Over the years we’ve come across far too many customers who’re living in properties with dodgy hot water cylinders.

Every property uses electricity differently, and, if you’ve recently moved into a new property, it’s likely you’re unaware of how the house uses its power. That means it’s crucial for you to pay attention to your power bills, and if they seem strangely high, beware – you could have a hot water issue!

Looking for an electricity company that cares about your hot water cylinder? Join Flick now!

At Flick we collect electricity consumption data for our customers, and graph this in their online dashboard, so they can see if something’s amiss.

Case in point

Just ask Flicksters Shane Livingston and Rebecca Eng. Shane, who lives by himself, had weekly power bills of around $50 per week before he was prompted by Flick to have his hot water cylinder checked. It turns out broken pipes were the problem, leading to an overworked cylinder and a lot of wasted hot water! Since being fixed, Shane’s power bills have dropped down to around $10 per week (wahoo!).

Aucklander Rebecca faced a similar issue when she noticed her weekly power bills were high in both the summer and winter months, sitting at around $70 per week. After getting her hot water cylinder checked, which lead to the discovery of a broken valve, Rebecca’s power bills have dropped to around $20 per week. That’s more like it! (Check out Shane and Rebecca’s stories on Stuff for more info).

How will I know?

But for every case we’ve helped sort out, we know there’ll be other customers out there paying too much for power because of the same issue.

Warning signs of a faulty cylinder might include:

• a boiling sound coming from the area where the cylinder is;
• hot water running excessively hot from the taps in the property;
• or white stains on the roof or wall where the pressure valve exits the house.
• and, of course, an unusually high electricity bill.

Unidentified faults could result in power bills three times higher than usual, and once the electricity is consumed the account holder is liable to pay for it – eek! However, in tenanted properties landlords are also responsible for ensuring the hot water cylinder they supply is in working order, so a tenant may be able to claim reimbursement.

Faster problem solving – and power over your power – is just another reason to be with Flick.