7 challenges landlords face when taking care of their utility bills

Landlords and property managers often take care of their utility bills alone. But with multiple properties to track and so much paperwork to look through, it’s easy for mistakes to happen.

With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of the seven biggest challenges landlords face when taking care of their utility bills alone.

7 challenges of taking care of your utility bills alone

1. Forgetting if you receive paper or paperless bills

Remembering how you receive bills and to which address or email address it goes to is crucial. Many property managers and landlords, over the years, use multiple addresses, which can result in losing track of what’s going where and when.

And when that happens, it can result in default and incorrect payments.

2. Misunderstanding information due to the layout of the invoice

A YouGov survey found that 60% of consumers find their energy bills confusing. This is partly to do with every energy company invoice having a different layout. Some of the biggest misunderstandings include:

• Confusing the invoice date with the supplying date
• Not understanding if you’re being charged in kWh or cubic feet

3. Being unsure if you’re in contract or not

If you’re unsure if you’re in contract or not, you could be paying a lot more than you should.

4. Misunderstanding extra charges

Most consumers think they’re only charged for consumption and don’t understand extra Climate Change Levy (CCL) payments – and whether they should be paying them or not.

5. Being unable to communicate issues with suppliers

When contacting many energy suppliers, you can sit on hold for more than 20 minutes, and most people don’t have time for that. So, they decide to leave it for another day – then forget.

Being unable to speak to suppliers. Or if you do, but you’re unable to explain what the issues are with what you’re paying can lead to prolonged over or underpayments that snowball into more significant problems down the line.

6. Being unable to close down accounts and change tenancies

Another challenge is correctly closing down accounts properly, including knowing you need to supply end date meter readings and change and set up a new tenant.

7. Knowing if it’s up to the customer or supplier to collect meter readings

Most customers now have to provide online meter readings, but misunderstanding the small print on a bill can lead you to assume it is up to the supplier. When this happens, you can go months without supplying a reading, causing bills to rise if you’ve been underpaying.

Inteb makes understanding utility bills easy

Mistakes made by utility companies on your bill can lead to you passing incorrect charges onto your tenants. That’s why Inteb’s Tenant Recharging and Bill Validation services ensure you’re charged the correct amount – every time.

Make sure you understand your utility bills

Let’s get the conversation started – call us now on 0151 601 3476