Lodger Additional Energy Use

prettyandfluffy

BungalowBel said:

Alderbank said:

Switching to reusable toilet wipes is a really cost effective alternative to loo roll.

No way would I want to use those wipes if I lived in someone else's house!

And if I had lodgers, no way would I want to be laundering the wipes the lodgers had used! 

markin

What are the actual house temps? And her normal?

You and 100 may be fine at 17c vs her wanting 22c? And is it set all day, Night set back?

£20 a month for a year would cover the extra over winter. Around 5kwh a day

Honeylife

RangerLife said:

I tried having a look around for how others deal with my question, but haven't had much luck. Apologies for the long post...
I'm a live-in landlady and have been renting out one, and then two, of my spare rooms for the last year. After each lodger I have updated the lodger agreement and 'House Rules' documents to adjust minor quibbles I've learned from. This has been relatively successful and I understand that it'll be difficult to try to be 100% happy with anyone that moves in. I'm very particular about being vegan and as eco friendly as possible in the home.

I currently have two lodgers, one actually is close to 100% a match for my hopes and expectations. The other is 99% there.
I tell this story to set the scene. The 99% one races through loo roll at a rate of knots. There have been instances where she has used one loo roll in 24 hours. I put loo roll down as a bills inclusive thing as I get them from a carefully researched as-eco-as-I-can-get company. I spoke to her about the usage a week or so ago, and she stated that she was very hurt that I'd brought it up (I know she uses it for her nose, but I'm not sure what else). I've bought her facial tissues to try to mitigate it, but it doesn't seem to be working. I've decided to leave this issue be as the following one is more pressing now.

I had solar panels, a battery and an Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) installed earlier in the year (government grant and loan), and found it all very useful during the summer. With 3 of us in the house, and the ASHP running, bills have gone up into the winter as I expected. However, I hadn't considered that 99% had brought a wee room heater with her... On the inverter app it shows that the room heater uses close to the same kWh of energy as the ASHP does for the whole house. She sits around in a wee cami top with the room at tropical heat levels, and sometimes leaves her door open with it running when she is in the kitchen cooking.
I try to avoid the high tariff times (4-7pm) for using big energy appliances, so when she came home the other night and I was just cooking tea after 7, she commented that she'd have been starving by that time, why did I wait? I explained about the tariff, and her response was that I had two lodgers so effectively shouldn't be bothered about the cost of things. I did mention the debt I have, plus I have a mortgage rise next year, and I need a cushion for if a solar panel breaks/I need a new car etc.

With these two reactions (hurt over the loo roll gate and that she thinks I'm now rolling in it) I'm unsure how, or if, to move forward bringing up the energy usage of her heater (new adjustment once she moves out and I redo the paperwork! ha!) and whether I can ask for a bit extra a week to cover it. I'm currently going through my supplier's info of energy use from just before she moved in and since she's been here, and there is a bit of a difference, but the ASHP would have worked harder on cold days too, and I didn't think to keep track of that til now (another learning curve). Me and 100% are more energy conscious, so I'd not be asking 100% for more, but even how to quantify it is difficult.

What would you do? Bring it up? Ask for £5 or £10 a week? Leave it be and learn from it?

I can share my experience and how I have dealt with similar situations as I have had over 50 lodgers in the past 20 years. Like you, I have had two lodgers at a particular time.

The loo roll:  I bulk buy off eBay and get 90 rolls delivered at a time. That's nectar points included and I don't run out ever! I have a double loo roll holder in the main bathroom.  In the downstairs guest toilet, I had a loo roll stem that took 3 extra rolls, that way I didn't have to keep re-stocking.  It did seem that the loo roll was depleting faster than usual and I wasn't sure who was responsible.  One day I walked into the kitchen and one of the lodgers was there.  On the table was a loo roll. 

"Why is that loo roll on the table?", I asked. 
"Oh I am taking that up to my room", she replied. 
"Why"? I repeated. 
"Oh I use it for my face wipes" she replied, quite nonchalantly. 

When she saw my furious face she knew that that was not ok.  I told her firmly to purchase her face wipes and tissues that I was not supplying her make-up remover and that I considered it cheeky and rude.  I  added that I had noticed the use of the loo roll had gone up, and now I understood why could she please not do so ever again!  She was mortified and embarrassed.  I took the loo roll off the table and put it back in the bathroom. Immediately I sent a WhatsApp message to both the lodgers asking them not to remove any loo roll from the bathrooms and to purchase their facial tissues and or face wipes.  This meant that the other lodger knew what had happened and was equally warned!  I then added this point on loo roll for use in the loo only, to my House Rules!

Utility Bill increases:  When the first massive increase in bills occurred, I left the Bill on the Kitchen table for them to see and told my lodgers that increases were necessary. There is a clause in my Agreement that says "Should the national rate for the Utility Bills increase by x%, then an increase in the rent will occur to accommodate this with due notice and discussion, thereby allowing the resident lodgers to accept the increase or terminate their Agreement. No lodgers have quibbled the increases.  It's about giving them enough notice to put up or leave. That's the only choice they get.

Heaters:  In my House Rule, no additional individual heaters, electric blankets or similar are permitted. Absolutely none! Only if the boiler/central heating in the house fails will I provide Oil Heaters (temporarily).  One girl did sneak in an electric blanket she left it on all day and night and the increase was noticeable.  I found out and gave her notice as she breached my contract.  I was happy to see her go as she complained of being cold but wandered around in tiny shorts and skimpy tops as though she was in Barbados!  Her replacement arrived in 24 hours!

I don't discuss personal finances with my lodgers ever!  They haven't a clue about your outgoings. [Mortgage, Insurance (s), Council tax, HMRC, Replacement emergency funds, all Utility Bills, not forgetting the loo roll and cleaning products etc]  If they annoy me to that extent I would ask them to leave and simply say "This is not working I don't think we are a good fit".