Yet another development, who have not featured on this site recently got rid of Peverel/Firstport as their managing agents. Poor service, lack of accountability and excessive charges leading to the desire for a Right To Manage action.
They now have a managing agent they are happy with, standards have improved and charges are thus far down by 30%.
One issue the new managing agent was concerned about was the high cost of electricity for the development. So the agent decided to research the market for a better price. This resulted in the original supplier coming down to the development to take an accurate meter reading.
To the disbelief and genuine surprise of the company, the meter readings, which had always supplied by Peverel/Firstport were totally inaccurate,(and not by a small amount either!)
The development received an immediate refund of £30,000.
Residents can be very sure that this is happening at developments all over the country. They should insist that at least once a year the meter is read by the power company and not Peverel/Firstport.
For further re-assurance, they should insist any invoice should be development specific, with payment going directly out of the service charge trust account to the power company.
Of course if the method of payment used is to transfer service charge funds to a "super account" whilst almalgamating all power bills together, this would allow Peverel/Firstport to receive a bulk purchase discount, which is vert unlikely to be passed on to residents.
