Call of the month: smart meters
This month we helped a landlord who had been approached by their tenant, because they wanted to install a smart meter at the rental property. They were looking for some best practice guidance for this scenario.
Our adviser began by telling them the first thing a landlord to consider is who the bill payer is.
The person responsible for paying the bills can make the decision as to whether to install a smart meter or not. Therefore if the tenant pays the bills it is their decision and they can have a smart meter installed.
Some contracts, including the NRLA one, contain a provision that the tenant is to first obtain the written permission from the landlord before installing a smart meter.
It will normally be considered reasonable for a landlord to allow this, as many of the best tariffs are available only on smart meters, which are becoming the standard.
If the landlord is the billpayer, then it is their decision as to whether a smart meter is installed or not.
As mentioned, many of the better tariffs are only available with smart meters, although a smart meter by itself alone doesn’t reduce your costs, it may influence behaviours of the person making use of the utility in order to save them costs that way, for example by looking at when they use energy and what energy they might be wasting.
It is also worth enquiring what type of smart meter will be installed. The newer SMETS2 standard meters are universal and can work between different suppliers.
The older generation of SMETS1 meters became ‘dumb’ when swapping suppliers and didn’t work between different companies.
The second generation preferable and gives the billpayer, whether landlord or tenant, more flexibility in choosing the best deals available to them.
In our member's case, they (the landlord) were the billpayer, and the cost of bills were included in the rent.
Our adviser confirmed that - in this case - the decision to allow or not allow for a smart meter rests with them.
- For more information on smart meters and utility bills, read the NRLA’s guidance
- To learn more about Utilities Safety and HHSRS, including gas, electric and water, book your place on the NRLA’s eClassroom course.
