Faulty boiler / faulty maintenance - who is responsible for gas bill?

MissX

Hi guys, my heating and hot water have worked intermittently since the start of my tenancy 2 years ago (housing association).

From September - end of December it got so bad I had more than 1 x engineer visit per week so over 15+ visits in 3 months. The gas boiler hardly ever worked and most weekends I had no heating and / or hot water. They have offered £255 compensation for loss of earnings and increased electricity but the £400 gas bill is apparently my usage so I must pay (they are also the gas provider).

Am i responsible for the gas bill? Its like £400+

Any advice is appreciated, thanks

wealdroam

MissX wrote: »

Hi guys, my heating and hot water have worked intermittently since the start of my tenancy 2 years ago (housing association).

From September - end of December it got so bad I had more than 1 x engineer visit per week so over 15+ visits in 3 months. The gas boiler hardly ever worked and most weekends I had no heating and / or hot water. They have offered £255 compensation for loss of earnings and increased electricity but the £400 gas bill is apparently my usage so I must pay (they are also the gas provider).

Am i responsible for the gas bill? Its like £400+

Any advice is appreciated, thanks

On the information you have given, you are clearly responsible for the gas bill.
Why do you think you are not responsible?

MissX

The gas boiler hasn't worked correctly which the engineer visits can confirm and I have been without gas most weekends. The engineers have wasted my gas excessively when they have been messing around fixing it for it to break again the very next day. Why am I liable for this?

cono1717

How did they rack up £400 over three months? Were they leaving the heating on all day or something?

Did you switch the heating off when they left? Unless you have itemised proof as to when they turned the gas on and when they left where you turned it off then it'll be very difficult to differentiate your usage and their testing.

MissX

No that's over the course of 2 years, I'm waiting for them to provide me with the bill for the last quarter which related to the excessive visits and testing / usage. I estimate the total over 2 years to be around £400.

I always switch the heating off, I work full time and only use at weekends for hours at a time which is why I don't understand how my bill is so high anyway which is why I've never paid because I had problems with the hot water & heating from day 1

wealdroam

MissX wrote: »

The gas boiler hasn't worked correctly which the engineer visits can confirm and I have been without gas most weekends. The engineers have wasted my gas excessively when they have been messing around fixing it for it to break again the very next day. Why am I liable for this?

It is nearly impossible to 'use' £400 worth of gas when testing a boiler unless the engineer's visits were of several hours, days even, duration.

Being 'without gas most weekends' means that no gas was being used on those weekends.

I would hazard a guess (based on very little) that up to £10 worth of gas was used for 'testing'. the rest of the £400 was used for heating your home and/or water.

Do you really want this argument for such a small amount?

MissX

My bill was £250 before they started messing around with it in September and based on the readings I've calculated £150 without the standing charge so that's almost impossible for me to use.

Yes they were there for several hours most visits doing power flushes, cutting holes in my pipes and lots more which is why they have offered £255 compensation for loss of earnings.

MissX

wealdroam wrote: »

Being 'without gas most weekends' means that no gas was being used on those weekends.

And this is not true, while I have had no gas the meter has still been turning and clocking up digits. The HA have not provided me with an explanation for this but over Christmas when I was away for a few days kept going and one weekend when I had no usage it clocked up 7 units, they wont address this. The heating is off, no hot water is being used is it right that it still keeps going?

HappyMJ

£150 worth of gas is A LOT of gas.

Gas costs 2.7p/kWh so £150 would get around 5,000kWh of gas.

There's no way an engineer could use that much gas at all.

That amount of gas represents about 3-4 months of heating and hot water when used every day for a few hours.

HappyMJ

MissX wrote: »

And this is not true, while I have had no gas the meter has still been turning and clocking up digits. The HA have not provided me with an explanation for this but over Christmas when I was away for a few days kept going and one weekend when I had no usage it clocked up 7 units, they wont address this. The heating is off, no hot water is being used is it right that it still keeps going?

Are you reading the right meter?

If you're not using anything then the meter will not be registering any usage.

You need to speak to your supplier.

MissX

my gas is 7.5p per unit 25p per day standing charge and I can not move gas providers as I am billed the housing association directly for the gas which is why I think they wont admit there is a problem.