Tenant wants a smart meter. Who pays?

[reepr]

Tenant wants to change electricity providers, and the new provider requires a smart meter. Tenant is requesting Landlord pays.

1. Whose responsibility is it to pay for meter?

2. If its not the Landlords responsibility would you pay anyway?

Seems to me if the tenant wants reduced electricity costs then they should bear the cost of the meter install...

Advice/opinions welcomed

[jimO]

ours was fitted free

[reepr]

Confirmed free is not an option. $100-$150

[annie brookes]

If it’s a permanent fixture the tenant won’t take with them and it’s only $150 I would pay for it and mention it as a selling point for subsequent tenants. You’ve made the property marginally more attractive and got goodwill for your current tenant for a tiny sum.

[Keys]

Tenant. (mamc)

[Keithw]

Be aware that it is not compulsory to have a smart meter, it is for the benefit of the power supplier, so they do not need to send somene around to read it.
Suggest to tenant:
If power supplier wants their business they will install for free (at any suburban location ) or retain existing meter.
If they dont want to install for free or retain meter, tell tenant to find another supplier who will install for free or use existing meter.
From the evaluations i have done when changing supppliers, theres not a big difference between suppliers so if the tenant wants to use a particular supplier then maybe there is something more in the deal, which obviously benefits tenant and further supports Keys ^
Are some companies offering free tv or whatever ?.

[reepr]

Thanks for the opinions, I am still flipping back and forth... it is a small amount of money, but feel the tenant is the one benefiting and not sure why I have to fund that benefit.

[north shore]

Both our rentals and our house got them changed for free, all different power companies

[erinak]

As long as the meter can be read in whatever is in place at time of tenancy is all that is required.
If the tenant wants something different they pay. I think they are testing you out but they need to talk turkey to their power company to get it for free.
It's a No from me.
Power companies are always vying so its in their best interest to provide free a service that will ultimately save them in paying a real human to go read the meter!

[klauster]

On consumer's request the party who has a contract with the power company pays, otherwise the power company.

[Nic D]

Have you thought about going halves with your tenants?

Then both parties would get the benefits mentioned in the various posts above, but at a reduced cost to both of you.


Also, our family has moved house recently into a home without a smart meter. We want one so we can switch to kiwi electric who offers an hour free power per day which will give us monthly saving. However they don't instal them so we have to ask our current provider to do that, and that's where the cost arises. So we're going to pay for it ourselves then switch providers.

Looks like that's the same situation your tenants might be in .... that the only way for them to get a smart meter is to pay for it.

[OnTheMove]

Thats getting greedy expecting tenant to pay for a utility installation cost.

BUT, I worked in the pioneering of smart metering, wrote some of the initial coding to get reporting live and managed projects on the networking side of things in a much larger market in Aus. There isnt a big cost so I personally think the utilities could be making money off something that saves them money (jobs).

And in saying that, if the utility has said they want to install a smart meter, its usually free. The only time it costs is if you request one. USUALLY.

[OnTheMove]

If it’s a permanent fixture the tenant won’t take with them and it’s only $150 I would pay for it and mention it as a selling point for subsequent tenants. You’ve made the property marginally more attractive and got goodwill for your current tenant for a tiny sum.

Well said Annie. I suspect you are not the sort to chop a tiny 1 bedroom unit into 2 bedrooms and have half a window each room thus technically providing a 2.5x2.5m room a window? lol

Im pretty tired of moaning land lords on here, when tenants are paying extreme rents for ridiculously priced property thanks to investors doing all the work in pushing up the prices of housing in NZ like sheep, then complaining about tenants not forking out $150 for our utilities. Seriously, the goal of being a landlord isnt to do be a scrooge and make tenants lives horrible.

A
Power companies are always vying so its in their best interest to provide free a service that will ultimately save them in paying a real human to go read the meter!

Truth. It seems Absurd to me utility companies wanting anybody to pay for a smart meter when it is less people they have to employ. So whilst I think if its genuine, asking the tenant to pay is really desperate (as kind as I could put it) imo, I do not believe that the utility company would be saying it must be installed and it has to be paid for, because that is not the truth. Keeping in mind the tenant can read it and send the reading in themselves. Which I suggest as often the "Guess" pricing if left for 6+ months can leave a tenant with a massive bill one month.

[Learning]

Im pretty tired of moaning land lords on here... then complaining about tenants not forking out $150 for our utilities...

Your argument is fair and valid, however the other perspective, tenant requests free upgrade of existing service from LL so tenant can save a few dollars each month. Where does is end? A new alarm system so tenant saves a few bucks on contents insurance? Install double glazing? Free wifi? Fair and reasonable upgrades for property and tenant... Is there a line in your world where the benefits should be paid for by the beneficiarie? If only an LL's endless pockets were so full of dollars.

[Anthonyacat]

Im pretty tired of moaning land lords on here, when tenants are paying extreme rents for ridiculously priced property thanks to investors doing all the work in pushing up the prices of housing in NZ like sheep

Setting aside the fact that no one can possibly know whether it's investors pushing up house prices - I personally don't feel it is, but lets run with that assumption.

I agree rents are extreme, and property prices are ridiculous, at least by historical terms. However, rents don't go up because house prices go up. There is little to no causal link there at all. Rents go up because the property becomes more desirable - that could be because it is well maintained and lovely in a gentrifying neighbourhood, or it could be because there aren't enough houses to go around so people are unhappily willing to fork out 50%+ of their weekly income to live in a poorly maintained hovel - still more desirable than living on the streets or shared accommodations. These same underlying reasons cause house prices to rise.

In the case of individual landlords who have bought recently, most are already paying money from their own pocket to meet mortgage repayments, even considering the extreme rents. Rents are almost without exception a cheaper way to live in a house than ownership - so tenants lifestyles are by definition being subsidised. While landlords as a group may be pushing up house prices, you can't even start to argue that individual landlords are doing that. I have more than one landlord on my client list who would struggle to come up with $150 for an unexpected expense.