tradesman usage of utilities

mattyprice4004

Assuming half was gas, that's nearly 3500 kWh used. I'm calling BS - that's a ridiculous amount.

bazzarob_2

Thanks for slightly more constructive help all - I have an electricity tracker which let me know which appliances were really munching through the units (and I fully appreciate that there were appliances the tradespeople used which were necessary for the job). I also have a usage calculator for the gas each month - there are only two of us in the house and we are careful about heating rooms we use, plus we have a wood fire so it was easy to see that in the month we had the work done, the gas usage went through the roof. Again, the guys came in and put the heating on all day. I did mention it at the time to the guys and they didn't give a stuff. What I was really looking for was whether anyone else might get on board/have had similar experiences, not necessarily "it's been cold, deal with it", but I appreciate that this post has gathered opinion rather than advice. Thanks everyone for taking the time.
Baz

Fosterdog

I would suggest you have any future work done on your house in the summer months. You haven't said what work the tradespeople were doing for you, that would make a huge difference as to whether it was reasonable for them to have the heating on or not.

Lomast

Judging by the fact they were using Halogen heaters and dehumidifiers then they were doing something that needed to be dried, in which case i would expect them to use any means available to generate extra heat, i would be very surprised if they just had the heating on full because they were cold

DevCoder

Umm dehumidifiers use a small amount of electricity, typically between 150 and 200W.

Lets say that the cost per unit (kWh) is about 15p

My dehumidifier is 180W so

180/1000 = 0.18 x 12 (lets say it was on for half the day) x 15 = 32p per day.

They could run the dehumidifier for 12 hrs per day for 1000 days before it consumed £320 of electricity.

DevCoder

But to answer your question, there is very little you can do, you would have to prove that the tradesman used that electricity with which appliances and that this was not required as part of the work involved.

Beenie

We had a similar problem a few years ago. The men (floorlayers and decorators) didn't ask --they just put the heating on. It was as though my home, to them, was a building site as far as they were concerned. I didn't complain just paid the bill, but wouldn't use them again or recommend. Nowadays, if you're not happy, you can post on Which? local and give a negative review.

Battleaxe44

We had renovations done over winter, read that major rebuild. Our electricity and gas bills were exceptionally high, considering also in this quarter we had been away a month, but left the Central Heating on at 18 degrees.

The gas came in at £360. nd the Electricity at £289.00 odd for the quarter. I added one third of the energy consumption to the builder's invoice and we still came out lower than original estimate for the job.

The Hobbit would be upset if some one mentioned the his use of energy needed for him to complete a job. He explains why he needs the heating on.

it is a given that you pay for the power consumption during these jobs. the alternative would be a thumping generator being used and this cost would be added to your invoice.

I would have turned the radiators down in the rooms they weren't working in and not say a word. Maybe you could speak to the contractor and ask why they needed the heating on in every room. it could have thoughtlessness or they took it for granted, because no-one has said anything before.

Was the job done to your satisfaction and completed in the timescale as discussed when you were given the quote?

It is cheaper to do a renovation in the Summer, especially in this country.

Just my opinion....

Slowhand

bazzarob wrote: »

Hi all - not sure this is in the same place, but hope someone here might have some advice. Over the winter we had some work done on our house, the tradespeople came in every morning and put the heating on. They didn't need it on, as they had already removed the radiators from the rooms they were working on. I raised this with them and let them know I wasn't happy with the heating being on all day in the house. They also used equipment (such as a dehumidifier and a halogen heater) which obviously used a huge amount of electricity. As a result our gas & elec bills for the month were about £300, which is a complete chizz being as we were paying for all the work!! :mad: Is there anything we can do about this?
Thanks for any help you can give
Bazza

So the workman shouldn't be able to have their breaks in a normal warmer environment whilst on your property?

nzmegs

My husband is also a tradesman and during the winter worked in a house where the owners turned the heating off during the day.he didn't feel he could turn it on and came home absolutely frozen every evening. He worked in a coat and with gloves on (not ideal for his job).

He would have turned it on, but the owners were actually home and spent the day avoiding having the heating on by sitting under a duvet. My husband didn't have the same luxury...

Let tradespoeple have the environment which suits them and think of it as part of the cost of the job - suck it up...