How do I stop enormous waste in gas/elec bills?

[Steve Macey]

The gits are spending over 1k a month in gas usage. If I lock the controls up somehow (and how do I actually do that?) They wil obvioulsy get electric heaters.
Only solution is to get both meters put into pre-payment mode right? How does that work? Id like if I could add a certain amount of money to the prepayment meters each month, but no idea how it works! I know that nowadays all smart meters can be switched to this mode, but thats the limit of my knowledge atm.

[Neelix]

I'm assuming you are referring to tenants who have a bills inclusive deal.

£1K per month on gas is a lot - are they growing things?

[Steve Macey]

I didnt see anything unusual there recently, yes bill are included.

[Neelix]

Unless you have some form of fair usage in the agreement there's little you can do. OUCH

[AlexR]

The gits are spending over 1k a month in gas usage

I think we need to step back a bit. I assume its an inclusive rental for a large HMO and you have run it for a while. If so you should have usage stats from which to deduce increase in usage. Lets assume that you may have have had a recent doubling of your fuel bill and so is the jump to £1,000 per month as a result of price increase or extra usage? Or is £1,000 the estimated monthly bill for the estimated annual energy consumption? What was your budget or your estimate of fair use on a monthly basis? The weather has turned warmer now so is this 'excessive' use recent and occurring even during this warmer spell?

You can search the forum for several comprehensive discussions on proposed solutions to this particular issue which include several electronic control systems which may help to regulate usage. You should have a steer on whether your tenants are TTP when you visit - is the thermostat on 30°, whether the heating is on full blast when its hot outside, if someone has put the heating on to dry a shirt on a radiator etc? In the past I had a tenant from a hot country who had a cold room and they switched the heating on to a permanent basis, and that maybe is the time to look at insulation issues within the property.

[May18]

Hi Steve,

1k per month is a lot to say in a nice way. How big is the property? I would strongly recommend to visit the property ASAP to see what's happening at the property.
Smart heating controls is best option. Tim0stat is good option we have at several properties. Also Hive that you can control from your phone every time they increase the temperature. Also, have you looked at the energy efficiency at your property as unless it's an 10 bedroom property the 1k bill really is an emmergency alarm.

[Steve Macey]

AlexR,

Not a house-share, 3 people living there, 4 bedroom terraced property. Heating was maxed in every room the past few times I went there.

[Steve Macey]

May18,

If I control the gas, I cant stop them from plugging in electric heaters and the cost going even higher though?

Thanks for replies all.

[ash72]

Serve notice on the them, move a family in there, and change terms on tenancy that bills aren't included. People will always try and abuse a system where it is provided for free. Exemption to this is my mobile unlimited minutes and text.