Electricity bills

ames123_2

Hey, wondering if anyone could tell me what they do regarding bills. I'm living in a 7 bed house and it currently costs about £5 a day for electricity which I think is a lot but I think it is because some people have electric heaters (not me) in their rooms which use quite a bit of electricity.

The electricity isn't on a bill which I think would be easier but on a meter meaning we have to go out and buy credit. This means when it runs out the electricity goes and so food frequently defrosts etc.

A couple of people go home at the weekend but are here during most of the week, some others have gone home for a couple of weeks during the term.
What do you think is fair for what everyone should put on? Those that go home at the weekends put on less? I should put on more because I am one of the ones that is here the most, but I don't have an electric heater?
It just really annoys me because haven't been putting on (in my opinion) what they should meaning that others have to put on a lot.

My friend and I have often said we should go round and get so much from everyone and put it on so it would last a while but we know it wouldn't happen, no-one is in at the same time and people wouldn't have the money on them!

Thanks for reading that long post, hope some people can share their opinions with me! Amy x

Oldernotwiser

I think that your friend's got the right idea; if you did this in advance, well before the electricity runs out, you should be able to collect the money. By always keeping it in credit you'll be able to stop worrying about things defrosting.
I'm sure that those with electric heaters are using by far the most electricity; those things eat money!

ames123_2

Thanks. But it wouldn't work, people would just say oh i'll give it you tomorrow which would turn into a month. Plus we are all on different amounts (what we've put on so far) so would have to even it out first. Think I shall put £5 a week on because there are 7 of us with 7 days of the week at £5 a day.
I know it's not a major problem in the grand scheme of things but it's these sort of little things which cause annoyances in shared houses!

melancholly

if you wanted to really sort it out, you can get a little device from maplins that works out how much electricity each appliance uses and work it out from there.... but that's probably not the best way to deal with the situation!

we used to have someone where i'm living who would have an electric heater on all day, but keep the window open so that he had fresh air! :mad: sent me nuts!

people with heaters should really contribute more. it might be worth setting up a 'house kitty' where everyone puts money in once a month or so and it pays for communal stuff. you can put a list on the wall with who paid what and when - if it's written up there then it's harder to squirm out of it.

you could also get energy saving bulbs and leave nothing on standby and all those kind of things just to keep usage down in general. not sure there's an easy way to make people cough up what they owe though - if anyone has a magic answer there would be a lot of people grateful to hear it!

kittiwoz

I think a kitty is probably the way to go although I would do it monthly rather than weekly myself. If you just have a pot everyone has to put money into then it doesn't matter if you are not all there at the same time to collect it. I agree with Melancholly to post a list. I would make it a chart split into weeks (or months if you prefer but I think people might baulk at parting with a month's worth of electricity money all at once since your bills are so high) with each housemates name marked and checkboxes for stuff they are supposed to do that week, i.e. pay £5 into the kitty, plus clean the kitchen or take the bins out or whatever. Then they can check it off when it is done and hopefuly those who don't contribute will be publicly shamed into doing so. Also if you can see who hasn't paid that week then you can attribute blame appropriately if the freezer defrosts and then tap them up for the spoilage.

It may still not work though. We used to run a kitty for things like bread, milk, loo roll, washing up liquid etc. and all put £3 in on Monday but then a few people wouldn't put money in and would just say they would buy stuff over the week but that doesn't work because then you always feel some people are spending more than others and because you can't see the money in the kitty declining people would show no caution in their spending and the money started to run out mid-week. We tried to go back to doing the kitty properly with everyone putting £3 in the pot but one person just point blank refused and although he was being unreasonable we couldn't budge him so now six of us are buying milk seperately which is ridiculous. TBH I think some people have just never been taught how to behave like reasonable adults by their parents and uni is the point where those people whose parents have successfully turned out functioning members of society get stuck trying to fix the parental failures of the others. I thought I was making some progress with my housemate for a while but I've completely lost control. I think it is too late to change his attitude now. His mother ran around clearing up after him and encouraged him to think he was the centre of the universe and I'm stuck with the product.

It is always a big problem though. We get quarterly bills which we split evenly but some people obviously use more electricity and gas than others. My most annoying housemate always uses the tumble dryer, leaves lights on and on those rare ocassions when he washes up does so with the hot tap running and without the plug in. The nearest I've found to a solution so far is to be ultra cautious myself to try to make up for it.