Would really appreciate some advice..

Hey!

I'd really appreciate some advice about your opinions on this situation and how you would approach/handle it. Please don't de-non as a girl uses this board who knows my friend involved in this.

Basically I live in a house with 5 friends (2nd year university student) and things have become a little tense regarding heating. Me and another girl, Amy** don't like the heating on. We believe you should wrap up in hoodies, blankets, make a hot drink etc. The other 3 girls don't see it this way and are forever turning the heating on, so I'm forever turning it off.

About a month ago Jen's** parents brought her up an electric heater so she could heat her room up. Now I knew they consumed a lot of electric, I just didn't know how much. Now Amy and I both work because we don't get bursaries or grants therefore we both have weekend and weekday jobs to earn our monery. The other 3 girls get the full bursary and grants.

Amy came back from work last Thursday and saw Jen had it on in the living room and pleaded for it to go off because she can't afford anymore bills at the moment. Jen pulled a face but turned it off. And since then hasn't spoken to her.

I called my Mum that night and asked her about electric heaters and she was quite worried, explained how electric they wasted, needed to avoid using them if possible.

Now Jen has it on in her room all day. Hardly ever leaves her room and has it on morning to evening. I went uo to Amy's room that night and using our electric and gas provider website we could pull off an average. It's 11p an hour and with the average came to £56 a month. Which doesn't sound a lot but we get our bill quarterly so that's £178 extra on top of her bill. Just for the electric heater.

Neither of us think it's fair that we're paying for the use of the electric in her room so we've called for a house meeting tomorrow. To basically say we're not happy with paying this bill but we will and in future please can Jen refrain from using it?

Her radiator isn't working properly but she's scared to talk on the phone so I'm going to offer to ring our landlord for her. Now I spoke to Jen today about if she was warm (because i've left the heating on all day as we need a compromise). She said yeah I've been in my room all day. I said I hope you've not had your heater on (in a jokey way) and she said she had.

So I replied it wastes electricity and she said it wouldn't be that much. I said you can work it out and it is and she replied with i don't care and walked out of the kitchen into the living room.

How should we approach this tomorrow? 3 of us don't want it on. And the other 3 don't seem to see the problem. Am I just being unreasonable here?

I think we need a compromise. We'll offer to put the heating on more in exchange for the heater not being used. And the only way I could think of is asking Amy if we can put it in the living room. And if she disagrees, refuse to pay the bill?

But then I was thinking well what if she then refuses to pay the bill? Where do I go? I don't want to make things uncomfortable in the house - I just think she's being a bit selfish.

Thank you on any opinions. :smile:

Sorry about the length =/

Reply 1

twotwenty

lynch her!!

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

Anyone?

Reply 3

Angelil

Is your electricity bill itemised in any way? I don't expect it is but it's worth asking. If it is then you will have proof of exactly how much extra it costs for this girl to run her mini heater.

IMO she should pay however much it costs her to run her mini heater, seeing as it's for her benefit and her benefit alone - why should others in the house pay for something that isn't going to benefit them? I reckon if she thought she would have to foot the entire bill for it then she wouldn't run it so much...

Reply 4

ch0c0h01ic

There is no way of dividing up the bill on usage fairly unless you all have metres in every room which is pretty unlikely.

The only option is to talk amoung yourselves and try to make a compromise between you all having the heating on, or not at all. Refusing to pay the electricity isn't going to make team moralle very high.

Everybody is different. Some people can tolerate the cold others not. Personally, if i'm cold i just put another layer on and eat more, so people lack the flexibility to put on a jumper and have picking food conditions preventing them from eating sufficiently to generate heat and/or stay warm, you have to take all these factors into account.

Reply 5

ch0c0h01ic

Ahhh, wait, wait, i've thought of an extreme guerrila tactic, CUT THE PLUG OFF THE HEATER IN A STEALTHY KINDA WAY SO NOBODY KNOWS IT WAS YOU. It may make things escalate slightly, its all up to you.

Reply 6

Angelil

Usually it's fine to just have the heating on for a few hours a day, though, then the house cools down slowly. By then everyone's warmed up and so it should be a while before you need the heating on again. Nobody's incapable of putting a few more layers of clothing on, and nobody needs the heating on 24/7. If you have the kind of special needs that chocoholic describes, then frankly you should be living in a place where those needs can be catered for (e.g. halls, where heating is often included in the rent), rather than making others pay for your needs (assuming those needs produce a ridiculous excess, as it appears in the situation the OP describes).

OP - suggest having the heating on for just 4 hours a day or so. Failing that, threaten Mini-Heater Girl with the prospect of her paying ALL of the charges incurred by said mini heater.

Reply 7

Donald Duck

If she uses the electric heater in her room, for only her benefit, she should pay for it. Just deduct that 178 pounds off the bill each time and have her pay it, before splitting the bill between you.

Reply 8

YAP

I've trimmed a lot but thought I'd keep this:

Anonymous

Her radiator isn't working properly but she's scared to talk on the phone so I'm going to offer to ring our landlord for her.

She sounds just like my other half, which leads me onto my next question: has she ever had a thyroid function test done? It could be that she has hypothyroidism, that is, an underactive thyroid gland. One of the key symptoms of hypothyroidism is being cold all the time. It also can cause increased levels of anxiety about things such as the phone, which might explain that. Just out of interest, as someone who lives with her: is she often tired/sleeps too much; how well does she cope with things going badly; and does she suffer from irregular/heavy periods (or is she on the pill to control them)?

To get a thyroid function test she needs to see her GP and say she's cold all the time. She might need gentle encouragement to go, don't shout her into it with threats of her paying the whole bill or anything, but she might be worried about talking to GPs too, just as she's worried about using the phone. I mean, over the Internet and with second hand information, it's a stab in the dark, but worth investigating. Also, get her iron levels checked at the same time, to rule out anæmia.

If it is that, she can't help it, and wearing more layers doesn't help as well as it should - the body doesn't produce enough of its own heat to trap in, hence the mini heater. It is also treatable, with replacement thyroid hormones, that will lessen her need for heating to normal-ish levels. And from a purely economical point of view, she'd be entitled to free prescriptions, so the treatment would be free, and free is cheaper than paying for more heating :wink:

. It was never an issue for my other half and I as students, as we lived on our own, had a joint bank account, and didn't make a distinction between my money/her money. But maybe a compromise for the time being would be that she could pay an extra £20 or so towards the electricity bill?

Reply 9

TOD100

to be fair, it's only an extra 115 quid or so for each house mate per year, so either just accept it for the year, or highlight this to them and maybe all have a little holiday with the money saved? Or a big piss up?

Reply 10

loz_fairy

if its only her benefitting then she should foot the bill. I'm sure if you explain that to her politely she will see sense, as no reasonable person could expect everyone else to pay for it. Show her the site you got the numbers from to prove it. Also, surely you can show her a bill from a time before the heater and after to show how it is.

Also, can't you set up your system to be on in say the morning and the evening? That tends to keep the house mostly warm.

Reply 11

Anonymous #1

Thanks guys. That's helped a lot.

I was in halls last year but now I'm a 2nd year I couldn't stay in them anymore. Wish I could though, it was so much easier not worrying about this.

I think we're just going to have to compromise. It's do-able :smile:

Yap - I never thought about that. But she does sleep an awful lot. If she has no lectures then definetly into the afternoon sometimes. I might mention that. thanks :smile:

Reply 12

emerley

show her the website you used to calculate the cost of using the mini heater, so that she can see the true cost of it, and then tell her if she wants to use it then she can pay for it

there's no way she can argue that the price of it should be split, as she is the only one using it

Reply 13

Groupie

I suffer from an illness which means when i get cold i fall really ill. However, in a house of people, its not their fault i cant stand the cold. Therefore, if i was that girl i'd definitely pay the extra electricity i used. I think ti's very unfair of them to expect you to foot the bill for one of her luxuries.
However, atm it is November, so maybe with the whole issue of having the heating on you need to be more leniant. Try and come to an agreement at having it on at specific times of the day so that you minimise coughs, but your housemates dont die from the cold...