@Amanda660 wrote:
I can only guess that they are in student accommodation that includes bills.
This is exactly it. I've even noticed it with older people, not just youngsters. When bills are 'included' or fixed in some way, people just don't care. I've got middle aged friends who live in flats where the heating is included and they behave the same way!
I used to live in an apartment complex that had a communal heating and hot water system. There was no way to control when the heating came on and off. It was just on all the time from October to April and then off for the rest of the year. There was a dial of some sort in the flat, but that didn't do anything. So, I had to resort to turning individual radiators off so that the place wouldn't overheat.
The thing is, the bill for this, which was charged upfront every six months, was expensive. Because people thought that there was no link between their usage and the cost, they would leave their windows open all day during the winter. Obviously, because a lot of people were doing this, it was increasing the cost for everyone, including themselves, but they didn't see it that way as they didn't get a bill telling them they had used X amount of gas and therefore were being charged accordingly. People are so stupid sometimes even with their own money!