Electricity
Commercial supply
Canary Riverside is deemed a commercial supply of electricity because high-voltage electricity is purchased directly from the supplier and distributed to all tenants and common areas by Parkgate Aspen (the ‘Building Network Operator’). The HV electricity supplier’s jurisdiction stops at the HV meters and they cannot directly invoice for individual sub-meter usage at Canary Riverside. The billing of individual flats for their electricity consumption is governed by Ofcom legislation and the supply and billing of your electricity falls under the terms of your lease.
The unit cost is negotiated annually: from 1st April 2024 the daytime unit cost is 23.1p per kWh excl.VAT (rate 1: 7am-midnight) and nighttime 21.1p per kWh excl. VAT (rate 2: midnight-7am)
Electricity billing - Clever Energy
Clever Energy Ltd manage the billing of residents’ electricity usage and residents can check and download their daily and hourly meter readings - see here for details.
Please pay your electricity bills promptly! Parkgate Aspen pay the wholesale supplier of electricity to Canary Riverside on a monthly basis: any delay in paying your electricity bills (and service charge demands) places a strain on the Estate cashflow and may impact on the management of the estate. Clever Energy can be contacted by email at this address.
Buy To Let landlords
Advice from Clever Energy for Buy To Let landlords:
Understand your meter and how what it displays relates to the electricity invoices.
Make sure you have a record of any meter ID numbers – check them against your electricity invoices.
On change of tenancy dates take photographs of ALL the displays on the meter – not just the default display.
Inform us that you had a change of tenancy on dd/mmm/yyyy – send us all the photos as well.
Include the email address(es) of any tenants to email invoices to – remember to tell us any that are no longer relevant.
We’ll send a calculation that shows the relevant meter readings and split of costs to yourselves.
If you use an agency – make sure they understand the above, especially 1-3.
Smart meters and the on-line portal
In the past few years all the meters have been upgraded to new smart meters that enable residents, through the Energy Controls online portal, to access their electricity usage data and download data files to facilitate analysis of electricity usage.
First you need to register for on-line access and obtain log-in details by emailing Energy Controls. They will confirm with Clever Energy that you are the account holder.
Once you have your log-in details please follow the instructions in the Energy Controls on-line portal user manual.
The portal enables you to view daily and hourly consumption and download data in Excel spreadsheet form. Rate 1 details consumption between 07:30am-00:29am) and Rate 2 00:30am - 07:29am. [Please note the Rate 1 and Rate 2 readings do not correspond to the old R1 and R4 readings used in previous bills.]
Location of the meter
The electricity meters, electrical distribution board and circuit breakers can be found in a metal cabinet usually located in a hall cupboard. There is a master switch that controls the mains electricity supply to your apartment and individually numbered circuit breakers for each electrical circuit. Inside the door of the cabinet you should find a one-page distribution board schedule that details what each circuit breaker is used for. You should check for a tripped circuit breaker in the event that an electrical appliance fails to work.
NB: Residents should always seek advice from a qualified electrician in the event of electrical problems. Please see the residents’ recommendations page for recommended electricians. Important: any physical changes to the electrical circuit in your apartment must be approved by the managing agent prior to the works commencing, and must adhere to all relevant regulations and legislation.
Monitoring your ‘real-time’usage electricity consumption
In order to understand better your quiescent electricity ( ‘background’) consumption and the appliances that use the most electricity (eg, FCUs in heating mode) we recommend the use of an energy monitor which displays the real-time kW usage of electricity (compared to kWh which is the measurement of electricity used over a given period of time).
One such monitor is the LED-model of the Geo Minim, which is simple to install: the sensor is placed over the flashing red light on your meter(s*). The Geo Minim is available from Amazon for c.£40.
The monitors are particularly useful when it comes to diagnosing issues with the FCU heating, ie, to determine whether your heating elements are working as expected (ie. when switched on there is an increase in energy consumption roughly equal to the heating elements, eg 3kW, 5kW etc).
Please note: energy monitors are not designed to replace your supply meter but they provide a good guide of your real-time energy consumption.
Electricity consumption in vacant apartments
Please note that even when residents are away from home there will be a certain level of background electricity consumption (‘quiescent draw’) eg, from devices in standby mode, modem, Sky Box etc and the hot water ‘trace heating’ - which is significant in an apartment where hot water is not regularly being drawn from the communal pipes. Please see the advice given on the ‘Holidays/extended absence’ page on how to minimise electricity usage in vacant apartments.