NSW Electricity supply between tenancies

my lease expires soon and tenant is going interstate so not extending lease

What do I do about electricity? It’s under the tenants name and account. Once they notify the electricity company, will my electricity stop? Do I need to get an account myself?

 

Depends on the state. Which state is your property in?

 

Are you expecting to use the power for free?

Disconnection is dependent upon the supplier - some disconnect within days of being advised the occupant is vacating others may leave it months.

 

There will be a grace period and then it will be turned off... I found out the hard way when my tenant cancelled their electricity account right after I issued the 3-month notice to vacate. Result was no power for inspections/auction until I reconnected it in my own name.

I highly recommend getting an account yourself to keep power on for inspections until your next tenant moves in.

 

I just let it be, PM can show during daylight hrs, which will only be a prob if your renting a dungeon I guess.

 

In my experience in Sydney metro areas under Ausgrid, the power is very rarely disconnected after the account is closed unless its an extended period of time and/or there is significant power usage.

Should be ok for the time in between finding new tenants. If you are staying there/running appliances etc, then a new account is needed.

 

A long time ago someone posted a link to a company that specialised in short term connections for this scenario...

 

It also pays to check after the agent shows the property
Recently a neighboring home had an open, the agent turned on the AC as it was a warm day, but failed to turn it off after the open
Clearly an application was accepted as it ran for nearly two weeks until the new tenant moved in
Imagine the additional usage
Needless to say, you should take a pic with your phone when disconnecting or connecting

 

What state? QLD disconnects very quickly. You just need to organise a temporary connection, $10 connection fee and standard usage charges.

 

Also disconnected quickly in Melbourne - now that it can be done remotely.

As far as I know, all retailers will do short term connections. It’s usually just a standard non-contract connection and you just call to end it when required.

 

The prob is, if you open an account, it is easy to jump on board, but very hard to get off and the big companies make sure they are near no ports and cut phones, and lock you in a cabin.....not to mention often held to ransom by some huge meter read fee, many multiples of what they pay the poor sod who reads the meter.....

I just doing one today, power has been cut, agent ok with doing everything as is, and I will avoid at least 200 bucks even if only for a week...

Funny thing is, I saw the bill sent to the household, the usage has gone through the roof, all while the place was empty and no one using any power, so this makes me think they never did a proper meter read when last one vacated, so if I had of been silly enough to put in my name, I would have copped a lot of the usage from tenant.

There really is little need to open all these short term accounts, unless it is going to return a very real benefit.

 

What about disconnect and meter read ?

 

Disconnection and final meter reading don’t cost anything - well not in Vic anyway.

 

Well they do in many places in NSW.....also, check a min days to hold an account....

If a rental, there is no reason to be getting yourself into an elec acc, because you spose to be renting it out !!! major works aside......

Been doing this a while, as said, have made the mistake before, last time was a few yrs ago, but with battery power tools and most garden stuff being being petrol, really no drama, unless you must work at night, and want a shower or something...

 

Just double check with all retailers or proposed retailer, and I would also read the meter myself, and get the no fee/s part in writing, cause have you ever tried to argue your case with some call center in india or elsewhere ?....lol...talk about beating your head against a wall and wearing you down, most would pay 150 or so to be free of them....

 

Just looked on a NSW bill from this year.... 130 disconnect fee

 

I think that is a list of providers, not retailers, you have to use a retailer, who likely tacks on whatever they want on top....

 

Not according to this:

‘Connection & Disconnection Fees
You may be charged connection or disconnection fees by your energy distributor when you move house. Fortunately this fee is usually fairly reasonable – around $10 to $50 – however some distributors charge up to nearly $100. The distributor is the company responsible for managing the energy infrastructure in your area, while the retailer is only responsible for billing and customer-end services. Your retailer may collect the connection/disconnection fee on behalf of the distributor. This means you can’t really shop around for a cheaper connection charge.

Below we outline the connection fees correct at the time of writing. There are no published connection fees for Tasmania, Northern Territory or the Ergon Energynetwork in regional Queensland. It seems these fees are incorporated into the standard billing of customers due to the structure of the energy markets in these jurisdictions.

Here is a guide to connection/disconnection fees across the country. These charges apply regardless of which electricity or gas retailer you are with. Remember, these fees come from your energy distributor rather than the retailer, meaning they are based on location rather than your choice of provider.’

Energy Connection & Disconnection Fees Explained – Canstar Blue