Community Utilities
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Turn and run
If you are looking at renting from a building that uses Community Utilities, turn and run. They charge an unfathomably high service charge on top of your utility price and only get away with it because they're not technically billing a utility by Ofgem's definition (because it's a communal heating system). They charge us nearly £1 per DAY on top of the actual energy cost, which they also overcharge for (they use a "industry standard" Heat Efficiency Factor calculated 50 years ago based on buildings of that age). I'm not qualified to comment on the HEF calculation, but I think it's clear that things have changed in 50 years, and regardless the service charge is the real issue as it dwarfs our energy costs. Their billing system is constantly down for maintenance; the billing system is impossible to use and their invoices are confusing and misleading. They do the absolute bare minimum (arguably below, considering the number of times they messed up our bill in the year I've used them) and charge an obscene amount for the privilege. They are so far behind even the worst actual utility companies, who are at least subject to consumer protection and regulation. Shame on them, and shame on neglectful landlords who use them -- particularly Legal and General in our case who you would expect better from.