Who pays for electricity and water on a vacant property?

[RedPanda]

Hi All,

I am settling on a property interstate and I am planning to move in for 7-10 days and do the renovations myself and then rent the property. But I am concerned whether the electricity would be connected when I am there. The old tenant has moved out and would have disconnected his electricity.

If it is connected, who pays for the electricity and water use between the two tenancies and how do I ensure that electricity is still connected when I move in?

Your advice would be highly appreciated.

Cheers,
Roopam

 

[ianvestor]

When you call up to 'disconnect' your electricity, it's not physically switched off immediately.

At least in my experience (with SEQUEB, Energex, Origin) is that they'll give a bit of a grace period between when one tenant moves out and another moves in. Once the new tenant has moved in, they usually send out a welcome letter asking them to get connected, etc. It's only after all that, that the power would actually get physically switched off (if no connection offer was taken up).

 

[RedPanda]

Hi Ian,

I thought so. Sorry, didn't mention in the question. The last tenant would have moved out more than a month before the settlement. I am just worried how to make sure that the electricity is still physically connected (say) 45 days after the last disconnection.

Cheers,

 

[wylie]

If we have work to do on a property between tenants, we have the electricity connected in our own name for that time. Generally, it will still be on anyway, but no good if for some reason they disconnect and you cannot run power tools etc.

Quite often, if it is only painting and general maintenance we are doing we take the risk and don't connect in our name, but if we have tradies booked, we always get it in our name for the couple of weeks.

The power company will either ask for a security deposit, or not, depending on your history and their policies. The actual power cost for the work we do is not much, but better to pay a little for what we use than find than have a floor sander or builder (for example) come in and not be able to work the first day until the power is sorted out.

 

[ianvestor]

I agree. Even if you have to pay a connection fee for the 10 days, just put that cost into your renovation budget.

 

[RedPanda]

Thanks Wylie, Thanks Ian

Your comments were very helpful. I'll plan accordingly.

Cheers,
Roopam

 

[George]

If job is very small to drill few holes, you might consider rechargeable tools and inverter to re-charge them in your car.
(Good idea to idle you car from time to time, or if manual gear box, park it on a hill just in case everything goes wrong)

Or if little bit bigger job, hire a generator to avoid connection cost, as this comes on top of kWh charges.
But hire of generator for a week will definitely cost more that connection charges.

 

[chrispy]

I never take the risk of it being disconnected if I have work to do. I phone the Electricity supply company and swap it over into my name, or get the PM to do it for me. Now that I have done it numerous times in Queensland I have a good record and its not a problem getting it connected, I never have to pay a deposit.

I then leave it connected until a tenant takes over.

I don't bother with the phone or gas.

Chris

 

[units4me]

Call the power co and get the electricity connected. having the power and lights on make renovating SO much easier.

 

[Debt Junkie]

But don't forget to disconnect on date of tenant moving in. I did, and for some reason the tenant never bothered to connect ... about a month later I twigged that I was paying someone else's electricity Of course, I didn't bother to mention I was disconnecting ... figured I owed them that. I mean, who moves into a place and doesn't connect the electricity???

 

[RedPanda]

Thanks all,

Do you know how much it takes to get the power connected? And what's the connection cost?

 

[wylie]

From memory, there is no cost to have the power put into our names when we purchase (we don't have to pay a deposit because of our history, but even if a deposit is required, it is refunded at the end).

It is just a phone call and "done".

 

[Debt Junkie]

And what's the connection cost?

Depends on whether it's just waiting for a new name on the account (free) or has actually been disconnected - I have had to pay for a guy from Energex to come out with a very big stick and poke around at something - hmmm, as you can see, I wasn't paying too much attention.

I remember being surprised that there was a cost, since all my previous 'connections' were free ... I don't remember it being too exxie (ie, under $100) ... but then it was about eight years ago ... plus in Brisbane CBD, and I don't know where your prop is ...

Cheers