We were instructed to leave it on, but we had no choice anyway. When we moved in, the gas meter was a credit meter and we had to wait several weeks/phone calls for a card which had to be sent in the post. Secondly the gas boiler had to be looked at before we could use it as it had been condemned. The landlord had the checks and necessary repairs done, by a CORGI gas engineer, all above board, but the spare parts could not be delivered immediately. So this gas boiler was useless for over a month of living there, so all hot water had to be heated by the electric. When the landlord showed us the boiler, he told us that the immersion heater was on a timer and should be left on 24/7 and when the gas boiler was repaired, it would be a backup. Wether the immersion heater does operate on the timer, i'm not sure but considering my electric bills, I think it was on constantly. He outlined that the gas would be a backup, not that it should be the main source of hot water. This is my first place and I lack plumbing knowledge, so this misadvice is what has cost the money in the long run, whether the immersion heater is pulling too much current or not. I will load test the immersion heater to see if it is operating normally, and if not have the landlord pay to repair it. In all fairness we wont apply for the warm front scheme because this property really is not very good, and the amount I am paying is rediculous. It seemed a nice new house, but everything about it has been done horrendously cheap, ie the walls are like paper and the "grass" is just dandelion. Only moved in out of necessity, and its now time to move out... Place has been big hassle.

Thanks a whole bunch for advice and hot tips people.

the situation is: we dont really need the immersion heater at all really, our gas boiler does the job grand, so going onto economy 7 wont save us anything as pretty much nothing is used at night. thanks for the tip tho. does the landlord actually have liability on paying what it has cost us, or is it just technically a moral obligation?

I will start by introducing myself. I am renting a property from a private landlord and there was a problem with an immersion heater we were told to leave switched on when we moved in. It ran up a huge bill of over £500 within little over a month. I gathered that this immersion heater should not have been left on, as we have sufficient hot water through the gas boiler, only when we moved in we could not use the gas because the meter was a prepay and it took nearly a month to get a payment card just so we could use it. British Gas would not replace the meter with a standard one until I had starting the exsisting meter, therefore I relied upon this immersion heater anyway, I would have had no hot water for the first month or so of living there. Due to looking after a disabled partner and handling a large amount of the cost of running the house, I really cannot afford to pay what my electricity supplier is trying to demand of me. I am guessing that the boiler is the landlord's responsibility as it should be part of the plumbing, so is the cost of what this immersion heater has run up on my electricity bill, recoverable? Who would be resonponsible? If any advice can be given on this I would be truly grateful. Chris.