Heating & energy

Two ways to charge for what heating and power cost the hall, set on Heating & energy under Money. Use either, both or neither.

A heating charge, so much an hour, for hires that start in the heating season, say 1 October to 31 March. You can limit it to some rooms, and leave out some kinds of hirer, such as charities, or regular groups whose rate already includes it. It goes on the invoice as its own line, “Heating”, and hirers see it in the price before they book.

Meter readings, for the long hires that use a lot: the caretaker reads the meter before and after (the job sheet reminds them), the readings go on the booking on the Bookings screen, and the units used are charged at your price per unit. If the invoice has already been made and is unpaid, it is brought up to date, and you are told to send it again if it had been emailed.

Both are taxed the same way as the hire when the hall charges VAT. Invoices already made are not changed when you change the settings.

For example: The hall charges £3 an hour for heating from October to March, not for charities. A family party on 15 November, 2pm to 7pm, gets a “Heating £15.00” line. The Saturday wedding also has meter readings of 10412.0 and 10498.5: 86.5 kWh at 34p adds “Energy used, 86.5 kWh £29.41”.

Questions people ask

A regular group’s bookings run through the winter.
Each booking is charged, or not, by its own date, so their autumn bookings start carrying the charge on the first day of the season.