Gas bill problem

Maya123 said :

I agree, $530 a quarter seems like a lot. Although I have never had gas, my electricity bill for the everything has never been anywhere near $530, and yours is just for the hot water.

Never had gas, but think its high? Thankyou for your informed opinion.

If the utility has not resolved your concerns, I suggest you contact the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) on 6207 1740 (option 1), or via email through acatenergycomplaints@act.gov.au. The ACAT may be able to assist you through its Energy and Water Complaints jurisdiction.

The ACAT can consider and work to resolve complaints about the supply of energy and water by the utilities in the ACT, including complaints about billing. There are no application fees for this service.

Further information is available from the ACAT website: http://www.acat.act.gov.au

Holden Caulfield said :

Good advice Steven.

Although, I’m a little disappointed in the lack of support for the seven-legged spider.

That’s when you ask for the picture to be sent back.

Good advice Steven.

Although, I’m a little disappointed in the lack of support for the seven-legged spider.

Wow! That’s ridiculous. Firstly, a tenant is only liable for the consumption of utilities so make sure that you haven’t been charged for anything else. Secondly, find out which party has neglected to pass on the bills to you. It may be that your landlord has been sent the bills and has then denied responsibility for paying the bills to ACTEWAGL, or it may be ACTEWAGL’s fault. Once you find out who is responsible, you can seek legal advice from Legal Aid and/or dispute the charges through ACAT. If you dispute the charges through ACAT, just go to the website, find the appropriate form and fill it out. It may cost you something like $120, if you can’t pay that amount, you can apply for an exemption. If you go though ACAT you will be an Applicant making a claim to the Respondent – whether that be the Landlord or ACTEWAGL. Firstly ACAT will try to mediate between the two parties. If you still disagree the matter will go to a hearing and a Member will make a judgement. Remember, if you make a claim against your Landlord, and he/she doesn’t turn up, a decision will most likely be made in your favour. You should be prepared to take some liability, unless you are sure that you have a contract between you and your Landlord stating that you would not be liable for the consumption of gas. Contracts can be made verbally, in practise, or in writing. Just from the outset, from my perspective, you should be able to claim that a contract was formed between you and the Landlord verbally and in practise (the proof being that it was practise for the bills not to be passed on to you). In any case, if you take it to ACAT, they’ll make a fair judgement, and the other parties will have to justify what has happened. It sounds like the Landlord or ACTEWAGL has been negligent but this doesn’t mean that you are not liable to pay some or all of the bill. Don’t be frightened to stand up for yourself, and good luck.

I found this very relevant ACTEW link:
http://www.actewagl.com.au/~/media/ActewAGL/ActewAGL-Files/About-us/Natural-gas-network/Gas-centralised-hot-water-systems-faq.ashx
I didn’t read it all, but here is a quote:
“The hot water for your unit is supplied by a Gas Centralised Hot Water system (GCHWS) which is powered by natural gas. Having a GCHWS eliminates the need for individual hot water systems in each unit. The only equipment that is required in each unit for the GCHWS is a hot water sub-meter, which is read remotely via a master data logger.”
It says you are “required” to have a hot water sub-meter. If you haven’t got one, it seems the building has been set up incorrectly. Contact ACTEW and discuss it with them.

$530 a quarter is astronomical, I have 3 in my house with Gas heating, cooking and water and our bills are about $350 to $400 in winter. If it tuns out you do have to pay call ACTEW and work out a payment plan, for all their faults they are fairly good with that sort of stuff.

Bundybear said :

Bet you live in a reasonably large unit complex. If so, your hot water service will be common for the whole property, however you will most likely have an individual “hot water meter” located inside your unit. Look under the sinks, look for a panel in the roof of your bathroom or laundry, or ask your building manager/ strata manager. Small round unit about the size of a coffee mug, with a flip up cover over the reading. If you have one of these, your usage is read remotely by an RMU- remote metering unit- and you are charged accordingly. However, they still occasionally do an ” I can’t access your meter so I’m going to guess bill, which is the best money spinner that have. If you find the meter they have to adjust it back to actual reading. Good luck

I’ve been through all of that. I’ve made formal complaints to the real estate about not being informed of the financial implication of such a ridiculous system and had everyone here looking for an individual meter as I refused to believe it was set up as a master meter. There are definitely no individual meters. Apparently the master meter scenario is common in Melbourne and it’s perfectly legal.

Bet you live in a reasonably large unit complex. If so, your hot water service will be common for the whole property, however you will most likely have an individual “hot water meter” located inside your unit. Look under the sinks, look for a panel in the roof of your bathroom or laundry, or ask your building manager/ strata manager. Small round unit about the size of a coffee mug, with a flip up cover over the reading. If you have one of these, your usage is read remotely by an RMU- remote metering unit- and you are charged accordingly. However, they still occasionally do an ” I can’t access your meter so I’m going to guess bill, which is the best money spinner that have. If you find the meter they have to adjust it back to actual reading. Good luck

Alsadruid said :

It’s likely a master meter. I have one and I hate it. One massive hot water boiler for however many units in your block. No matter how many people occupy a single unit, you all get an equal portion of the total bill. I’m paying $100 per month for hot water. Other units in my block have 3 or 4 people living in them and pay the same $100. It’s even worse if you have half of the units empty as the boiler keeps on heating enough for every unit in the block and the bill is just split between however many units are occupied. It’s a complete rip off and I’m powerless to do anything about it. I often wonder if actew find people who aren’t paying their share and bill them, whether the rest of us would get a refund for our over payment. Sadly I doubt it.

That reminds me of a private rental I once had. A house was split into four flats. One flat had always been a flat and had its own metre, but the other three flats would have the electricity bill split between them. Even though I hardly turned a heater on and froze most of the winter I had to pay a high share proportion of the electricity bill. Basically I was paying for others to heat their flats and leave their heater on when they went out, while I was being economical and freezing. Fortunately the rent was VERY cheap and this compensated. To prove it wasn’t me using the power, I moved into a house after that and shared with two others. Our electricity bill was lower than what I paid for just me while in the flat. Some people are very wasteful with electricity and gas.