Rant - electricity costs!
 

I've just received a breakdown of my electricity usage. I live in a private apartment which I own managed by a landlord who provide our electricity - there is no gas supply. Our electricity is non negotiable as the whole block has a contract with a supplier for 12 months, which is reviewed annually. Electricity is sold to us by our landlord with no profit made by them. So at the moment we pay 10.983p per kWh, which is fixed until August this year with no standing charge.

So my breakdown shows my hot water tank uses 6000kWh and if i use it for the bare minimum a day (2 hours), it will cost me £1.31. My main radiator in the living room also uses 2000kWh, and by using it 4 hours per day will cost me 43.93 p per day.

I live in a 1 bedroom apartment on my own and work full time, this seems extremely high. I know i've got to pay it, but an estimated £100 a month electricity bill will almost have to make me sell up - what with other costs. Its disgusting, how on earth are people expected to pay these ridiculous costs :mad:

Its kind of ironic, as these apartments were renovated from original 60's council tower blocks. The renovation was to encourage low earners in the local area to buy at low cost - but with these appliance costs, i may as well live in a 3 bedroom house with 2 other people!

Rant over :rolleyes:

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

Electricity suppliers aren't allowed to force domestic customers into a timed contract. Of course, if your land lord is being a proxy for your electric your contract is probably direct with him.

With regards to how much each item uses, the £100 per month does seem a little excessive. Do you have access to your meter? The best way to do it is to read your meter at regular intervals.

You may also have got your units mixed up slightly. When you say your hot water tank uses 6000kWh, where are you getting that information from? The average domestic consumer only uses around 4000kWh per year.


If the hot water tank is rated as 6kW, then if you turned it on for one hour, it would cost approx 60p - ah! the penny has dropped.

But based on what you've said there, that still only accounts for around £60 per month, then you need to add on your other leccy charges. I would say around £70 per month sounds about right given the current prices.

DO you know if you're on Economy 7? If you've got electric heating, you may be on E7. Do you know if the radiator is a storage radiator? On E7, the water heater and radiators come on at night when leccy is cheaper.


Sorry for rambling; it's late.

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

Thanks for your reply, i know its late but this extra stress means i can't sleep :rolleyes:

Firstly, yes the contract is with the landlord who is legally not allowed to make profit on us.

We're not on economy 7 unfortunately, even though i suggested this a while back.

I don't have access to my meter (even though i have asked on numerous occasions!), apparently because my neighbours is in the same place (the riser area between us), i'm not allowed to see hers and she's not allowed to see mine.

As far as i can see, i've reduced my costs as much as possible. I use my radiators (electric panel heaters) for 1 hour per morning and 1 hour per evening, unless its really cold. As for the hot water tank, 2 hours (on a timer) is the minimum to manage a shower and hair wash. I even eat at friends/family most evenings per week so i don't use my electric oven/cooker on a regular basis.

Its getting to the point where i'll have to make a choice about heating or water :dozey: In this day and age, its just wrong :erm:

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

Eh? This sounds very odd. Surely, as a consumer you should be able to check your meter readings? Have you tried CAB?

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

I did think this was strange, a key is required to check the readings. I will try to find out if i can legally check my own meter though. I haven't contacted CAB as its so hard to get an appointment around working hours, but i think i will make it a priority to get their advice.

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

I live in an apartment & the electricity/water meters for the 6 dwellings around each stairwell are in a cupboard under the stairs, accessible to all. It certainly seems wrong that you can't read yours...

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

SUperBee, are you sure you have a separate electricity feed for your apartment? I think you might have one electricity supply coming into the block and your landlord charges all the separate apartments what he estimates they use (especially as he doesnt give you access to the meter-i assume there is one bill to him only). If I was you I would get your landlord to fit a meter for the electricity that comes into your apartment only. Basically a relative of mine has bought a house which is converted into 2 flats. There is one electricity meter and one bill from EDF electricity. However each flat has a separate meter which the previous owner fitted. This shows the consumption of electricity by each flat, and you know exactly what you have been charged. I didn't know that its a legal requiremnt to be able to read your own meter reading, if it is then this would be the best way to do it. (assuming the landlord is willing to pay for the extra meters)

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

Thanks for that, but yes i defnitely have my own meter and i'm only being charged for my own electricity aparently. I'm getting on the phone today to the management company to get some clarification on this.

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

Whatever happens you should be able to check your own meter readings and your bills do seem rather high.

If as you say your landlord pays the main bill then re-charges you accordingly, as tenants/owners that should still give you the right to approve supplier especially to make sure they are not a "business" supply which can charge 17.5% VAT, and if you do all have individual meters why can't you each choose your own supplier?

Also worth checking Energywatch to see if they have any information.

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

I wasn't involved in the choice of supplier, and agree entirely that we as owner/tenants should have the right to be involved.

EDIT:- Have just spoken to the CAB and they are telling me that its probably within my service contract i have with the management company, so i'll get looking through that to see if its covered. Apparently the CAB can't get involved until i find out if its within the contract :(

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

Another thought about being able to see your own meter, surely you should have the right to check they are re-billing you the right amount & on the right meter.

As the bills are organised through a Management Company you need to make sure the electricity supplier are not treating them as a business when it comes to bills. You should be classed as domestic supply. The extra VAT can make a huge difference to your bill and the companies are not bothered at which rate they charge and will refund if the wrong rate has been set.

On some converted flats the company I work for looks after we have the silly situation of the ground floor flat meter being outside & the upstairs meter being in the ground floor flat utility room. So bills getting paid depended on the mood of the downstairs tenant in handing the bills over.

Main part of my job is paying utility bills for our tenants :rofl:

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

Apparently I can gain access between the hours of 8.30 and 4.00 when the caretaker will let me look. This is not much help really as i work out of area and am well left for work at 8am and often don't get home til gone 6

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

This sounds unfortunate, but not completely unreasonable imo. Is there any way you can fit this in with any other events that require absence from work?

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

I think i might have to, its not a major problem if it was just a one off but ideally i would like to nip out when the washing machine is on etc to see how many units are used - like most other people can do :rolleyes: Suppose i'm just asking too much.

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

That sounds very odd indeed. There's nothing legal I'm aware that says someone can't see someone elses meter. It's quite common for blocks of flats to have all the meters in one cupboard.


That is something that is possible. While not common, sub-metering is a known and accepted practice. Unfortunately, the access you have to the sub-meters and rights to ask for visibility of the readings in a private arrangement is defined in the contract with the re-seller. (Additionally, the land-lord can sell on the electricity to you at a higher price if he wants to. There used to be a maximum re-sell price, but I'm not sure whether this is still the case.)

If there is a sub-metering arrangement, there will only be one 'settlement' meter point in industry systems. Anything on the consumers side of the meter has nothing to do with electricity suppliers (as long as it's not fraudulent).

What sort of lock is on the cupboard? If it's a standard meter cupboard lock (triangular key) I can arrange for one to be sent out to you. If it's a Yale lock or any other sort of lock, I can't help with that I'm afraid.

It's good that you will be able to get access, even if it's not at convenient times.

One more check worth doing, to make sure you've got the right meter is to turn off everything in your flat at the consumer unit (fuse box) and then check that the meter isn't recording any usage. If it is, it's wired up incorrectly or you've been told the wrong meter number.

Good luck, hope you can sort it.

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

Hi All,
The OP said he owns the flat and the Landlord is the manager. If each flat has it,s own meter why would the landlord be bothering if he is not allowed to charge for his service of providing the supply. What I,m getting at is it,s a certainty the Landlord is allowed to add service charges. Otherwise why would they bother. Hence the unit charge. I,ve lived in flats with a Landlord but they never had anything to do with the supply of electric. Sounds a bit odd to me.
George.

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

Thats exactly what happens, but i'm sure the agreement is they sell it to us at the price they get it to keep costs down. I believe they buy it in high voltage and then reduce it to low voltage.

Unfortunately its a mortice lock :rolleyes:

As soon as i gain access, i'm planning to do just that. I also wanted to see just how many kWh certain appliances use etc.

Thanks for your advice, i'm a fountain of electrical knowledge now :)

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

superb, I would ask your neighbours on how much they pay...sounds a bit too much 100 p/m on leccy.

I'm on gas and leccy and my bill is only 65 p/m so somewhere down the line you are getting scr*wed.

ow and my radiator is on nearly 24/7 and pc oops....

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

They sent me a breakdown of 'estimated' cost except they forgot to state it was 'estimated!'. thankfully i've only had two bills above £70 per month in the 12 months i've lived here. Generally they are around £50, and thats cos i'm tight with it :p:

I will ask my neighbour though, i'm sure she won't mind. The only difference between mine and hers is that hers is a 2 bedroom apartment, whereas mine is a 1 bed. So shouldn't be too much difference I would have thought.

Oh well, seems its warming up a bit now, so hopefully the heating will be switched off for good in a month or so - til next winter :dozey:

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

I remember reading somewhere, that your post code has an affect on the amount you pay. I pay 11.01p per Kw. I'd like to get a breakdown of my gas and electric, did you just phone and ask for one?

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

Electricity suppliers do charge different prices around the country. It all depends on the distribution charges levied by the local distributor, cost to provide the meter and cost to read the meter.

You won't really get that from just looking at the meter because the dials move so slowly. From the rating of the appliance, you can have rough guess in the same way you did for charges in your first post.

As a rough guide, a single 100w light bulb left on for 10 hours will use 1kWh (unit) and will cost ~10p (depending on individual tarif). 10 x 100 = 1kWh

A 2000w (2kW) electric fire left on for half an hour will cost the same. 0.5 x2kW = 1kWh

Basically, the formula is rating x hours = kWh (units)

Alternatively, there are devices that you can clip around the cables that feed to and from the meter that will estimate how much an appliance uses by measuring the current running through the cable. These are available now but I'm not sure where you can buy them from.

Also, suppliers, Ofgem and the government are currently trying to decide on the roll out of 'smart' metering. One proposition is that each houehold is provided with a remote unit that can communicate with the meter and tell you how much electrivity you're using along with the cost. This is a few years away yet though.

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

hi superbiatch you may find that the key will be a Fire brigade key either a FB1 or a FB2 as these are what i normally use to open up these kind of places but i can not guarantee that it will be

if u want a set let me know and i will give the web addy for them they work out to
Fire brigade key set of 5 keys #1,2,4,11 and 14
£9.95 + VAT or if i have a spare set u could borrow them if you wanted

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

nice offer there Ian... but that in some way you can see that as breaking an entry ;)

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

no its not as ANY1 can buy the FB keys the only keys your not ment to have are landlord keys and these are not classed and landlords

Re: Rant - electricity costs!
 

Thanks for the offer, but its just a normal key, nothing special about it. Its ok, i'm gonna have a week off in a few weeks (easter) and I'll make sure i get access as and when necessary ;)