E-on: £7656 annual bill. £638 a month. 6x national average!!! Help! Details inside...

dogshome

I'm afraid that multi-tenanted housing where there is 'Joint Responsiblity', actually means 'No Responsibility' as each individual expects someone else to do the work involved in management and economic use.

With that said, the one week consumption figures you have given are off the scale and lead to the suspicion that the meters have been mis-read - 3647 Elec Kwh in a week is enough for a family home for a year - The Gas points to an Annual consumption of around 50-55,000 Kwh a year, but this is a large old house with vitually no insulation, so could be possible.

Is it that case that only you and your g/f have picked this up and are concerned?
It really needs every occupier to be involved so each is aware of the costs they are facing, which means a joint meeting
You really must get those copy bills from the L/lord and a joint request from every tenant is the best way to go

steve-L

Unless you get everyone working together this seems doomed to failure.

The Landlord needs to insulate... but obviously now is not the time to rip out windows! You can put some plastic sheet inside and tape it up.

If everyone agrees to set the thermostat at 18 degrees and NOT TOUCH IT and not have electric heaters in room you might get this to work..... but at this point moving out seems the viable option unless the other 5 girls are willing to adjust!

amiehall

I'm not being funny but if the tenancy agreement states bills are payable by the landlord, the tenants have very little to be concerned about...

steve-L

amiehall wrote: »

I'm not being funny but if the tenancy agreement states bills are payable by the landlord, the tenants have very little to be concerned about...

Except we didn't see the actual tenancy agreement.....
The LL may have a fair use clause or limit ....

Depending how long they have left on the agreement, they can sit it out.... refuse to pay more and know that next years contract will either not include bills OR be increased a LOT.

If the LL then excludes bills then the LL has no motivation to fix things.... either way the LL is not going to run at a loss if there is a ready supply of students waiting to rent.

Geting a new place in September will be the same old problem of everyone looking at the same time, LL's market and requirement to live SOMEWHERE....
When I lived in Kingston as a student years ago I ended up paying to rent over the summer so not as to lose a cheap place! I got a job to cover this but not ideal... I could have lived at home for semi-free and worked and saved money for the next term!

If the LL puts it in writing they could try and use it to break the contract having already found somewhere better mid-term.

However you are correct, they shouldn't accept any rent increase unless this is in the tenancy agreement.

macman

OP needs to give proper info about what the STA actually says. The LL can't just increse the rent mid-term.
He's clearly failed to properly assess the energy bill component in the rent when making the agreement back in the Autumn. His problem, not the tenant's.

rogerblack

Shadypops wrote: »

Hey, thanks for the replys. So we have readings after a week, and they seem crazy?

Elec: 3,647 kwh !!!

A week has 24*7 = 168
This is a constant load equivalent to 21kW, 87A.
What is the value of the main incoming fuse?
An 80A fuse would have blown at this load.
If stuff is mostly switched off during the day, then a 100A fuse will have blown, maybe even 120A.

This is almost entirely unbelievable as an electrical load, unless the property is entirely heated by peaktime electricity, and has heaters going constantly even while the tenants are out.
Do the tenants even own 10 2kW heaters?
Are you sure you're reading the meter properly, and it's not 364.7?

First steps are the same.
Find a 1kW heater.
Go round and unplug _EVERYTHING_ - including fridges and freezers.

Does the meter stop spinning/flashing.
Now, plug one 1kW heater in, and does it spin/flash at the appropriate rate.
(for example, my meter flashes 100 times per kWh. This means that if there is a load of 1kW, (1000W), it flashes 100 times per 3600 seconds = 36 seconds for a 1kW load.

Cardew

OP do you have a dial meter like this? They are often in old houses.

Reading a dial meter
If the pointer falls between two
numbers, always read the lower number – in Fig A you would write down the
number 4.


If the pointer is directly over a number always record it – in Fig B you would write down the number 5.



If the pointer on a dial falls between 9 and 0, reduce the reading already
taken for the dial on the left by one – for example, if your original recorded
5, reduce this to 4.




Following these instructions, the correct meter reading for the dial in the
diagram will be 44928.

If you don't appreciate that the pointers go anti-clockwise on alternate dials, you can misread by thousands of units.