nicktonight

I have just divided an appartment into two, with a space to rent out to people on an occasional basis. I think I am legally obliged to put in independent gas and electricity meters in the second appartment. However the quote from the company that EDF told me to contact to put in a new meter was 1800 Euros! and then I will probably get a similar quote from GDF.
What I was wondering is if it is possible to buy an independent electricity meter myself just for the three electricity lines that supply the second appartment. I could get an electrician to install this. There would then only be one EDF account for both appartments but there will be an independent meter to allow tenants to know how much electricity they consume. Could someone tell me if this a a feasible idea.

cuthbert

To be honest you can forget installing a non EDF/GDF sanctioned meter, and then asking tenants to pay for the utility bill, you would be opening yourself up to all sorts of accusations, if it wasn't clearly laid out all the billing rates etc, and how you were measuring the consumption. I can only speak for the electrical side; there are a number of counters out there from the basic "pince amperemetrique" which you could have easily a 10% error with, to higher end inline counters which could give you a running total. Would I want to bill anyone on them, not at all.

However having rented for a couple of years prior to buying my house, you are not obligated to install a separate meter, as you can include the utility bill in the cost of the rent. Rent = x, utilities = y and so long as it is clearly marked then you have no problems. So long as you are rolling contracts, you can then up the price if needs be if you find that they are running a 3KW heater 24 hours a day. That is easy to monitor and I have this in my house to give a rough guide.
http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B004RF9ZZ0