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Renting house with BER of G?

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  • 16-04-2014 6:06pm
    #1
    Corkgirl18
    Closed Accounts Posts: 894 ✭✭✭


    Myself and 3 other girls are looking to rent a house for the coming academic year and we found a really nice one today. We were talking to the girls who live in it for a while and they said they had no problems and that they use an oil filled plug in radiator to heat the living room instead of the storage heaters because they can be expensive.
    They showed us their last electricity bill (which is used for heating and cooking too) and it was actually really cheap compared to what I pay in my current house.-€145 between 4 people for the Nov-Jan months.
    All this was fine until I asked the letting agent what the BER rating was and he says its G! I'm very confused as to how the rating is so low but that the bills are also low. I'm sure the girls would have said it too if it was very cold.

    Any thoughts?


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    #2
    ted1
    Registered Users Posts: 23,535 ✭✭✭✭ted1


    Corkgirl18 wrote: »
    Myself and 3 other girls are looking to rent a house for the coming academic year and we found a really nice one today. We were talking to the girls who live in it for a while and they said they had no problems and that they use an oil filled plug in radiator to heat the living room instead of the storage heaters because they can be expensive.
    They showed us their last electricity bill (which is used for heating and cooking too) and it was actually really cheap compared to what I pay in my current house.-€145 between 4 people for the Nov-Jan months.
    All this was fine until I asked the letting agent what the BER rating was and he says its G! I'm very confused as to how the rating is so low but that the bills are also low. I'm sure the girls would have said it too if it was very cold.

    Any thoughts?

    They wear an extra geansai around the house.
    The bill could be an estimate.

    The BER is only really a guide and can be wrong


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    #3
    fash
    Registered Users Posts: 2,275 ✭✭✭fash


    ted1 wrote: »
    They wear an extra geansai around the house.
    The bill could be an estimate.

    The BER is only really a guide and can be wrong

    I'd guess estimated bill too.


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    #4
    Corkgirl18
    Closed Accounts Posts: 894 ✭✭✭Corkgirl18


    ted1 wrote: »
    They wear an extra geansai around the house.
    The bill could be an estimate.
    fash wrote: »
    I'd guess estimated bill too.


    Thanks for the replies so far! That bill is definitely what they paid anyway, not an estimate. The girls said that their estimated bill at the start of the year was the dearest one they ever got.


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    #5
    Moonbeam
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,953 Mod ✭✭✭✭Moonbeam


    My house is ber rated e and electricity is about 250 every 2 months and gas varies but about 200 .


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    #6
    fash
    Registered Users Posts: 2,275 ✭✭✭fash


    Corkgirl18 wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies so far! That bill is definitely what they paid anyway, not an estimate. The girls said that their estimated bill at the start of the year was the dearest one they ever got.
    The last reading may have been accurate and the first estimated


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    #7
    quietsailor
    Registered Users Posts: 1,428 ✭✭✭quietsailor


    the ber is an overall house efficency rating and storage heaters are considered inefficent, if there was something as simple as old style light bulbs in there that can drag down a ber rating as well.

    The ber are being knocked out wholesale these days - a lot of the time by someone who doesn't really know what they are doing. It's a complex calculation software that has to match up all different things, walls, windows, heating which are measured differently and yet come to some common value and if info is put in wrong it gets out bad readings

    If you've seen the bill and it showed A next to the meter readings for Actual then I'd trust that more than the ber


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    #8
    ted1
    Registered Users Posts: 23,535 ✭✭✭✭ted1


    Moonbeam wrote: »
    My house is ber rated e and electricity is about 250 every 2 months and gas varies but about 200 .

    Not relevant unless you include the size if house, number of occupants, how many hours a day there are people in the home.

    If you have non electric heating the BER has no real bearing in your electricity usage.


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    #9
    unattendedbag
    Registered Users Posts: 456 ✭✭unattendedbag


    Those oil filled plug in electric heaters cost the same to run as the normal electric heaters so they wouldn't be saving a huge amount. They take longer to heat up but may hole heat longer than the standard electric heaters. Its easy to keep the costs down if they are used sparingly but means wearing a few more layers during winter.


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    #10
    runawaybishop
    Registered Users Posts: 9,504 ✭✭✭runawaybishop


    Corkgirl18 wrote: »
    Myself and 3 other girls are looking to rent a house for the coming academic year and we found a really nice one today. We were talking to the girls who live in it for a while and they said they had no problems and that they use an oil filled plug in radiator to heat the living room instead of the storage heaters because they can be expensive.
    They showed us their last electricity bill (which is used for heating and cooking too) and it was actually really cheap compared to what I pay in my current house.-€145 between 4 people for the Nov-Jan months.
    All this was fine until I asked the letting agent what the BER rating was and he says its G! I'm very confused as to how the rating is so low but that the bills are also low. I'm sure the girls would have said it too if it was very cold.

    Any thoughts?

    I'd say the house is cold in the winter, using electricity is an expensive way to heat a house so if their esb bill is low they aren't heating it much. The storage heaters would be better (but still bad) than the rad if done properly.


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    #11
    Ann Landers
    Closed Accounts Posts: 817 ✭✭✭Ann Landers


    Corkgirl18 wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies so far! That bill is definitely what they paid anyway, not an estimate. The girls said that their estimated bill at the start of the year was the dearest one they ever got.

    So that means that the 145 bill might have been correcting for the overestimated one, so more than 145 worth of electricity might have actually been used. And they might not be turning on the heat much. How much to you and your roomies like warmth?


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    #12
    L1011
    Registered Users Posts: 68,884 ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Get the BER and read the report. Make a proper judgement as to how bollox it is. The BER is a rough estimate and often stretches the definition of rough.

    One incandescent bulb can knock a BER downwards due to not meeting the tickbox for 'energy efficient lighting', boiler age can be an utter guess and not relate to its condition - a five year old boiler that's not had anyone look at it could easily be worse than a 15 year old one, I've seen an assessor assume windows were single glazed when they weren't* and so on.

    *cause there's no such thing as wooden double glazing, is there :rolleyes:


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    #13
    mrs vimes
    Registered Users Posts: 156 ✭✭mrs vimes


    Corkgirl18 wrote: »
    Myself and 3 other girls are looking to rent a house for the coming academic year and we found a really nice one today. We were talking to the girls who live in it for a while and they said they had no problems and that they use an oil filled plug in radiator to heat the living room instead of the storage heaters because they can be expensive.
    They showed us their last electricity bill (which is used for heating and cooking too) and it was actually really cheap compared to what I pay in my current house.-€145 between 4 people for the Nov-Jan months.
    All this was fine until I asked the letting agent what the BER rating was and he says its G! I'm very confused as to how the rating is so low but that the bills are also low. I'm sure the girls would have said it too if it was very cold.

    Any thoughts?

    How long was the house empty over the Christmas holidays?


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