A Corpus Christi student has been charged £178 for their termly electricity bill, the same price as a family living in a five-bedroom home would expect to pay in a month.

The College stated these charges were caused by use of a “boost” function on the heating, which the student only discovered after pursuing the matter with the College. The student claims it was not made clear to them how the boost function works, how much electricity it uses, or how much extra it would cost.

The College website states that additional heating is provided at “a minimal charge”.

The student has claimed they were “distraught” to receive the “extortionate” bill, with the College’s explanation being that the student was “using the heating more regularly” in Easter term than in Lent.

Meter readings from the College’s maintenance department seen by Varsity show that in a five day period after the student had moved out of their room 2kwh of electricity use was recorded. This is the same amount of power needed to continuously watch a 42" LED TV for over 24 hours or use an average laptop for two days non-stop.

This is the second term in a row the student was hit by a high heating bill after being charged £189.50 in Lent, with their total bill for electricity across the year being £390. The student was charged nine times less for heating in Michaelmas, despite claiming to have used the heating “much more” in this term.

Typical electricity bills at Corpus can be as low as 25p per term, with those who have fridges on in their rooms commonly paying £5-10 per term, Varsity understands.

Corpus has not offered any monetary support to reduce the impact of the bill, with the student telling Varsity that they were forced to use some of a college travel grant to cover the unexpected costs.

The student told Varsity: “Even if it was my own fault [for using the boost function of the heater] the fact that it wasn’t explained properly what the cause [of the high bill] might be in Lent… had I been given these reasons that would have been so much more useful… and could have avoided me going through yet another £200 expense”.

Corpus Christi College was contacted for comment