Acceptable use of included utilities

[SamODell]

I live in a small City in China called yixing, it is in the Hangzhou/Nanjing/Shanghai area

I have a contract that says my work will pay for my heating electric and water as well as my apartment. i thought this was good even if the salary is alittle lower than a similar job elsewhere.

I am now coming to the end of the 2nd month working here, the first month my boss said i used too much power and water...I agreed id try to use less, ive been trying this month and now she tells me it is over 1000rmb, she said she can only pay 300rmb i did not agree with her as its not what i signed up to....she told me this is the Chinese way we dont spend so much money on power etc.

I think she will try to cancel my contract if I dont agree with this, does anyone know where I stand?

I told her the contract says she must pay my bills she says we should change this point in it, she said we can change this or she can cancel the contract...

the contract says there is a breach penalty for breaking the contract early, how can i be sure to get this? how can i be sure she will even pay me? is there an official office i can contact for these issues?(English speaking)

Generally my apartment is often cold (no central heating in the area, must use Air Con) and there has been afew days with no water, but generally its a nice place.

id like to see if anyone can give any advice on this type of thing.

also if anyone lives outside area's with central heating what are your energy bills? Do you use Air Con to heat your place? do you still feel cold? i wear alot of clothes even in the house!

Thanks for reading hope you can help

[roddy]

I tried to heat an apartment like that in Jiangsu once - you're just taking cold damp air from outside and turning it into hot damp air inside. Check anything leather for mold.

You need a more efficient way of heating the apartment - see if the school will supply a gas space heater or an oil-filled radiator or two. But no central-heating + cold weather will always mean either big bills or feeling cold.

[SamODell]

hey im my place it means big bills and feeling cold...

good advice about the heating equipment thanks, i need to find which are most efficient and bring the info to my boss.

[roddy]

If the boss is willing to pay 300Y per month it might be worth seeing if you can just get that added to your salary. You'll probably be ahead in spring / autumn when you're not using so much electricity, and that'll take away the sting of the winter and summer bills. I know the boss said bills inclusive, but she probably wasn't expecting you to double the rent bill. Are you the first foreigner they've hosted?

Edit: Or actually, you could just opt to stick to the contract and see what happens - but if you go that route you need to accept that you're either leaving one way or another, or the boss is going to resent you for the rest of your stay.

[SamODell]

yeah that is great advice, i will try to get her to add it to the salary...will also see about an oil radiator.

I am the 2nd foreigner they have had, the previous only live here for 5 months before i came in Nov so probably didn't have high bills.

[Erbse]

How is it possible to use 1000 on utility?

When I was in Kunming it was like 200 (gas+electricity+ internet+water)

Okay, I didn't use any heating, but still 1000 is a lot.

[roddy]

Say electricity costs 0.5Y a KwH (it's not quite that here in Beijing, but it makes the maths easier). 3Kw unit running round the clock for 30 days could run up a bill of 1080Y. You'd need to be a very heavy user, but you could get there.

[imron]

I would also look at your usage patterns. 1000Y seems really steep to me. Are you leaving the aircon on around the clock even when you're not home? Definitely look at more efficient ways of heating your apartment. Aircon is expensive.

[Erbse]

Maybe someone is stealing electricity from you?

[SamODell]

Note the hot water is from gas and cooking is by gas.

I use the Air Con only while im sleeping, i dont leave any lights or anything else on while im out of the house...

the first month i left the air con on maybe two or 3 days by forgetting to get used to turning it off, this month most ive had it on is 8-12hrs while in bed...i feel ive tried hard to reduce the amount of power i was using, wearing more clothes, making sure all lights are off when not in the room etc but the boss still says the bill is more.

I need to check if people are stealing the electricity as i guess its a possibility.

[roddy]

Get an electric blanket.

[imron]

Yep, 8-12 hours is a pretty long time to leave the aircon running. When I was in Beijing, leaving the aircon on all night in the summer for cooling would use about as much electricity as about 10 days worth of normal usage. I stopped doing that pretty quickly.

[anonymoose]

A have my aircon on here for most of the day. I have a separate unit in each room, so I only have one on in the room I'm in, and keep the door closed. My electricity bill for last month was about 250 RMB, so I'm surprised if you can get yours up to 1000 RMB. (I know you said that's for all bills, but my water and gas hardly come to anything).

Anyway, I think if they've signed the contract, then you have every right to demand they stick to the contract. I know it's difficult when you don't have much leverage should they decide to cancel the contract, but maybe it's time to start looking for a better job instead.

[gato]

Oil heaters are much more effective at heating up a room than air conditioners.

You should get one as soon as you can. They are available at your local GOME or Suning electronics store. They are priced around 300-500 yuan. Get the 2500W one since you seem to like it warmer.

http://www.360buy.com/product/179584.html

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