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Theres a house being built next door, I have always let the builders plug their extension lead into my outside plug - essentially just so they can boil a kettle. We are friendly with the people whose house it will be and they have offered to pay for the lecky in the past but ive just let them off...
Obviously this was before the massive hike in energy prices but the builders are still there, still without their own power and the build is entering its latter stages now so there are lots of blokes on site every day, lots of boiling kettles, but I notice they’ve all got their Makita batteries docked on chargers all day, joiners have a big chop saw rigged up and the plasterers have some portable flood lights set up in darker rooms plus god knows what else..!?
Has anyone any idea how I can evaluate their usage and work out what its costing? I know they will reimburse me – just need to work out how much the owe?
Compare this years use with the same time last year (or whenever before they were there is).
Presume you don’t have a smart meter?
Get a power meter monitor. 23 quid on Amazon.
Have you got a smart meter? Would be straightforward to pull your typical daily use before the works vs now. I get it down to half-hourly on my full PDF bills.
Else you can get a socket meter for about £20 but they tend to be a bit bulky for an outside socket - might need to go off an extension first.
Have you got any odd jobs that need doing!? 🙂
Reciprocal arrangement may be easier that trying to work out an accurate cost.
You are mad... And probably overloading the extension cable.
Presumably they've got it plugged into a 110v transformer and from there it could be feeding multiple power outlets.
Trip the MCB a few times and remind them it's only for a kettle and they need to sort out a proper supply!
this, absolute piss-take! What happens if you actually need to use the socket?!You are mad… And probably overloading the extension cable.
You are mad…
This!!
Drilling, cutting, mixing (mortar and plaster), lights, kettle, heat(?). Tell them to do one and get their supply sorted.
(I bet they have a right laugh about it at the pub!)
You are kind, but mad!
They are taking the pi$$ there buddy!
Just unplug!
DrP
I bet they have a right laugh about it at the pub!
Probably charge the drinks to mahalo's tab too. 😁
Anyway, yeah that takes the piss. I'd explain the neighbour why you're removing the privilege then cut them off. Including the kettle now, but I'd have been happy with that if they had stuck to the original arrangement.
Will be interesting to see how much extra you are paying. Please update.
I suggest you get your neighbour to pay the approximate extra.
Being kind, nice and friendly are all good personal traits but only if you are surrounded by similar people.
be careful what you wish for?
could be replaced with a generator running all hours of the day?
Have a friendly conversation with your neighbour, rather than the builders directly.
Ask them to ask the builders to sort themselves out, OR, agree to pay for what they are using.
As above, a power meter is cheap, and you could monitor that socket for a week or a month, to get a value on total use per period easily enough. (and back date it, if nessecary)
Im not going to just unplug and cause conflict. as i said they would be happy to pay if i can come up with a figure.
I do have a smart meter, but wouldnt know how to pull usage information from 6 months ago? its also a pre-paid meter we inherited with the house, and ive never noticed any sort of significant increase or more frequent top-ups!? but then it is only this last few weeks there has been so much activity...
like i mentioned. its amicable. i know the neighbours and their builders quite well, and the main reason i have not said anything so far is the fact I have had them sort a few odd jobs for me while they've been here, plus ive helped myself to loads of timber too! i built a decking frame using free wood!
The odd boiled kettle is a nice neighbourly thing to do, but you have given an inch and the builders have taken a mile.
If it was going to trip your electric, it would have done so by now. Chances of them running high current stuff at same time is pretty low.
I would take the neighbours offer to pay for the power though. Either get a meter and factor that into the price or take a guess. If I was your neighbour, I would be factoring around £10 a day to cover your costs.
The alternative might be a nasty noisy generator if you wanted them to supply their own power.
What are they actually running off it? If it's just power tools and not much else, then honestly it won't be using as much as people might think.
If they've been running things like dewatering pumps during groundworks, and dehumidifiers/heaters when drying out the plasterwork etc then that's a very different beast.
Personally, i wouldn't be letting them using it now that prices have risen and the winter is coming up but i have no idea where you'd start in terms of working out a cost...
I do have a smart meter, but wouldnt know how to pull usage information from 6 months ago?
Log in to your suppliers website.
To be honest the kettle will be the most power hungry bit in all that. Lghts are LED these days and very low power, a chop saw is only operated for a few seconds at a time
they’ve all got their Makita batteries docked on chargers all day
You couldn't boil many kettle with a makita battery - you could just about boil a cups worth so that gives you an idea how much the chargers will draw in power, once they're charged they're charged - only takes about 15mins, they're usually plugged in just out of habit - a charged battery will keep most folk working all day these days
Thats not downplaying it all but theres probably not any considerable increase in power use over just running a kettle - the kettle would be drawing almost all the power the plug can supply when its running so the fuse would just blow if the other activities were any sizeable draw.
As a guide - Boiling a full kettle costs about 6p-10p a time - how many tea breaks can they take?
I'd forget about trying to calculate it - they've offered to pay so just agree something agreeable
Now theres a few folk on site you could say "£5 a day" - between them I'm sure they can stretch to that- worth your while, cheaper than them hiring a generator, and neither of you have to listen to a generator.
Download the Loop app.
very very high level and with couple of assumptions and to put it into perspective
say the kettle consumes 2kW
even with multiple chargers say 0.5kW
table saw say 1.5kW
site lights (assume led) say 0.25kW
id say as a friendly estimate base it on constant average of 1kW/h
assuming an eight hour day thats 8kW/h total
and using £0.34 PER kW/h gives around £3.00 per day based on those assumptions
unless, as mentioned above you can meter the socket its always going to be a punt, but thats somewhere to start from
Buy one of those energy monitors on amazon for next day delivery. Plug it in and charge them for it + the amount they use.
and the main reason i have not said anything so far is the fact I have had them sort a few odd jobs for me while they’ve been here, plus ive helped myself to loads of timber too! i built a decking frame using free wood!
Sounds like an exchange deal is already in place!
and the main reason i have not said anything so far is the fact I have had them sort a few odd jobs for me while they’ve been here, plus ive helped myself to loads of timber too! i built a decking frame using free wood!
Yeah, Thats a different beast all together!
couple of quid a day on electric isnt worth falling out over if youve saved yourself a few hundred quid on jobs and materials.
The alternative might be a nasty noisy generator if you wanted them to supply their own power.
They're building a house..... it's got to be connected up sometime anyway - they might as well do it now even if its a temporary supply*
* oh yes I forgot, they're using the OP's supply to avoid having to pay for one to be put in!!
the main reason i have not said anything so far is the fact I have had them sort a few odd jobs for me while they’ve been here, plus ive helped myself to loads of timber too! i built a decking frame using free wood!
Well this nugget of information entirely changes my response. Now I suggest you owe them a reasonable biscuit allowance too.
I’d be putting a stop to that. Give an inch and they will take a mile.