£40/m DD with british gas

julsifer

Hi there just a quick and probably stupid question.

Me and my two other room mates have just set up a direct debit of £40 a month for our electric, does that mean we can freely use the electric without worrying about it getting any higher. I only ask because we are currently using two electric fan heaters and one oil heater to heat our main big room atm due to a dispute with our landlord about the gas.

Thanks in advance

molerat

It is not an all you can eat buffet. The DD is based on what they expect you to use, any use over that amount will have to be paid for. If you are using standard rate electric to heat then £40 pm is nowhere enough, expect at least double that amount. Read your meter daily to get an idea of what you are using. What rating are the fan heaters, they are a very expensive way of heating as most are 2kW which = about 30p per hour to run, one used for 4hrs per day = your £40 per month.

What dispute are you having about the gas ?

julsifer

oh i see I'm not aware of what rate we are on. The gas is a little complicated but i am going to citizens advice on Friday (only day they're available) about it. Basically I'm pretty sure its illegal what my landlord is doing, he has our main ancient boiler situated in the shop below so we don't have immediate access to it and it's also used by his shop radiators and probably their hot water not to mention when we rang British Gas about it they said its possible that the boiler is running three flats, so that would mean the other shop i live above too

good_advice

Julsifer, any electric item you plug in is going on the bill. The 40 pounds is a low estimate of what you think you will use.

My good advice is to unplug and keep switching those lights off when not in the room.
Here , I turned our Ch off yesterday. We now do not heat the house due to cost. Will put it back on if there is a big freeze.
Gone are the days of not caring. Fuel bills can get to be high!.

Cardew

What is your dispute about gas?


If the boiler is supplying the shop and other premises, there is no way to calculate how the costs for heating and Hot water should be apportioned between the different premises.


The fixed cost per week/month, or your proportion of the bill he receives should be on the rental agreement.


If you continue to heat your flat with electricity, you could well find that your Direct Debit could be £150 a month or more.

julsifer

Cardew wrote: »

What is your dispute about gas?


If the boiler is supplying the shop and other premises, there is no way to calculate how the costs for heating and Hot water should be apportioned between the different premises.


The fixed cost per week/month, or your proportion of the bill he receives should be on the rental agreement.


If you continue to heat your flat with electricity, you could well find that your Direct Debit could be £150 a month or more.

We are on a pay as you go meter and have been told by British Gas that having the boiler in the shop is illegal and that he hasn't being paying business rates for heating and water.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

julsifer wrote: »

We are on a pay as you go meter and have been told by British Gas that having the boiler in the shop is illegal and that he hasn't being paying business rates for heating and water.

Probably not what you want to hear, but IMHO you should look at moving out. Fortunately it's been exceptionally mild this winter, but as advised above, the way you're heating can be eye-wateringly expensive - £150 a month is easily doable. Your landlord doesn't exactly sound like a charmer either.

Is your deposit protected?

julsifer

i think i forgot to mention that so far the pay as you go gas has cost £105 in one month

I could not get an appointment with citizens advice and the weren't available on the phone either i will try again next week

macman

I don't see what help you expect the CAB to give? As Cardew stated, if the boiler is heating more than one property then the division of costs has to be agreed between LL and tenant and should be stated in your STA.

julsifer

we found out it was heating more than our flat about 3 weeks after we signed the contract and its not mentioned anywhere in the contract, which by the way, he still has our copy of. According to British gas he should be paying 60% towards the gas but I don't see that happenng anytime soon.

We rang him a couple weeks back about someone (not us) pressing our £5 emergency that we didn't want or need, we explained to him (on his voicemail) when we next topped up £10 it took the £5 off and also a £2.69 charge for using emergency we'd like to be compensated for it please.....still heard nothing from him

We are not using the electric heaters that much tbh just occasionally when it gets a bit parky we put them on for 2 hours and that's it, but having to boil water is a pain atm.

SwanJon

Hi - I think as above you need to bring this to a head so that the costs areshared between those who get benefit of the boiler.
don't forget that there will be a per day standing charge so get that split too.

As to the meter, I was under the impression that you need the card to accessthe emergency credit - but happy to be proven wrong.

There is no charge for using emergency credit.

What the meter will do is make the emergency credit last as long as possibleby not charging the standing charge (or equivalent). When you next top up itwill recover the missed standing charge.