Sky-high electricity Bill - Please advise!

guitarbloke

Apologies, I've just realised that this should have gone onto the Electricity section (I didn't realise there was a dedicated area for such questions!)

savemoney

Get timers from Wilkos usually much cheaper than B&Q

basic one in wilkos £3.99

http://www.wilkinsonplus.com/Extension-Leads+Timers/Wilko-Segment-Time-Switch-24h/invt/0142473?htxt=MB8fgVYVbOoNXaptHNX0dNRLPUWa0qjcw38tgmWRLv1yl7OyZ4YxIb8Uq1UIf7jjZyklF19RDumk%0A23EqfzAi0Q%3D%3D

Tucker

The have in the past sold the timers in Poundland.

You mentioned the landlord read the meter and you stood next to him. Well, the energy reader simply clamps around the insulated lead on the meter (the lead that supplies the property). There is no danger in attaching it, as it is a clip that just wraps around the insulated lead. The whole thing takes 2 minutes to set up.

The beauty of it is you can read it, then switch on various appliances and see how much they increase the useage and repeat the process to get a measure of what is a heavy drain and what isn't. A kettle for example is high at somewhere around 2kw as is an electric oven or the hob, but then it's normally used in short bursts.

Hence anything that is 500 watts or more and used over long period needs to be used with care or perhaps even reviewed to see if you can find a cheaper option.

For example if the main oven is regularly blasting away for several hours cooking a leg of lamb, it would be far cheaper to buy a slow cooker which uses very little power.

fluffpot

It's worth checking if you have off peak (economy 7 or similar) electricity for the existing heaters. I recently did some work for a client where these were connected up to the peak electricity supply and were costing her a fortune. Luckily she got a refund

Fluff

guitarbloke

Bit of an update to our electricity situation - more confused now!

Last night I asked to landlord for the key to double check the electricity meter reading and we got into a discussion about why it was so high.

He explained to us that there is a water pump on our property which is suplpying water to the other 3 nearby cottages (he estimates this as costing around £40 a month as that's what the he was being billed for the place when it was standing empty).

He has made us the following offer - he will transfer the electricty bill into his name and pay it every month in return for us paying £100 extra in rent each month. Since we've been faced with a bill of £155 this month I'm thinking that this seems like a good idea - I know we'd be overpaying in the summer, but I guess the other 3 cottages will use more water in the warmer months (more showers etc) and it would also put us in credit for the winter I'd guess too.

Do you think this is a good deal that we've been offered?

davetrousers

So you'd be paying £100 a month in electricity costs. Doesn't sound great to me to be honest. A bill of £155 this month, but as you say £40 of this is from this darned water pump, ergo £115, in a cold month.

Why is there a water pump to 3 other cottages? Unless the water is a private supply, then the water provider has to provide an adequate supply to these properties. Don't just take your landlord's word that this pump only costs £40 a month.

Whatever you do get it in writing! I'd be looking to move out ASAP too.

Tucker

Perhaps a £40 reduction in the current rent would be a safer bet, assuming his estimate is accurate. Again an energy monitor might be your only way of measure how much energy this pump is using?

Seems a bit poor that this wasn't made clear to you at the outset and only you pushing to query the electic cost has brought about this disclosure.

Something as significant as that, should be in the agreement.

If you go down the route of paying £100 extra, you may as well go hell for leather with the electric and have the rads on full all the time!!

guitarbloke

Thanks guys for your replies on this!

Unfortunatley, we can't go too crazy with the electricity - One of the things the landlord said to us last night was that although he's offering to pay the bill in exchange for £100 extra rent, if we "take the p*** then we'll be having a chat". He made that much very clear.

£100 still sounds like an insane amount of money to me for electricity each month. I guess that's the price to be paid for an all-electric household. Wouldn't mind so much but we barely use the hot water (showering at my girlrfiend's mum's place each day) and we don't have a computer or anything like that (no internet connection this far out in the sticks)!!

At least we know better for next time we move house though...

In answer to Davetrousers question about why there is a water pump to 4 cottages - The land and all 4 cottages used to be owned by 1 person (many years ago), so they were all using the same pump. Around 10 years ago, the owner sold 3 of those 4 cottages off to my current landlord and kept onto the 4th one to rent out.

However all 4 cottages still remain connected to the same pump (including the one which isn't owned by my landlord). It all sounds a bit complicated to me...

This is one of the reasons my landlord was keen to take over the bill because he said that effectively we're paying for someone who isn't even one of his tennants, everytime they use their hot water (fortunately, our water rates are included in the rent!!).

Do you guys think I'd be better off going with the landlord's offer, or perhaps keeping the electricity under our name and just asking for £40 a month to be knocked off the rent? If we opt for the latter, my concern is that if the other cottages start using more water in the summer for showers etc, our bill will climb again.

The landlord has been really good to us (done a few DIY jobs for us around the cottage) and I'm kind of afraid that snubbing his offer might insult him or imply that maybe we think he's out to rip us off for a bit more rent money.

I never realised that moving out would be so stressful (not to mention, expensive...)!!!

dander

I definitely think you'll be ripped off if you take the £100 offer. Yes, you used more than £100 in the last month, but you've been heating your house 24 hours a day in cold weather for that. In the summer, my electricity costs in a 3 bedroom house can easily be less than £20 a month. I heat my water with gas, but even bearing that in mind, I'm going to guess you wouldn't use more than £40-£50 worth in the summer. A rent discount to cover the pump would be far better.

dander

Just wanted to add that I think you should push for more than £40 discount as well, bearing in mind the inconvenience and the risk that the estimate is not accurate. It might be worth posting a message on the moving/renting/housebuying boards because people there know a lot about how to deal with rental agreements and disputes and may be able to advise you better on what the rules are about him not telling you about this sooner and how it should be dealt with now.