Expensive water heater- no timer, not disclosed by letting agency. Who is responsible for bill?

pinkteapot

Letting agent did not provide OP with a key to the meter cupboard until 7 weeks into their tenancy according to the other thread, so they did not give their supplier an opening meter reading. Entirely possible their bill includes a previous tenant’s usage. 

[Deleted User]

I've got an immersion thats always on with no timer.  Just an on/off switch and thats it.   Its been on for about 2 years straight now.   I live in a 5 bed 140 year old solid brick house with no cavity and poor insulation. I have 4 kids with computers on all the time and the house is like blackpool illuminations.  They have also been at home for a year with covid.

No one cares about my life story,  but even with all that my electric bill is nowhere near what you are getting.  I get about £100 a month on average over the year.   

The problem is unlikely to be the lack of a timer on the immersion.   Does it have any insulation around it?

MaryNB

In all the places I've rented I've never had an agent or landlord show me how to use anything at all in a property. Only one has actually been in the property the day I moved in. 

My parents also have an on/off and bath/shower setting on their immersion heater. It is a shame you don't have a timer but immersion heaters are not unsual or particularly hard to figure out. I'm guessing maybe the previous boiler you were told not to switch off was a combi boiler? 

pinkteapot said:

Letting agent did not provide OP with a key to the meter cupboard until 7 weeks into their tenancy according to the other thread, so they did not give their supplier an opening meter reading. Entirely possible their bill includes a previous tenant’s usage. 

Based on their previous thread they have a smart meter so I'm presuming their supplier would be getting readings. (I'm still waiting to get one installed so will admit I'm wrong if they don't all send readings to the supplier). Not getting a key to the meter room was poor form on the agents' part.

NibblyPig

Probably immersion.
Find the electricity meter, turn everything in the house off, see if it goes up. Turn things on one-by-one.
If you have an electric shower I wouldn't even bother using the immersion heater. Boil the kettle to wash the dishes.

teachfast

NibblyPig said:

Probably immersion.
Find the electricity meter, turn everything in the house off, see if it goes up. Turn things on one-by-one.
If you have an electric shower I wouldn't even bother using the immersion heater. Boil the kettle to wash the dishes.

Until we got a combi boiler this is exactly what we did in our old home. Just not worth putting the old, expensive immersion heater on.  The heating was done separately from a back boiler which was also an old donkey. Combi boiler changed our lives overnight and the mixer shower we put in afterwards was luxury. 

coralanne22

Slithery said:

Is there a switch to turn on/off the immersion cylinder?

Yeah there is a switch on the wall then one that says bath/sink.

coralanne22

davidmcn said:

coralanne22 said:

I have always been told not to interfere with internal fixtures ie turning the boiler off in past rental properties as if this caused any faults we would be liable as tenants.  

You are allowed to turn heating etc on and off though - or adjust the (non-existent) timer. Presumably you've now found the relevant switch? Was that already turned on when you moved in?

Yeah the heating isn’t connected to the boiler it’s electric panel heaters. 

Yeah it was on when we moved in and not touched. It’s a switch that says bath/sink 

coralanne22

princeofpounds said:

At a basic level, you are expected to behave in a reasonable tenant-like manner by the legal system. That includes taking reasonable steps to figure out how to operate the appliances in the house. And at a very minimum you would be expected to ask, rather than complain about a bill months later.

And your idea about 'not turning off a boiler' is just wrong. There are different types of boiler, most can be turned off if necessary (for most it is not necessary as they are controlled by thermostats and timers which do it for you) without causing any damage, and operating one in a reasonable manner is no cause of liability for damages.

Yes, I get that it's frustrating to be caught out, and very unhelpful of the LL/A. But you can't shirk the bill just because things weren't spoon-fed to you.

Electric immersion heaters do use a lot of expensive electricity. It is possible that it is not your only problem. Given your unfamiliarity with heating systems, I do wonder if your heating has been more active than you thought it would be (last month was particularly cold, and you note your bill was particularly high). That's the most likely cause. Or perhaps the starting meter reading was wrong. Or perhaps someone is abstracting electricity (not likely, but it does happen sometimes - does the LL own any adjacent flats?). Or perhaps you're just unfamiliar with how expensive electric heating is.

Just to clear up a few assumptions made by you:

I did complain about the first bill I received months ago and it has taken the letting agency and the energy company this long to get to some sort of a reason. Took the agency 7 weeks to get me a key to the meter room (all meters for the building in a separate locked area of the building) despite me asking for one on the day of move in.

I am not trying to ‘shirk’ the bill because things weren’t ‘spoon fed’ to me. I am not asking to be spoon fed things I am asking for basic information that in previous tenancies I have been provided with on move in. Ie. How to work the heating/ boiler system. (Left instructions in my last property).

Not sure why you assume I’m unfamiliar with heating systems... I am familiar with electric heaters and how expensive they are... I am unfamiliar with hot water cylinders. Not electric heating. I have rented properties before now, with boilers and electric heating systems.

I am aware of the costs of electric heating. My flatmate and I rarely use the heating we are very aware of how expensive it is and are also out the house 12 hours a day so when we come home we tend to sit in the lounge for 2 hours and then switch it all off and go to bed without the heating on. 

This is exactly why I queried the energy bill in the first month as we very rarely use anything, barely have the heating on at all (the place is always cold) and the first bill was £170. Second £250. Third £380.

davidmcn

coralanne22 said:

davidmcn said:

coralanne22 said:

I have always been told not to interfere with internal fixtures ie turning the boiler off in past rental properties as if this caused any faults we would be liable as tenants.  

You are allowed to turn heating etc on and off though - or adjust the (non-existent) timer. Presumably you've now found the relevant switch? Was that already turned on when you moved in?

Yeah it was on when we moved in and not touched

Ok, so you've at least got the argument that you shouldn't be paying for whatever it was consuming before you moved in (and your problems in accessing the meter to take an initial reading). But beyond that, it's up to you to switch it off when you don't need it on. That's just general knowledge, not some esoteric system which needs to be explained to you. A timer would be nice, but not a necessity and wouldn't make it more efficient, just saves you from forgetting to turn it off/on (and the convenience of e.g. having hot water when you wake up).

macman

This is not about the immersion heater consumption. A properly lagged hot tank will keep warm all day, and because it has a thermostat it will only be running for a couple of hours a day,  dependent on hot water requirements. Furthermore, any heat losses from the thank in the heating seasons are not 'losses' at all, as they serve to warm the property.
You cannot make the jump from 'expensive electricity bill' to 'immersion heater responsible' without any supporting evidence.