Very high elec bill in student house, advice please

Cardew

For the bill to jump from £129 to £203 is a big increase, but much of that will be accounted for by the increase in tariff.

If she pays an extra £15 she is probably more than paying her way.

Tensions amongst students sharing property are very common and it seems that your daughter not liking the girl, or her lifestyle, is the root cause - rather than her use of 'extra' electricity.

maninthestreet

"If she pays an extra £15 she is probably more than paying her way."

I doubt it - at 10p/unit, that equates to an extra 150 units of electricity. An electric heater rated at 1Kw will consume 1 unit of electricity every hour.
A quarter is approximately 90 days, 150/90 = 1.666 units per day. From what we have been told, that heater is on for more than 1.666 hours per day.
Even if we take all the £65 contribution into account, that still only equates to 7.222 units per day.

Cardew

maninthestreet wrote:

"If she pays an extra £15 she is probably more than paying her way."

I doubt it - at 10p/unit, that equates to an extra 150 units of electricity. An electric heater rated at 1Kw will consume 1 unit of electricity every hour.
A quarter is approximately 90 days, 150/90 = 1.666 units per day. From what we have been told, that heater is on for more than 1.666 hours per day.
Even if we take all the £65 contribution into account, that still only equates to 7.222 units per day.

You have assumed it is a 1kW halogen heater; many are much lower powered, and all the OP quoted was voltage and frequency.

You have also assumed the length of time it is switched on in your calculations; and that in turn is based on the assumptions of the OP which in turn are based on the assumptions of the OP's daughter. - the post does not state how long it is on for.

The way the post is crafted one would get the impression that she puts the heater on because she simply wants to use up electricity; could a simpler explanation be that her room is colder than others?

My son's student house had 'living' rooms converted to bedrooms that had bigger radiators than the bedrooms in the house. The thermostat set to keep the downstairs rooms comfortable meant the bedrooms were several degrees cooler. This of course is exactly how most heating systems are designed.

Although I would have thought that the girl sleeping with mulitple boyfriends would have meant less heating was required in the room;)

Its a social problem IMO.

Tesco_points_addict

I really feel for your daughter, she sounds like my TXXt of a next door neighbour, but at least I don't have to live with her, just get woken at 3am most days by her unreasonable behaviour
(BTW i live in a detatched house imagine if it were a terrace or semi??!!)

Lady_K

There are reasons why all 3 of the others dont like this girl its because of the way shes been from day one. Shes very bossy and controlling and tantrums if something doesnt suit her, she ignores them when they try to talk to her about any problems there might be, shes not interested. There are too many things to list. She is extremely loud and noisy day and night and bringing all these people in at all times makes it even noisier.

Going out and leaving the door unlocked has been a big problem its not nice when your living there and suddenly people just walk in that you dont know when shes not even there herself plus it puts belongings at risk. They take food from the fridge with no concern of who it belongs to. She is a member of a church on the corner of the street and the house is open house to them, yet she doesnt go to any of thier houses. The other tenants have not said she cant bring her friends around but they have asked her on occasions if she can please keep the noise down but its falls on deaf ears. She has actually just about taken over that house.

Her friends bring children and babies in regular even at gone 12 midnight leaving them screaming outside tenants room doors with the mothers ignoring them. My daughter has had to go and look after them sometimes because the mothers just leave them. I dont know why they are up at that time. Its the same in the day they come trailling in and let thier children run riot. It makes studying very difficult and 2 of the tenants are student nurses including my daughter so they do all shifts including nights.

You would think being church people they would be more thoughtfull and considerate but all of the others have said what nasty horrible people they are and they have no respect whatsoever. There are arguments between her and the friends she brings in, again more noise but its just the way they are together. Her sleeping with 3 men is her choice of course but it effects the house, she has one main bf and is also sleeping with a married man with 3 children, he comes over at all hours and hes not very nice at all to the others. The other guy is a single guy she met, shes been sleeping with all of them since she moved in and she has asked the tenants to lie for her. The church friends of hers all know about the 3 men and they quite easily lie for her, they think its funny but its quite sad when there are children involved.

She will do things like if someone has clothes in the tumble dryer she will take them out and put her own in. When this has happened they dont cause an argument because they know what it will be like she makes the whole house miserable so they just keep the peace and put thiers on the radiators. She turns the freezer off so they have lost 3 lots of freezer food (not hers). She wont fill the sink to wash pots she just rinses everything under a hot tap with a squirt of washing up liquid with each item, they get through bottles of it. which uses much more hot water and with the amount of cooking and baking and feeding of the 5000 she does it uses a lot of energy.

The others in the house have been actually very nice to her, they have given her things like a hairdryer, straightening irons, umberella and toiletries. Everyone in the house has had to bring thier own pots, pans, dishes, utensils, bowls, containers etc and she has bought nothing she uses all thiers and they have not complained. The lad in the house is at her beck and call for her many computer problems and she doesnt appreciate any of it. She bangs on my daughters and her friends doors when they have been on nights for the most stupid things because she just does not care.

Her room is no colder than the others its the same size and has same radiators but the others have to turn thier radiators off a lot because its just too hot as she has it on all the time, if the others turn it off or down she will turn it on full again. The redicules thing is the girl doesnt get dressed, she has always walked around in shorts and strap tops no cardigans or jumpers or jeans and she expects to be warm, shes like that every single day

belfastgirl23

This will be a really good learning experience for your daughters. I've been through more than my share of student houses etc and in my experience there's always one person who causes grief. Don't forget too you are only hearing one side of the story and no one is perfect to live with. This is all part of the student experience and I'll bet they appreciate being at home more too.

I do think it is about different expectations. I see it at work where people come in wearing little light tops in mid-winter and then wonder why they're cold.

They don't have too long to go there at least (guessing the lease is up in June) and hopefully the worst of the winter is over. I think your daughters will be learning negotiating skills and tolerance and you should let them get on with it. Much better to learn all this now than perhaps five years down the line when it's a new husband or whatever I know what I'm talking about, DH would leave the heating running permanently and just open the windows when it's too warm.

Could they just get a flat together next year?

BTW second what some of the others say - student houses are far harder on electric than regular family houses - people come and go at odd hours and probably spend more time in rooms etc, also cook seperately. And they're not usually well insulated either.

Lady_K

Thanx yes the 3 others are getting a house next year together. Its the final year for all of them next year. She was quite depressed last night though and called me at 1.30am, she knows I'm mostly up late. She was really sad and depressed and had really had enough, she just can't wait to get out of the house.

She said the atmosphere in the house is really horrible, not just because of this now but its always like it. Its like the house belongs to this girl and they cant enjoy being there. Is like an extention to the church hall and nursery. She said its hanging over them all the time. The lad there stays in his room just about all the time now as he has just got to hate the girl so would rather keep out of her and her friends way. Hes been as polite as he can and gone out of his way to help her with this and that and hes sick of her bothering him about things now. She doesnt ask she demands and makes such a nuisance of herself until she gets what she wants.

The girl will have one man staying for 3 weeks solid then her real bf will come and stay for 2 weeks then the married man will have a stint of every night after the pubs close then sometimes shes doing all 3 at once, like the bf or the single in the day and the married at night.

The other student nurse has been in tears many a time because of things this girl has done and shes a strong person normally but the girl is so aggresive she finds it hard to cope with her. As my daughter isnt there as much due to her bf living away and placements etc the other nurse tends to get the brunt of it. My daughter has also cried and been very depressed though at times. Its hard too with the nature of her course. After dealing with emotional things at her placements and then coming back to that its not very nice at all.

Not heard back from the landlord yet, don't know if he will be interested at all but I dont want a fire breaking out there if shes using that heater

Gal

To be honest its only another couple of months - Just tell her to sweat it out and then she never has to see her again - Although I have to agree with cardew most of the points your making are more down to her 'Social Behaviour' and not electric usage.

There are 4 people in my house and our bill was £300 for the quarter. if that makes you feel better

Lady_K

Its about 4 months to go now but yes I know hopefully once shes moved things will be better but she still could see her again because they are in the same place and same uni.

They had 4 students to view the house last night that are moving from a 5 bedroomed house down the road from my daughter which has 7 students in it. My daughter asked them about thier untility bills. They told her thier elec bill was just over £100 for this last quarter and both gas and elec are around that every time or less in the summer and they send in readings each time. I know that sounds quite low for a student house of that size but it just shows its possible. It may have something to do with areas and costs but its the east midlands area that they are in. They have asked around other students and no one has anywhere near the size of the bills they are getting there. It will show next year when they are in the different house I expect, it will be interesting to compare

The landlord has now decided he is evicting the girl at the end of the years tenancy because she mislead him by saying she had 3 other people to move in next year with her to replace the 3 others and she hasnt so hes now getting her out due to the nature of the contract and the other 3 moving

Lady_K

Just thought I'd add to this that they have now been told after giving a reading that the gas bill is almost £500 for 12 weeks

They were expecting it to be high but not that high and all down to this one girl again because she wants the gas on all the time. When anyone turns it off she puts it back on, if they turn it down she turns it back on full and she leaves it on all day heating an empty house because she wants it warm when she gets in. She puts it on in the night because she just wants it on but walks round in shorts and a strap top all day everyday. All this time the other tenants have thier radiators turned off they cant stand the heat its been a total nightmare and I don't know how they are going to sort this bill out, but shes going to have to pay more of her share towards the bill because they have tried everything to get her to stop and she hasnt, it just seems unfair that they have to foot such a high bill because of her selfish ways

They still have 3.5 more months left there not too long but still time for another full 3 months gas and elec bills after the present ones are paid if it carroies on like this they wont have any money to move with to the next house