‘Daylight Robbery’ Over Electricity Prices!

Written by Harry Turnbull

Residents at a park homes site owned by super rich gypsy Alfie Best are to be refunded after discovering they were paying full whack for free solar power.

Locals at Tranquility Park in Devon became suspicious about skyrocketing prices and launched an investigation which resulted in exposing electricity overpayments of £39,000.

At the original tribunal last year Wyldecrest failed to explain the reason for the discrepancy but at an appeal hearing David Sunderland – the right hand man of tax exile Alfie – admitted that a privately owned solar installation on site had been feeding electricity directly into the park — and that residents were being charged for this free solar-generated power at full grid prices. He was unaware of this at the time of the original hearing, he said.

Wyldecrest also accepted there was no contractual basis for charging residents for solar electricity under their agreements, which only cover energy bought from an authorised supplier.

The Upper Tribunal upheld the core finding and turned down Wyldecrest’s appeal; residents were overcharged and must be repaid. Around £39,194.92 will now be returned to residents individually once a payment schedule is submitted. They had been charged £58,834 by the company which splits bills between the number of housholds on site.

The Tribunal dismissed Wyldecrest’s argument that restricting such charges would discourage green energy investment, noting that Wyldecrest did not install or pay for the solar panels and had no right to charge for their output.

The ruling confirms that residents were billed tens of thousands of pounds for electricity Wyldecrest received free of charge, bringing a long-running dispute to a decisive conclusion. Itmay not concern owner Mr Best that much – in the last Sunay Times rich list he ws reported to have a wealth of £750m.

The tribunal concluded: “One of the observations made by Wyldecrest in its grounds of appeal is that if a site owner is not allowed to charge for electricity supplied from solar panels there will be no incentive for it to invest in green energy.

“The short answer to that is that Wyldecrest did not install the solar panels in this case and has acknowledged that the solar energy came to the park free of charge.

“The longer answer is that a site owner wanting to install solar panels and to recoup its investment by charging the residents for electricity can consult its residents with a view to a consensual amendment to their agreements.”

Wyldecrest is the biggest mobile park homes business in the country with more than 100 sites catering for over 50s.

About the author

Harry Turnbull is an experienced journalist based in the north who has held a variety of reporting and editing roles in the media.He also writes a reviews column for the UK’s biggest archive of BBC radio dramas.

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Image Credit: Alfie Best by Mishu0909 licensed under CCBY-SA4.0