Moral Dilemma - shared house bills

Snow_Angel

I'm in a bit of a fix and need some useful advice! I'm a mature student and moved into a shared house at the beginning of this academic year (Aug). The house is 4-bedroomed but due to top-up fees for students etc etc the unis have had little uptake of their courses this year and ... to cut a long story short, I am now sharing this 4-bedroomed house with one other person. Which obviously means bills are shared between 2 and not 4 as I expected.

The house is freezing! At the moment we have the heating on scheduled for 3 hours between 4 and 7pm. I'm out a lot as I'm doing a medical course and at weekends I'm always out and about and really busy. the person I've ended up sharing with is doing a computer based course and is hardly ever at uni during the week hours. he is also a virtual recluse at weekends and stays at home from Friday afternoons to Monday lunchtimes, without leaving the house even to go to the shops sometimes.

We've just got our winter bills for gas and elec and they're ok considering, but I really can't afford to have the heating on extra or the luxury of baths! (our shower is electric, bath is gas).

My problem is, a few times last week I came home to discover the heating had been on extra during the day and my housemate usually gets 2 baths a week and showers the rest of the time. I've now started writing down the gas units at the beginning and end of every day and making a note of when I'm at home and when he's at home. I'm hoping to see a pattern - i.e. the gas units will go up when I'm out all day or at weekends.

I really don't know how to approach him about this problem. I actually lost my temper a bit earlier when he turned the heating on again, after it had just gone off and told him "I can't afford to pay the bills because I don't have mummy and daddy to pay mine" - maybe not the best way to approach things But that's what it boils down to - I'm a mature, single student having a career change and pay my own way with everything and he's a 23 year old with rich parents who pay his rent, bills, travel etc etc and doesn't seem to have a clue about budgeting. please help!

jennifernil

I take it you have turned off the radiators in all the rooms that are not being used?

I can see you have a problem , but a freezing house is not conducive to studying and IMHO you are not heating it enough. How much are your bills for the gas and electricity?

Snow_Angel

jennifernil wrote:

I take it you have turned off the radiators in all the rooms that are not being used?

I can see you have a problem , but a freezing house is not conducive to studying and IMHO you are not heating it enough. How much are your bills for the gas and electricity?

We have turned off the radiators in the 2 bedrooms not being used and keep those doors closed to try to keep heat in. No, you're right it's not conducive to study having a cold house, but I just put extra clothes on! The problem is that he stays in all day at his computer and obviously gets cold sitting still, I'm always out at uni or go to the library to study and go outside at weekends for walks etc, whereas he just sits in on his computer. And basically putting on extra heating when I'm not even there. I feel it's like me running up a massive phone bill and asking him to pay half of it!

Our electricity was £115 and gas £180 - from 14th Oct to 5th Jan - but also he has been away for 3 weeks over Christmas (I was away for 5 days) and I have been away for 20 days for clinical placement during that time period.

anniecave

Perhaps you need to do some monitoring of whether usage does change.
And have a chat with your housemate and say that you would like to reduce the bills if possible so if he could do what he can?

anniecave

My flatmate has the heating on far more than I do but I wouldn't know how to work out how much difference it makes.

jennifernil

His computer being on all day will use a bit of extra power too, but it will produce heat. I am at home all day and rarely need any extra heating on as the computer keeps me cosy!

However I would say your heating hours are a little odd. We put ours on in the morning so it is warm when we get up, say on at 06.30, then it goes off at 09.00, or earlier if we are both going out. At night it comes on at 17.00 or 18.00, depending how cold it is, and off about 22.00 as we go to bed around midnight.

Now I realise this is much longer than your 3 hours, but you could adjust your timings to suit your timetable. If the house is warmed in the morning he may not feel so much need to heat during the day.

If he is just in the one room there is no need to heat the whole house, so maybe turn down the radiators elsewhere until you come home.

I think you need to sit down together and talk this through, as you say he probably has no idea how much gas and electricity cost. And you need to explain your situation too. Once he understands he may agree to pay a bit more.

What I do is keep a little electric fan heater where I am sitting and if it is really cold turn it on for half an hour. You can get plug in devices that monitor how much power is being used, he could use one of those and pay for the extra electricity to use a fan heater in his own room. Maybe run the computer through it too if it uses a lot of power!!!

Snow_Angel

jennifernil - Thanks for the reply. They all seem like fairly reasonable suggestions. Main problem is - in the morning I get up at 7ish every day; he probably gets up sometime between 9 and 11 depending on when he has to go to uni. The house is old and big and doesn't keep its heat at all - also, none of the windows face the sun, so getting no heat that way. Therefore if I put the heating on in the morning, by the time he gets up it's gone. That's also the reason for the wierd hours - by 4pm it is freezing in our place and I genuinely can't afford to keep the heating on for longer than a few hours a day. And I'm afraid if I suggest an electric heater he'll just leave it on all day in his room and then I'll be faced with stupidly high electric bills.

I think part of the main problem TBH is the fact that I'm really outdoorsy and motivated.....and he's just a computer guy who literally stays in from Friday afternoons to Monday lunchtimes and doesn't set foot out of the house once in 72 hours. Also, during the week he's got a really lax timetable and so he's pretty much in the house all the time when I am, whereas he has the luxury of the place to himself all the time because I'm out and about so much. As well as the bill problems it's just getting really claustrophobic for me and It's just making my temper build up somewhat!

Loster

Hi SnowAngel.

This is a predicament indeed. I can remember similar things happening in my student days - mostly around phone bills. People are aware of being frugal and efficient with energy and wastage to vastly different degrees and it is different when faced with two conflicting outlooks (i.e. you care because you have to; he may not do because he doesn't have to).

I can see two options:

One, like others have said, to talk to him. To suggest that he pay the share of the fuel bills he uses (if he really is a parent-pays-everything type then he probably won't mind), and that you will track the usage and tell him. You probably already know whether this will go over with him... and you sound like you would have a hard time not being angry and pushy with him. Try not to. Calmly explain your predicament, make no accusations and ask, again calmly, if he is willing to pay for what he uses. If you get a grunt for a reply, or you get anger or refusal, then may be the time for more immediate action, like:

two, move to another place. You can probably find a better house share somewhere for a similar price. In my experience there are always adverts around uni campuses for 'one room required' etc. This may seem drastic but from the sounds of it this guy isn't the best house mate to be with... and you may find some cool people to bunk with.

Of course, moving can be a hassle, and perhaps it is a bit drastic.

Or, how about speaking to your landlord? He has power over his tenants and may be able to hold sway with this fellow.

You could always install a virus on his computer if he doesn't comply! Sorry, I jest.

I hope you come to some good resolution with this SA. Good luck.

impy78

We have just had the self same argument in our house, after I blew my top after finding two of my housemates parading around in vests and shorts with the heating on full blast.

I told them in a polite a way as possible, that it was unfair that they didn't at least try to keep warm some other way, and if they wanted to do that, then they would have to pay a larger share of the bills.

They are now dressing a little more sensibly, and we all have throws that we use to keep warm, and we are only allowed the heating on when all four of u sare at home, for 30 minutes at a time.

BrunoM

Can those little fan or bar heaters be cost-effective? A single little one feels like it should cost less than having the heating on house-wide - for when he's in by himself he could keep his personal space a bit warmer without blasting the full effect?

I have no idea whether this would actually be cheaper... maybe someone else might - but it ought to be, morally!

Beate

IMHO you are not heating this place enough for it to be really nice to be in anytime during the day. I can understand that you don't want to pay for heating you don't use but I can also understand your housemate for wanting the house warm when he is in it. And you can't really blame him for not being as outdoorsy as you are! So basically, as you cannot afford to heat the house properly, he either has to pay a lot more for the time only he uses the heating, or you will have to find another place to stay where you share with people who have the same approach to keeping the place and themselves warm.

And a last point - check whether you couldn't be with a cheaper utility supplier!

To answer BrunoM - I was always led to believe that fan heaters should only be used in emergencies as they waste shedloads of electricity. But proving it I can't.