Rant regarding utilities bill

[cfriend]

I live in a college town, in an apartment complex filled with college students. All the leases in this area are "rent includes utilities allotment." What they do not tell you is that the allotment is built to fail. Last month we were charged $37/person in overages. We used to run the A/C at 73 degrees and run the dishwasher half full. Since then we have taken to leaving the windows open and have run the A/C a grand total of three days when it was raining. We have washed our dishes by hand. We have completely changed our lifestyles, and this month we receive an overage of $20/person. I am really, really frustrated.

 

[luvmysuper]

Are there water and electric meters on each unit?
A divide equally for all thing is pretty goofy.
By this method, if you went out of town and used no water, gas or electricity, you could still wind up with an overage charge.
Is there wording specifically in the lease that states what is the method for determining the distribution of the cost of the overage?

 

[ouch]

Welcome to that wonderful land I like to call reality. The good news is that one day you won't have any allotment, and you'll get to foot the entire bill yourself.

Get ready. It's coming, and it's not a carnival.

 

[chfair]

if they do it like my last apt it is not by unit. my apt only did this with water and trash but they took the water bill and split it by # of tenants (probably padded it a little as well) and each apt got charged a variable rate off that. if they do not do it that way, no idea.

 

[cfriend]

Are there water and electric meters on each unit?
A divide equally for all thing is pretty goofy.
By this method, if you went out of town and used no water, gas or electricity, you could still wind up with an overage charge.
Is there wording specifically in the lease that states what is the method for determining the distribution of the cost of the overage?

I received a shoddy print-out last month for our overage, and will insist on a detailed one tomorrow morning. The lease is worded that any overage is split among all tenants.

Welcome to that wonderful land I like to call reality. The good news is that one day you won't have any allotment, and you'll get to foot the entire bill yourself.

Get ready. It's coming, and it's not a carnival.

I understand this is reality, I'm just struggling to imagine what could push our bill to $302.17 in an apartment with three people, who do not use air conditioning, wash dishes by hand, combine loads of laundry, and practically live in the dark. I'm sure someone will chime in and say this is low, be thankful. Hopefully they can provide me a proper bill so I can see exactly what costs what.

 

[ouch]

You definately want to get an itemized bill and a good explaination of the charges. People just love to rip off young folks, and it's sickening.

In a few years you get the honor of joining our "how much real estate tax do you pay" thread, and the first barf bag is on me.

 

[Navig8tor]

Don't forget the gift tax on the barf bag!

 

[cfriend]

You definately want to get an itemized bill and a good explaination of the charges. People just love to rip off young folks, and it's sickening.

In a few years you get the honor of joining our "how much real estate tax do you pay" thread, and the first barf bag is on me.

Understanding every city/state/company is different, how detailed of a bill can I expect? The printout they gave me last month contains:

• Historical Consumption
• Electric Service
  • Customer Charge
  • Energy Charge
  • Fuel & Purch Pwr
  • Gross Receipts Tax
  • Public Service Tax

• Historical Consumption
• Water Service
  • Customer Charge
  • Water Usage 1st Tier
  • Water Usage 2nd Tier
  • Total Usage
  • Public Service Tax

• Sewer Service
  • Customer Charge
  • Sewer Charge

Is this as detailed as it gets, or is there something more I should ask to see?

 

[ouch]

Don't forget the gift tax on the barf bag!

I live in Bergen County. We get them free from the town's DPW. They call them leaf bags, but they're not kidding anyone. They're for the tax bill.

 

[Navig8tor]

I live in Bergen County. We get them free from the town's DPW. They call them leaf bags, but they're not kidding anyone. They're for the tax bill.

That there's funny!

 

[Mycon]

That is pretty ridiculous seeing as how I am in a 5-bedroom house, with my 2 basement housemates, near the University, in the pricey part of town and our total utilities came to about $190.

From the itemized list, it looks like water is charged by the floor and everything else is from the total complex. That is just plain dumb. Like the above poster said, this way you could be out of town for a month and still get charged an overage due to your neighbors.

 

[40_Caliber]

I would check the local building codes. Most places have specific rules for electrical standards in multi-unit dwellings. If the building is not "up to code", the lanlord would have to bring the building up to code or face fines etc.

The whole split the electrical among tenants sounds very fishy to me.

.40

 

[Carlin]

Just paid my first ever utility bill

Electricity from September to 2 weeks ago $330...

 

[Johnny Dale]

We have many added charges to our utility bills here too. When I look at the bill the words charge and surcharge morph into TAX.

 

[chainfire]

Our trash company started adding a 'gas surcharge' when the gas was super-high and have never stopped once they realized nobody complained. It definitely sucks getting hit with extra money, esp when (if the bills are smaller) I doubt they reimberse you the other way.

OTOH, I guess we can all just be lucky that phone companies don't rule the world - those guys take surchages, taxes, fees, etc. to a level that's beyond belief.

 

[JECIII]

My last electric bill was 38$ 1 month

3 month water bill was somewhere around 40$

 

[davecmu]

We have a 1,700 ft^2 house with poor insulation and drafty windows. It sucks, but it's ours, and we foot the bill. Our average (averaged over three years) montly bills, for three people, are as follows:

Electricity: $78.08/mo (this varies wildly depending on the time of year, but averages out)
Water: $13.36/mo
Sewer: $10.50/mo (never changed)
Garbage: $12.00/mo (never changed)
Gas: $26.12/mo

Total: $140.06/mo

You're getting screwed. Get a new apartment; there's tons of places in Tallahassee to rent.

 

[Confuzius]

I pay an average of $65 for 2 months of electricity in an apartment.
I regularly run 2 computers with 3 monitors that never turn off (well the monitors do) and a 46" tv and surround sound tuner but our fridge and stove are tiny.

Heat/Water is included in the rent ($755 CAD 2 Bedrooms incl. 2 outdoor parking spaces) and there is no such thing as overages and each unit has it's own electricity meter.

I'm not however looking forward to seeing what the bills will be when I've got a house.

 

[AndrewWiggin]

My electric bill for my apartment is regularly in the 150-200 dollar range, and we've set it about 74. STFU. I'm looking forward to when electricity stabilizes again in Texas.

Oh, and my family paid a $700 water bill on our house last summer, because the sewer debt in Birmingham is obscene.

 

[dpm802]

I signed up for the Equal Payment Plan on my electric bill. This makes it easier to budget. I pay a flat $109 ever month, and settle up any difference once a year.

At one point, I had my bill down to $79 a month, but its been climbing for the last two years. My consumption of electricity hasn't changed, but the price per kilowatt certainly has.