Student House: Housemate insisting there is a problem with our meter.

DannyWhoWorks

Hi

I live in a student house and since the very start, our electric bills have been VERY high. For the summer, from July 1st - September 1st it was a total of £180 with only two people living in the property. From September to December it then rose to £410 (5-6 people now living here but many going home for weekends etc.) then December - March a huge £800.

I know why it is this high, it is because I am living with people who do not understand the concept that we are students so it means we do not have to live in complete luxury! They have electric standby heaters running 24/7, lights on 24/7, leave the oven on just for the sake of it, put heaters on in rooms that we only spend 10 mins a day in etc.

Anyway, I had enough the other day and I complained to the main housemate who is using all this electric telling them it is crazy. Anyway, he is insisting that there is a problem with our meter and he is ringing up the electric company to 'sort' it out and come out and look at it.

Is he living in a dream world? I would not be surprised if it is higher than the £800 to be honest the way these guys use electric. but does anyone know of anyway how this housemate could be right and that there is a glitch or something?

Nada666

Make sure he and he alone pays for the £65 to £80 that will be charged for the spurious meter check.

As you say, £800 over winter for four or five sitting rooms and an electric kitchen and electric hot water is not at all strange. (Although at only just over £50 each per month it is not as bad as it could be.)

And, even more importantly, make sure each and every person pays their share of the bills as you go along - unfortunately the sorts of character who use power without thought are precisely the sort to run off and abandon their tenancy leaving the rest of you liable for bills and maybe even rent.

Cardew

It would pay you to get a electricity consumption monitor see

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/free-cheap-energy-monitors

You get a 'real time' indication of consumption and a historical record.

They are not super accurate - particularly at very low consumption - but close enough to check that there is no fault with the main meter(which very rarely go faulty)

In my son's student house the preferred method of temperature regulation was to have the heat on full 24/7 and open the windows to cool any rooms.

victor2

You can do a rough check on your meter yourselves at no cost. Look at what it is recording over 10 minutes, then switch on a heater of a stated rating (say 2KW). Then see what the meter records for another 10 minutes. You'll need to note fractions of units (kWh). That will give you an indication of what the heater is using.
Convert the kWh to cash and you'll get an idea what heating is likely to cost if running for a longer period of time. Might just educate the housemate that little is free in life.

ollski

Perhaps worth explaining that a fan heater is commonly using 3kw of electricity which is about 40 - 50p an hour so easily 3.00 a day even with fairly moderate use. Multiply that by 90 days in a quarter and that fan heater could be using up 270.00 a quarter on its own!

macman

Post your actual kWh consumption figures and meaningful advice can be given. £££ bills tell us nothing about your actual consumption.
Are your bills based on actual readings or estimates?
But, given the wastefulness you describe, then yes, the bills are inevitably going to be huge.
If the meter check finds no error, then the cost of the check will be added to your next bill.

Fire_Fox

Agree start looking at actual readings in KWH not £££. Compare the KWH rating of the heaters, power shower, immersion heater, washing machine and tumble dryer to the bill. Lighting and gadgets won't be making that much of a contribution unless you have hundreds of halogen lamps.

Are you still on the standard tariff? Are you on a one rate or two rate meter? Run your own test by turning EVERYTHING off at the socket (even the refrigerator, even chargers and stuff on standby) and running one heater in a cool room for an hour, read the meter before and after, see if the numbers match up with the KWH rating, then do the maths and convert that to pence, then convert it to daily, weekly and monthly costs.

Don't confront people or whinge that just starts childish and petty arguments, negotiate and discuss, raise concerns in a mature fashion.

Wywth

DannyWhoWorks wrote: »

Hi

I live in a student house and since the very start, our electric bills have been VERY high. For the summer, from July 1st - September 1st it was a total of £180 with only two people living in the property. From September to December it then rose to £410 (5-6 people now living here but many going home for weekends etc.) then December - March a huge £800.

I know why it is this high, it is because I am living with people who do not understand the concept that we are students so it means we do not have to live in complete luxury! They have electric standby heaters running 24/7, lights on 24/7, leave the oven on just for the sake of it, put heaters on in rooms that we only spend 10 mins a day in etc.

Anyway, I had enough the other day and I complained to the main housemate who is using all this electric telling them it is crazy. Anyway, he is insisting that there is a problem with our meter and he is ringing up the electric company to 'sort' it out and come out and look at it.

Is he living in a dream world? I would not be surprised if it is higher than the £800 to be honest the way these guys use electric. but does anyone know of anyway how this housemate could be right and that there is a glitch or something?

Meters certainly can go wrong

I doubt that is the cause on this occassion, but anything is possible, and as your housemate is now getting this looked at, you should know either way shortly.