If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Options
Heating and splitting the costs
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
We've just turned on the heating in our flat for the winter and one of my roommates doesn't want to have the radiator on in his room.
I know that when the bill comes in for the gas and it's higher than normal because of the heating, he's going to scream bloody murder because he hasn't had his heating on.
Do you think we should still split the bill three ways even though he doesn't have his radiator on? Is this fair? If we don't do that, how on earth can we figure out a fair way of splitting it?
I know that when the bill comes in for the gas and it's higher than normal because of the heating, he's going to scream bloody murder because he hasn't had his heating on.
Do you think we should still split the bill three ways even though he doesn't have his radiator on? Is this fair? If we don't do that, how on earth can we figure out a fair way of splitting it?
0
Comments
He's benefiting from the heating in the communal areas of the house anyway, regardless of the setting of his individual radiator.
At most I'd agree to some small reduction if he never uses his room heating. To look at it another way, if all your housemates turned off their individual room radiators would you expect noone to pay ?
Its a home, somewhere to relax, not somewhere to wrap up in hundreds of layers just to keep warm, cuddling each other and shivering all night!
What about bedtime??..... Do you wrap up in lots of layers to go to bed?? thats just ridiculous especially if you have central heating.
I try not to use my central heating but in recent weeks it has just been too cold not to put it on. Its on a timer so only comes on at certain points in the day...it tripped out at somepoint last night and when I woke up I was shivering as the heating didn't come on this morning... you don't want that in your house...its meant to be cosy!
ETA - I'd firstly check that he isn't actually putting his radiator on, then if he is not you have to maybe work out a compromise....the heating been on in the communal areas and the rest of the house will definately warm his bedroom to a certain degree so I would take that into consideration, and also his use of the communal areas.
I'd get some maths onto the case lol, a way of doing it maybe is to work out the size of each room (bigger rooms = bigger radiators), then use your gas bill to work out how much each Meter(square) of room costs to heat. Split the cost of the communal areas between all of you then pay for your bedrooms as extras on top of that...with this lad not paying any extra!
LOL just a thought
Perhaps not, but presumably he does want hot water, and gas cooking (if it's gas) and to not have the pipes freeze over winter? All that requires the gas boiler, so he should still be paying something. The simplest thing is to divide it by all housemates. At most he should get some percentage reduction, and that you'd have to come to amongst yourselves, but consider all the facts first.
My boiler is broken at the moment and I have been suffering. I've been wrapping up in lots of extra layers for bed and have just generally been uncomfortable. When it's fixed we won't have the heating on too often - just to get that horrible chill out. We may just have really awful insulation though. :chin:
In response to KoG - it might be a good idea to pre-empt this worry with a discussion before the predicted 'scream bloody murder' comes about.
Does he object to heating in the shared areas?
I agree that it hasn't got that cold yet though.
It was bitterly cold in our house over the weekend when the heating did something funny and went off completely, and was gloves and scarf weather outside over the weekend.
If there are four of you, split it 7 ways, so you guys pay £32 each and he pays £16. Very crude way to do it but... there we go.
If it was my house it would just be split equally whatever, because its all swings and roundabouts really.
Oooo I wish I was in some of the warmer places people are mentioning, cos its quite cold where I am, definately need the central heating to take the chill out....its only on a few hours at a time at certain times in the day (morning, tea-time and bedtime).
I think what we'll do is if he complains about it, we'll just give him a 10% reduction or something.
We pay the gas and electricity months and it normally comes out at about £40. I'm expecting with the heating on now, it'll go up to about £60. Still, that's only £20 each. So if he paid £18, that's not too bad.
And yes, he'll be getting a trickle-effect with the other radiators being on.
Tbh, he's pretty difficult to live with, but because he's my GF's brother, it's a little bit difficult to call him out on it.
Get someone out to look at it!
Everything has little problems occassionally, even a boiler will need resetting every so often, but if its always tripping out something is obviously wrong.
It could be something as simple as air in the system causing the boiler to overheat and trip BUT it could equally be a flueing problem which means you can get a build of products of combustion (Which leads to Carbon Monoxide) which if you're lucky will cause the boiler to trip out to stop this.
Like i said, it could be for a number of reasons, many being very easy and cheap to resolve and just take literally seconds to resolve, however it could just as well be something more serious which if you dont get sorted will knacker your boiler completely and = around £1000 to sort!
And worse case could end up in someone being hospitalised or even a fatality!
Back to your point, i agree with a few of the previous suggestions, look at recent bills and keep his/her payment similar to previous ones if possible.
Failing that if theres 3 of you, divide it by 4
£100/4 = £25 - he/her pays that, then the remaining £75 divide between the two that have had the heating on.
I'd discuss it with him before it becomes an issue. He's already told you that he is not wanting the heating powered up, expecting him to pay 90% of the usual share is a bit much.
Wouldn't matter to me if it was £20 or £200 per month. If you want the heating on in October, that's up to you. But for those of us who aren't so inclined, and typically use the heating for a half-dozen days before December, expecting us to pay for your use is unfair.
He may have the benefit of the heat in the shared areas, but this is because you wanted it turned on. It's only a benefit if one actually wants the heating on - it can be a hindrance to those of us who don't feel the cold, or prefer to wear more clothes during the colder weather.
You can't just justify charging him for your use of it under the logic of him benefitting from it. IMO, expect to pay the bill without his share unless something is arranged. It's the cleanest, fairest solution all-round.
I agree.
I used to share a place with two other dudes and a girl. Blokes were always quite warm, but this girl used to feel the cold badly - she'd sneak the heating on in June FFS (the lads were all in shorts). Whenever she went to bed, she'd set the heating to be on half of the night, so every night, we used to change it. She never noticed (surprise, surprise), but she just preferred living in a furnace, wearing little t-shirts instead of putting warmer clothes on. Infuriating.
Its not causing Carbon Monoxide cos I have a digital reader so would have being warned by now...Its giving a code which says something about 7 seconds....Its only being tripping out for the last week or so and in the past a reset has cured the problem but not this time so will defo be getting someone out to look at it!