Electric bills from landlord not correct

My husband have been in a long term unfurnished rental since middle of August. The landlord gives us the electric bill which is in his name and he makes the assumptions on which part is ours. He is trying to charge us for electricity for the 6 week period when we were out of the country and expects us to pay half of the electric bill. We havea sked for our own meter but he refuses. He lives in the apartment below us and the two apartments are on the same meter. Any adivce would be greatly welcome

What was on the contract at the start of the rental ( if any contact exist ) does it say you would go 50/50 on the bill, without your owen meter, it's impossible to have a proper bill. If I was you I would be moving out. 

Seems a bit odd having 2 properties on one meter. It would be quite costly to get a second meter installed so I can understand his reluctance to do this.

The standing charges for electricity still have to be paid even if no electricity is used so you'd still be liable for some of the charges for the 6 week period. Mine work out about 25 euros per month I think.

But he sounds like he's taking the mick asking for a 50-50 split.  There are plenty of other properties around for rent. If he continues to be unreasonable tell him you're moving out.

Surely it depends on the actual figures.  If they are reasonable there's not necessarily a problem.  If you were to have a separate meter at this late stage the landlord would no doubt expect you to pay the cost, plus you'll have the standing charge element, where you currently benefit from splitting this in two.

Of course you should look at the lease, but if it is silent on the subject you may be obliged to make the most of the situation until the lease expires.  Until then, if you feel you're paying a disproportionale amount a little friendly haggling might be appropriate.  But do this immediately and if you get a reasonable deal, put this in writing.

This sounds very shady to me. If he doesn't want to install another meter because it costs too much, I would question his professionalism. If he doesn't want to be reasonable about splitting the bill, I would question it again.

It's too easy to pass judgment based on your own values, but it's different in Spain, they are more pragmatic.  If the deal is OK it's best to live with it.  If it's not OK, then haggle, nicely. 

Calling things "shady", "odd", and threatening to move out are likely to get you nowhere other than increased blood pressure !

Seems to me that the property in question has been converted at some point to make two dwellings, probably for the very reason to live in one and rent one out. If the owner had wanted to provide a seperate meter he would at the very least have had to modify the circuits, install a new fusebord and then call in the supplier to fit a new supply, they would have wanted a full report on the installation before providing this, all very costly if the idea is to turn it back into one dwelling at some point.

Rental contract is needed but initially, in principle, as a tenant, you have a right to pay exactly what you consume.

Maybe a solution would be for the landlord to install a check meter for the rental apartment, a modification of the circuits would probably be necessary but that way there would be no need to get external companies/authorities involved.

Thank you everyone for all your comments. We have a private contract with the landlord not a registered one, and it states we pay the electricity. We have no problem for paying what we consum but without our own meter we have to go by what he says is our part of the bill. We were away for 6 weeks and whilst we are happy to pay part of the standing charge we are not going to pay for electriciry we obviously did not use as we were not there. We will write to the landlord and try and get an agreement. He converted the property into two apartments and lives one below us.

Good luck

As an small advise: set a realistic percentage based on electric objects and number of people per day and write it down as part of the agreement. That might help.