Fair usage bills on student let

dizzycreak

He has autism so struggles to get a grip of some relatively simple things although is doing ok at uni��
So wanted to try to get an idea before he signs

RobMolyneux

HappyMJ wrote: »

Electric heating tends to be E7 heating at 6p/kWh. Although the day rate on that tariff would be 15p/kWh.

that is a fair comment, if storage heaters, but i didnt want to over complicate matters.

missbiggles1

dizzycreak wrote: »

Thanks everyone
I was worried £10 wouldn't cover the cost of heating, I do t want him landed with a bill he can't pay,
The £10 is included in the rent

Well, if he keeps the heating on all the time (as he may be used to when not paying the bill) he will run up a bill, possibly a large one.

You need to give him some advice on reading the meter regularly and using the heating sensibly, if you haven't done this already.

missbiggles1

RobMolyneux wrote: »

they are industry standard benchmarks from CIBSE TM 46:2008 "Energy Benchmarks".

I'm not saying they are necessarily right, but as benchmarks they should give an indication.

those figures are for "general accommodation" and give a typical figure across different types of properties & ages, etc.

I'd say as 'typical' a figure of £13 compares reasonably against the £10 proposed.

the 30m2 average size comes from here;

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110118095356/http:/www.cabe.org.uk/files/dwelling-size-survey.pdf

It's probably me but those figures, without any idea of the number of hours used, don't seem to be much help.

dizzycreak

Thanks
If anything the thought of running up a high bill will scare him into not using the heating!
I have just spoken to the landlord who says he reads the meters every couple of weeks and would advice any student who goes over. He says he has not had many cases where it has.
The landlord knows of our sons autism and appears to be aware of the issues so am hopeful it will all be ok
We are only an hours drive away so see him most weeks and thanks to missbiggles1 will def see if we can teach him to keep an eye on the meter too.

RobMolyneux

missbiggles1 wrote: »

It's probably me but those figures, without any idea of the number of hours used, don't seem to be much help.

not that it helps a huge amount, but it is based on 2940 occupied hours per year, which averages to be c.56.5 hours per week, or c.8 hours per day.

how many of those occupied hours the heating is on, is not disclosed without looking very hard into the figures, but the figures are adjusted for heating degree days.

I should add, its based on an average location (i.e. climate) so in the highlands of scotland or cornwall there would be difference too.

I was just trying to be helpful!! :p

dizzycreak

It is actually Plymouth

BlaEm

You should try to make sure the £10/week is on average over a year and not fixed month to month - fuel cost may be £5/week in summer but £15/week in winter, and he shouldn't be penalised for going over one month if he has used less in previous months.
Perhaps request the LL supplies a copy of their latest annual statement to prove what a normal annual cost should be?

HappyMJ

RobMolyneux wrote: »

not that it helps a huge amount, but it is based on 2940 occupied hours per year, which averages to be c.56.5 hours per week, or c.8 hours per day.

how many of those occupied hours the heating is on, is not disclosed without looking very hard into the figures, but the figures are adjusted for heating degree days.

I should add, its based on an average location (i.e. climate) so in the highlands of scotland or cornwall there would be difference too.

I was just trying to be helpful!! :p

Looking further into it those averages is for a flat/house occupied all the time during the day and evening with living rooms at 21 and bedrooms at 18.

I found the heating degree days information to be quite useful really. I don't do it any more (as it's too difficult to get to the meter) but for a few years I plotted my gas usage against heating degree days and the expected usage was very similar to the heating degree days information for the local area. If anything it showed I liked the house to be about 2 degrees cooler than average which is about right. I won't turn the heating on until the indoor temperature drops below 17 when it starts to become a bit chilly. I could tell if I was in or out on a particular day just by looking at the plot (that's if I remembered to turn the thermostat down as I left).

OP Plymouth shouldn't be too bad. It's warmer than the average UK town.

missbiggles1

RobMolyneux wrote: »

not that it helps a huge amount, but it is based on 2940 occupied hours per year, which averages to be c.56.5 hours per week, or c.8 hours per day.

how many of those occupied hours the heating is on, is not disclosed without looking very hard into the figures, but the figures are adjusted for heating degree days.

I should add, its based on an average location (i.e. climate) so in the highlands of scotland or cornwall there would be difference too.

I was just trying to be helpful!! :p

Sorry, I didn't mean to be critical - it was good of you to come up with actual facts while the rest of us just talked generalities.:)