Advice needed regarding my situation in a rented house..

silvercar

Can you be sure that the initial meter reading was correct? Without this starting point you could be paying for the previous occupier's useage.

Once established if the initial reading is correct, I think that you are going to have problems shifting the payment liability. At the end of the day its you that used the electricity so you are liable for it.

If you had known it was eating kilowatts, what would you have done differently?

grovice

I would have moved out after the initial 6 month contract was up, I moved in during the winter period so it would have come to light immediately as its the heating thats caused this, nothing else

averaging readings i took myself over the last 6 months you can work it back to see it must have been a correct reading

silvercar

A quick google of devvi-heat and I find:

http://www.devi.co.uk/solutions/underfloor-heating/facts_and_benefits.html

Its meant to be efficient and reduces your heating bills by 20% Certainly having individual thermostats should reduce bills.

"Economical
If the system is used as a total heating solution, it is possible to lower the average room temperature by 2ºC without affecting the level of comfort. This means that heating can be reduced by around 20% - which is both an economic and an environmental advantage."

Is it possible that you were keeping the temperature high?

grovice

its a ridiculous heating system to have in this house, the house is 3 storeys, with the 2nd floor being a mezzanine over the lounge, which occupies the whole first floor, due to the mezzanine the cieling in the living room is 2 floors high, any heat just rises to the 2nd floor which is the kitchen/diner, the thermostats never really get a chance to kick in downstairs, the bedroom is fine, 1 hour a day warmed the room but downstairs is terribly cold all the time, its the worst heating system I have ever come across, and it certainly hasnt helped my bills, moving into this house is the one single thing in my life I would change if I could go back in time and change only one thing.

anotherpaul_2

grovice wrote: »

its a ridiculous heating system to have in this house, the house is 3 storeys, with the 2nd floor being a mezzanine over the lounge, which occupies the whole first floor, due to the mezzanine the cieling in the living room is 2 floors high, any heat just rises to the 2nd floor which is the kitchen/diner, the thermostats never really get a chance to kick in downstairs

That sound like a problem with the design of the house rather than the heating system. Warm air rises whether it's produced by underfloor electic heating, gas central heating, or anything else. (There is clearly an issue if yours isn't using E7 and should be, but that's not a problem with the heating system in concept.)

We have a similar problem heating our house - there's a staircase up to the loft without a door, so all the heat goes up and out off the roof. If it wasn't a rental, we'd be able to do something about it. Fortunately, we're happy with it cool, so it's not too bad, but I could see keeping it at 20 degrees in the winter would cost a FORTUNE.

silvercar

....some people here may have gotten the impression that I have accrued a large bill through ignorance and not paying enough, ....

It seems you have. You were ignorant of the amount of electricity you were using and you certainly weren't paying enough on your direct debits.

The latest green initiative are hand held monitors that are wirelessly linked to the electric meter. By seeing instantly how much electricity you are using people have been shown to reduce their consumption.

Your case illustrates their value. In ignorance of your consumption you made no effort to reduce it.

grovice

silvercar wrote: »

It seems you have. You were ignorant of the amount of electricity you were using and you certainly weren't paying enough on your direct debits.

The latest green initiative are hand held monitors that are wirelessly linked to the electric meter. By seeing instantly how much electricity you are using people have been shown to reduce their consumption.

Your case illustrates their value. In ignorance of your consumption you made no effort to reduce it.

dont be silly, £85 per month should be perfectly adequate for 2 people in a home, maybe you are suggesting that 70 units per day is usual?! when the heating was turned off we used around 10 units per day, go figure

this is aside to the evening and night units registered on the meter, how can we reduce our usage, freeze through the winter, my wife is pregnant, you think I would make her suffer from the cold, do you have any idea what its like to have to wear a coat and wooly hat in your own living room and still feel cold ?

Anotherpaul: there is no economy 7 option, it is not storage heating, when its on its on, its under-TILE not underfloor, apparently there is a hell of a difference

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi grovice

Sounds like an horrendous situation with your heating. Unfortunately, some builders go for heating systems which are cheap to install regardless of the running costs as these are not their concern.

Electric heating is particularly expensive.

Several posters have suggested a payment plan but I cannot see from your posts whether you have actually set something up.

You are right when you say EON will ask for payment in full when you leave the property. However, we will be happy to set up a realistic payment arrangement to help.

If you are moving into another property supplied by EON the debt can be transferred to this account. A payment arrangement can then be set up to cover your ongoing usage and re-pay the original debt over a set period.

Should you struggle to cope with this we could always look at a Prepayment meter as a last resort. This would allow us to put the debt on the meter at an agreed weekly repayment rate.

The suggestion about moving and not telling us is really bad advice. We will not give up chasing this debt.

If you have not arranged a payment plan give us a call to discuss your options. It is important we work together to help resolve this.

Hope this helps.

Malc

sarah_elton

grovice wrote: »

£85 per month should be perfectly adequate for 2 people in a home

No, it won't be. Not with the heating system that's installed. As I said, the electric in my flat is £80 a month (average over the year - higher in winter, lower in summer). All I have heating wise is two night storage heaters, one in the lounge and one in the main bedroom. And being top floor my flat is pretty warm so I don't have to use them that much except in winter.

No-one is suggesting that you don't use the heating. I can't live in a cold home and I don't blame you for not wanting to. The simple fact is that the house you are in has really high running costs. If you don't want to/can't pay this much then all you can do is move to a house with gas central heating that's less open-plan, maybe something older?

grovice

sarah_elton wrote: »

No, it won't be. Not with the heating system that's installed. As I said, the electric in my flat is £80 a month (average over the year - higher in winter, lower in summer). All I have heating wise is two night storage heaters, one in the lounge and one in the main bedroom. And being top floor my flat is pretty warm so I don't have to use them that much except in winter.

No-one is suggesting that you don't use the heating. I can't live in a cold home and I don't blame you for not wanting to. The simple fact is that the house you are in has really high running costs. If you don't want to/can't pay this much then all you can do is move to a house with gas central heating that's less open-plan, maybe something older?

Thats exactly what I am doing Sarah, but like I explained, I didnt find out the situation until I had already signed a new contract starting last year and have had to wait until this month to be able to move out without paying extra fees and rent possibly.
I dont know anybody paying more than what I was paying by DD but it turns out that according to usage, I SHOULD have been paying over 200 per month, which to be brutally honest, is absolutely ridiculous just for electric for 2 people, so can everybody please stop telling me I was underpaying, I obviously was according to usage, but not compared to what is usual, people seem to be missing the point here, I had no idea it could be so high, it is NOT normal, so how could I expect it to be so and the reason it took me so long to find out is because I never had access to the meter!

Malc : A payment plan has been setup, the woman at Eon explained that when I move, if the new property is not with Eon and I am not allowed to change suppliers, and some agencies expressly deny this, then I am going to be hit with payment in full.