No Power - How fast are companies obliged to fix ?

[admin]

My son has had no power since about midday, apparently something burnt out I am not sure if its his fuse box or a local pole.

Power company says sorry about that....we will fix it on Monday which will mean 3 days with no power.

While I try and find out what their obligations to fix are, does anyone know off hand ? Company is United Energy.

[admin]

Looks like its a problem that has affected all 3 units and the landlord is obliged to get an electrician out there before they will fix it.

[admin]

Geez you guys would have loved to have heard me blow a fuse at my sons rental agency.

My sons lives in a average looking flat. 1950's fibro crap. One of three. It turns out that the owner also owns the house next door and the 3 flats are illegally connected to the houses power. Power went out at 5.30am. My son went to work. Comes home, still no power.

It turns out the junction box on the fascia of his roof went bang, there are burn marks. Another tenant called power company who found the connection was illegal and power company issues defect notice.

All the while, my son hears nothing from anyone. His phone goes flat as he cant recharge it. Another tenant comes over and tells him it wont be fixed until monday. He rings me for help/advice.

I ring real estate after hours number at around 6.30. Speak to an absolute dickhead who attempts to tell me that they dont have to do anything for 24 hours, and then trys to bamboozle me with bullshit.
But as usual, I had done all my homework in advance on their obligations and shot him down in flames. He didnt like that one bit, and it was on for young and old. My son and his girlfriend stood there with their mouths open as I ripped him a new arse. He obviously didnt like it as he hung up on me.

End result........4 lots of tenants being put up in motel. Power company are not happy and want more than just a fix, they want a full compliance certificate which could take up to 8 weeks according to real estate (he must have had a think about what I said about me writing a letter to the editor in every local paper outlining their pathetic behaviour).

In the end my gripes are :

1. Landlord illegally wired up flats risking the lives of all tenants, particularly my son who has the junction box on his roof.

2. Property manager was too lazy to get off her arse and go and knock on tenants doors to tell them whats going on.

3. These actions will cause major issues for all tenants, all fridge and freezer food destroyed etc, probably more things that I cant think of at the moment.

I might seek some advice from the Victorian Tenants Union as to what they think is reasonable.....if its 8 weeks its a real pain.

Any sparkys know exactly what the company does in regards to compliance ? I am presuming they will go over all 4 properties from top to bottom looking for other illegal things ?

[mtv]

Due to the nature of the fault (illegal wiring) a full inspection of the wiring in each flat will likely be required to be compliant with safety and wiring rules.

The inspection (and any rectification works if required) will need to be performed by a licensed electrical contractor who, on completion of the work, will submit the certification paperwork to the electricity supply company.

I'm tipping a substantial upgrade to cabling/main/sub-boards will be required and who knows what other dodgy work has been performed.

admin, given the flats are illegally connected to the house, how does your son (and other tenants) get their power bills.... how are they individually metered?

[lsemmens]

Class action against landlord might be in the near future, methinks.

[shred]

What a mess and just as well you knew your Son's rights in such a situation.

I wonder if the flats were built with Council approval and if the plumbing is up to scratch. The landlord had better go and buy a biiig jar of lube for the rogering he's about to receive from various authorities.

[ol' boy]

Just found this
Jesus admin, what a run around

I've seen it heaps in Asian Pine Furniture business's
They steal power from the shop next door.

You would need to show us a photo to see if it is illegal or not?
Obviously the Distribution Company think it is
But what you have described is fairly common for a strip on Commercial Properties
Ariel supply comes to one point, to the fused mains box on facia, then it is distributed to each shop, tenant and their meter.

If the Chief Electrical Inspector (Energy Safe Victoria) has been made aware, then all parties will have to comply
Landowner, REC, LEM, Private Inspector

Pretty typical for this time of year with electric heaters left on for long durations
Clothes dryers, etc

[admin]

Thanks for all the replies.

The major blow up I had on the phone was with the agency owner it seems, after I googled the mobile number. He was obsessed with "we dont have to do anything for 24 hours" which is why I let fly at him.

The power setup is an orange power line is running from the fascia board of the back of the house to the fascia board on my sons flat, which then splits to all 3 flats. So basically, its travelling between 2 properties.

Interestingly, in the meter box on the front of my sons flat, there are 3 smart meters in there for the 3 flats. I am presuming the connection has been illegal for quite a while, and contractors have put new smart meters in over the last few years. So the power line to the flats comes from the neighbouring house, not from a power pole.

I can see this is going to be a nightmare. I wonder how long they are prepared to put up people in 4 motel rooms for ?

The idiot owner of the agency seemed to suggest the Landlord might be in some serious trouble from the power company.

[VroomVroom]

just a thought - the orange power cable may be a multi phase , with one phase feeding each flat ? thats not good but possibly how each flat is individually metered?

still sounds very shonky - is the landlord a leb or aisian?

[SS Dave]

When the power dropped out at this rental house at 11:30 pm and I realized it was just this house (the next door neighbors lights still working) I called the 24hour sparky listed for the property he was here in an hour fixed the problem (burnt link caused be loose terminal in fuse/meter box). The sparky didn't care about after hours call out he makes more. Maybe i have a good agent as then had a call the next day to say sorry for the inconvenience and is it all good. Maybe the difference between ACT and VIC landlords. Anyway I hope it gets sorted quickly for your son.

Cheers

Dave

[admin]

just a thought - the orange power cable may be a multi phase , with one phase feeding each flat ? thats not good but possibly how each flat is individually metered?

You could be right mate, I presume the landlord has done it himself. They are definitely individually metered because I looked in the fuse box and saw 3 smart meters. Perhaps he has done it himself and got a dodgy sparky to sign off on it or something ?

still sounds very shonky - is the landlord a leb or aisian?

I haven't seen him, but if I was a betting man I would be guessing southern european of some persuasion. The flats are old 1950's cement sheeting jobs, the landlord has put in cheap vinyl fake timber boards and a tiny split system for heating/cooling and charges a whopping $285 a week.

As my son had previously never rented before, he had trouble getting anything due to no rental history so he had to take it. He planned on doing 12 months and leaving to get something better once he had proven history. The woman in the flat next to him is nuts, she has made a number of complaints about him to the real estate. She has Schizophrenia and takes nothing for it except illicit drugs. She claims he is not allowed to make any noise at all or she will burn his flat down. I have had to help him make some counter complaints, and the agency at least know that she isn't all there and have told him they will allow him to break his lease without penalty if he wants to go. Obviously this episode has got him searching hard for a new place

My daughter has just sold her house due to an ice addict moving in next door. I have had to go around there several times, the last time the said loony went berserk with a Samurai sword and locked himself in his house. My daughter called the police as he was threatening to chop people up (including her) and I arrived at the same time as police. There was soon 8 cops cops there and I said "What are you doing ? Go and get the #### " and the cop in charge said, "There is no way we are going in there, we could get hurt". Wow.....why do we have police ?
After they negotiated with him for hours, he came out and was arrested. He was back there 2 days later carrying on again.

Edit : Just looking at my sons place on Google Maps from November 2009, the power line looks the same so its obviously been like that for a while. Ironically there is a power pole out the front

[ol' boy]

You could be right mate, I presume the landlord has done it himself. They are definitely individually metered because I looked in the fuse box and saw 3 smart meters. Perhaps he has done it himself and got a dodgy sparky to sign off on it or something ?

Sounds normal to me
You see it all the time like that.

[admin]

Yes, but obviously something isnt right because the power company issued a notice against it and refuses to reconnect it.

If it was minor, an electrician could have done the work and then a call put through to United Energy who would come and reconnect it immediately 24/7. This is what I made a point of to the agency, I was of the original opinion that they were just trying to get out of paying an Electrician after hours/week end call out rates.

But the agency has said major electrical work needs to be carried out starting Monday and power cannot be reconnected without a full compliance certificate. Apparently they had their electrician take a look and he said there was no way he was touching it as it stands.

[VroomVroom]

and most likely the person who installed the smart meters just did the swap without even checking what was downstream of the connections.

Trouble is , now some innocent people like your son are caught in the middle of this huge mess. get him to move out elsewhere this could drag on for weeks

[lsemmens]

He's a son, doesn't he know that sons always return home when they are in trouble. Heck, my youngest is 34, and he (along with his family) have, on occasion, moved back in. Heck, we left our Kids and ran away interstate, 2 of them followed us!

Seriously, l hope your son finds some better digs real quick as this one is likely to be one problem after another.

[Uncle Fester]

Get the hell out of there. I wouldn't want my kids to live in a place like that, + 1950's fibro = asbestos. Once they start prodding around with that, looking for the faults....
Now he has rental history he can find something better.
Admin, I am sure you will be able to convince the Landlord to write up a top reference, while you are standing right next to him.

[Skepticist]

IIRC:
In this case they can confidently state that the fault is downstream of the service connection and the main service protection device (fuse or circuit breaker) IE within the premises and therefore not their responsibility and they have given the right advice on getting a qualified electrician to identify & correct the fault before the service can be restored. Where I am, if the failure exceeds 8 hours and the fault is in the distribution/transmission network the supply authority sends each affected customer a compensation cheque (only a token gesture of course but it is an acknowledgement of responsibility). No compensation if the fault is inside premises though and if a customer's actions are the cause of it then they'll be needing a good legal representative.

[ol' boy]

Slightly Off Topic.

But i have seen some funny situations with Electricity Supplies.
Sometimes it is the developer from a previous era.

Example: A "Greek" Builder here, bought a large disused commercial property.
He sub-divided and built on each allotment.
The places then got sold separately.
Wasn't until the middle property dug a post hole for a retaining wall and hit an underground cable and power was cut to the furtherest property.

When i went to isolate the damaged underground cable, i found it came from a House, 2 properties away!
Then after looking, notice the furtherest house had No Meterbox at all
I asked the owner "Haven't you thought it strange you haven't received a power bill since owning the house?"

Anyway, what was even funnier, there was a Powercor Conference on in town that day.
Word spread fast and there was every Boss and Inspector on site, crawling over everything, disconnecting supplies and issuing defects.

Turns out, this Builder/Developer never paid to get the Electricity Services correctly supplied to each block he sub-divided.

Just goes to show how much the Council, Shire and Electricity Distributer don't check.
And it goes un-noticed for years, until something happens

[trash]

With regards to Tenancy; Have you contacted the department of fair trading in Victoria.
They might save you a lot of class action delays. They just put their foot down and the process flows downhill very quickly.