we'll see how it goes by tomorrow. If it's all fixed by then and the food is OK. Then no worries. But if it's longer than tomorrow, we will have to ask fair trading or some rental organisation for advice.

      • Hybroid on 04/05/2021 - 17:36

        Food will be perfectly fine if you don't open the freezer. It's heavily insulated and will remain cold.

        • GrimCheaper on 04/05/2021 - 17:41

          That's what I'm hoping. Fingers crossed they turn the power on tomorrow.

  • tsunamisurfer on 04/05/2021 - 16:22
    -4

    Turns out the name on it was the property owner, and they hadn't paid the electricity since Dec last year. We gave them to our real estate agent who said they will pay asap.

    Shouldn't the bill's name be the person on the lease?

    We never thought to get home insurance as we live in an apartment in a safe neighbourhood. So can't claim insurance for the groceries. Any other options?

    Insurance does not cover recalcitrant bill payers.

    • Mechz on 04/05/2021 - 16:57
      +1

      Sometimes the electricity is included in the rent if they can't split between domiciles. They will however be charging you in your rent for it (just an estimated cost though).

    • GrimCheaper on 04/05/2021 - 17:08
      +2

      All utlitlies are included in the rent. We pay a flat rate every week, it's a bit more than the avg for a single bedroom in the area, but saves a lot of hassle. We'll, it did save a lot of hassle until now! The electricity bill is in the property owner's name. But from speaking with the real estate, they said they will pay it and they will speak to the owner about forwarding the bill to the real estate office from now on.

    • ThithLord on 05/05/2021 - 08:56
      +2

      The Landlord is the recalcitrant, brobro. I know you hate to side with renters, so I'm not surprised your blind faith in the LL

  • jsb on 04/05/2021 - 16:23

    If utilities were part of the contract, you can ask for the reasonable compensation for the issue caused or losses. Landlord will have the insurance which they can claim but its useless as the claim would be far less than the excess.

    If it happened to me with family, I would have checked other options of temporary stay till the issue is resolved and then claim expenses from Agent as well.

    • GrimCheaper on 04/05/2021 - 17:14

      Yeah, all utlitlies are included in the rent and I confirmed with the real estate via email when we first moved in. They acknowledged it has to be paid by either them or the owner when I first called them, and then later confirmed that they will pay it asap.

      I'm not too worried about paying the bill as the real estate has said they will pay asap. Just worried about how long it will take. They have to talk to their accounts to pay the bill, then hopefully one of the real estate agents calls the energy provider to let them know its paid and request a sparky to come turn the energy back on.

      With so many levels to go through, I'm just worried it will take a few days and all our food will go off. That and our laptops have run out of battery now and we can work from home as we normally do, so just left to sit in the dark and play board games and read. If it got sorted today or tomorrow morning I'd just leave it at that, but it can really have an impact on us if it goes longer than that.

  • SF3 on 04/05/2021 - 16:26
    +5

    Any other options?

    As an immediate solution, perhaps get an extension cord and get power from the apartment lobby/common area?

    • Lastchancetosee on 06/05/2021 - 07:23
      +2

      You could also use the neighbour's water,and cook on the barbecue in the park…

  • FoxJump on 04/05/2021 - 16:27
    -3

    maybe just go to to the power mains and just flick the switch on ?

    • pjetson on 04/05/2021 - 16:38

      They normally remove something that the average person wouldn't be able to source.

      • FoxJump on 04/05/2021 - 16:39
        -1

        oh really? oh okay. I thought they would just flip it to off with a cable tie or something alike.

        that sucks.

      • WT on 05/05/2021 - 12:52

        depends, the studio im doing a reno on has red ausgrid tape over the mains, flick it on and it works

  • thatonethere on 04/05/2021 - 16:44

    Pretty bad to cut off power. Note that it can take a while to reconnect after payment delinquency:( ie they may want a bond etc from the landlord.

    If you have a smart meter it can be turned on remotely which is good.

    If it is old fashioned meter then someone will have to go out to physically reconnect something. That will be a while…

    • GrimCheaper on 04/05/2021 - 17:17

      Damn, that what I'm worried about because I'm sure someone came to turn off the power manually becuase we had a also had a crumpled up piece of paper slipped under the door, by what I assume was the sparky who turned it off in the first place.

  • lgacb08 on 04/05/2021 - 17:29
    +1

    What sort of freezer is that? If that's the chest one you'll be alright. Maybe few of the soft items at the top might need to be thrown out if you're fussy. I bet you after a week the chicken at bottom will still be rock frozen. I twice left my freezer off for nearly a week each time when fiddling with the smart plug and didn't throw anything out. Hasn't dead or in hospital yet.
    Even if it's an upright freezer you should be ok for few days, unless you're the type of not putting plastic into microwave to avoid getting cancer.

    • GrimCheaper on 04/05/2021 - 17:34

      It's an upright, but I think the meat in it should stay good for a day or two, while the door is closed. Good to hear it from someone else. Just didn't want to open schodlingers freezer tomorrow and find all our fresh groceries and frozen chicken fermenting in their own juices…

      • DemocracyManifest on 04/05/2021 - 17:44

        Um cook the meat tonight if you can, I have a upright and it was turned off overnight, was a mess, I don’t know if the newer ones are are worse at keeping everything cold but mine defs doesn’t, I had three incidents this year with people living the door not completely closed or turning it off, was big cook off time

        • GrimCheaper on 04/05/2021 - 18:32
          +1

          Haha, 10kgs of frozen chicken, 4kgs of steak, and 2kg of sausages?

          Might end up looking like the glutton guy from the Se7en movie if I attempted that, or that guy from Monty Python…

          https://youtu.be/GxRnenQYG7I

          Could give it away, but still doesn't help my grocery bill for the next few weeks.

          • andrek on 04/05/2021 - 20:00
            +2

            @GrimCheaper: BBQ at GrimCheaper's place tomorrow! Drinks BYO!

          • DemocracyManifest on 05/05/2021 - 07:05

            @GrimCheaper: Sorry to hear, yeah it’s a royal pain, events like this have stopped me from filling the freezer

  • bazingaa on 04/05/2021 - 17:48

    rent with all utilities included. Water, internet, gas and electricity

    kinda weird, what is the maximum amount? let's think what happens if you mine ethereum
    for the groceries, can you ask a friend to store your perishables for few days until you get this sorted out

    • GrimCheaper on 04/05/2021 - 18:34
      +3

      I think I'm gonna go to the liquor store now and get some bags of ice to try and put in the freezer.

  • Quantumcat on 04/05/2021 - 19:28
    +4

    Eat as much food as you can to make space, buy a small bag of ice from the servo or bottle shop and put it in the fridge. Might have to repeat every few days if electricity doesn't come on.

  • FocusRider on 05/05/2021 - 07:19
    +2

    What is the relationship with your neighbours? Ask them if you can chuck some meat in their freezer.

    • GrimCheaper on 10/05/2021 - 18:10

      Our apartment is divided into two. They also had their power cut. I think that's why we get all the utilities included, because it's hard to split the power bill for a single apartment that's split into 2. So the landlord just puts up the price and included all the utilities. They got the power back in 24hrs, but the landlord had to pay about $200. So, not a bad result. All the meat in the freezer seemed icy still. But could smell the chicken a little bit, nothing stinky thought.

  • l005e on 05/05/2021 - 07:23

    Take some photos and price everything up that you end up throwing out then minus that from the following weeks rent. Also add on the cost of take out and inconvenience. Ensure you draft an email to the agent stating your intent. It seems fair to me

    • Quantumcat on 05/05/2021 - 08:11

      You can't just not pay your rent, even if you have a good reason. It would have to be agreed first. Otherwise it is grounds for eviction.

  • TilacVIP on 05/05/2021 - 08:39
    +1

    The landlord is a scumbag by the look of it.

  • Brightonboi on 05/05/2021 - 08:50
    +1

    I would go to the agents office and politely stay until it’s been resolved. You’re correct that it needs to go through a few channels - let them know it’s urgent and that you’d like to wait there until everyone has done their bit.

  • jrvb42 on 05/05/2021 - 09:17
    -1

    Letters in the mailbox, but you didn't return to sender or contact agent at the time? Only when it effects you do you care about the undelivered mail?
    Inconvenient, but had you done the right thing with the mail, chances are you wouldn't have had the power cut off. Karma.

    • brendanm on 05/05/2021 - 17:01

      People should sort out their own mail.

    • GrimCheaper on 10/05/2021 - 18:12

      Nah, it got sorted and the Real Estate apologised. Just one of those things. Your snarky comment was irrelevant.

  • WT on 05/05/2021 - 13:01

    you should be right for 1-2 days with the minimal door opening. Last black out we had was nearly 2 days during summer heat wave. This happened a few times as the grid was overloaded with everyone cranking their AC. Even the ice cream was fine, it was soft but froze back up ok

    Edit: people on our block were cooking up a storm worried about it but we always freeze our meats then pull it out morning of the day we are going to cook it

  • OzHunterNSW on 05/05/2021 - 14:59

    The property owner is to pay.
    They are also to pay you compensation for each and every day they fail to rectify this issue.
    Contact NCAT

    • GrimCheaper on 10/05/2021 - 18:14

      Luckily it got sorted within 24 hours, so no big issues. Just had take out for the night and played boardgames by torchlight. Was kind of fun. But longer than that and it could have gotten very inconvenient.

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