$800 Electric Bill...What Would You Do?

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$800 Electric Bill...What Would You Do?

Tariq B.
Investor · Laurel, MD · Member since 2014 · 251 posts · 140 votes

Have a fairly new tenant in. She told me she had a high bill about $800. So she had an energy audit done which was free, they told her the vents had leaks and the thermostat was wrong. 

So called the pro's in for this one to see what's really going on technician should be there soon.

She requested that I pay half of the bill since it was not her fault. I will probably help her out and pay the half or offer to do a few up dates to the place instead so my money goes to something instead of an electric bill.

But curious how other landlords would tackle this one.

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James DeRoest
Investor · Century, FL · Member since 2015 · 950 posts · 603 votes
10y

Ask to see the bill. We had a tenant once, complained of $400 bills each month, she could only afford $200 or so.

When we saw the bill, $400 was the outstanding. And $200 was because she had a window open and the AC was busy trying to cool the state of Florida.

But don't worry, this bright tenant who couldn't read a bill was only a healthcare professional.

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  • Stone Teran
    Investor · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2015 · 374 posts · 120 votes
    10y

    We need more info.  It's damn hard to rack up $800 in one month.  Are you sure it's not multiple months?  I would fix the leaky vents and thermostat and not pay the utility bill.

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  • JD MartinBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
    10y

    I wouldn't do anything until I could determine what was the cause of the high bill. Thermostat being wrong doesn't make a lot of sense unless she was out of town and the heat pump was running non-stop. Otherwise, if she was home, the place would have been a pressure cooker and she would have turned the heat down. 

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  • Nicole A.Pro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Baltimore County Maryland and Tampa Florida · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    10y

    What about prior tenants? Have you had complaints in the past about high electric bills? Most people don't have airtight ducting, so unless there is a huge hole, that wouldn't cause $800 in usage. And even if the thermostat was 20 degrees off, a person can feel when it's 80 degrees inside.

    1Reply
  • Tariq B.
    OP
    Investor · Laurel, MD · Member since 2014 · 251 posts · 140 votes
    10y

    right that's what I was thinking it is hard to rack up that much in one month. I will put more info later, I am waiting on the tech right now.

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  • Michaela G.
    Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    10y

    I had a situation where the HVAC system was on a double breaker and one of the breakers had tripped and the other one was working overtime and created a huge bill and almost killed the system.

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  • Justin Fox
    Software Developer · Vidor, TX · Member since 2015 · 922 posts · 639 votes
    10y

    @Tariq B., I would make sure he/she isn't behind.  Definitely don't pay anything until you at least know if it's the fault of the system.  Wasn't a tenant but I had a coo-coo bird next door ask me if I tapped into her sewer, that her water bill was 200 dollars that month, haha.

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  • Wade Sikkink
    Real Estate Investor · Lincoln, NE · Member since 2013 · 584 posts · 353 votes
    10y

    No way that $800 is a single month.  I have a 5000 sqf house that's all electric and my biggest bill in the coldest winter ever in 10 years was about $450.  Leaky vents and the thermostat set wrong would never result in a bill that high.  There's more to the story.  I wouldn't pay the bill, but would investigate why it's high and get any real issues fixed.

    3Reply
  • Katrina Edwards
    Commercial Real Estate Broker · Palo Alto, CA · Member since 2016 · 52 posts · 35 votes
    10y

    Good advice above.  I'd work with the utility company to get a history on the utility usage.  If there is a big jump in usage only for the new resident, I might be included to chalk that up to operator error.  Hers.  Maybe consider giving a small credit, but I think half is likely not fair to you.  I'd be curious to hear if it was operator error....

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  • Gloria Mirza
    Real Estate Agent · San Jose, CA · Member since 2015 · 172 posts · 66 votes
    10y

    I wouldn't pay the bill or fix the leaky vents (that's expensive).  You could fix the thermostat since that's a cheap fix or spend a couple hundred to keep the tenant happy but I wouldn't go too far beyond that.   Most rentals aren't 100% energy efficient and aren't expected to be.  

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  • James DeRoest
    Investor · Century, FL · Member since 2015 · 950 posts · 603 votes
    10y

    Ask to see the bill. We had a tenant once, complained of $400 bills each month, she could only afford $200 or so.

    When we saw the bill, $400 was the outstanding. And $200 was because she had a window open and the AC was busy trying to cool the state of Florida.

    But don't worry, this bright tenant who couldn't read a bill was only a healthcare professional.

    5Reply
  • Christopher B.
    Rental Property Investor · Knoxville, TN · Member since 2011 · 701 posts · 531 votes
    10y
    Originally posted by @Gloria Mirza:

    I wouldn't pay the bill or fix the leaky vents (that's expensive).  You could fix the thermostat since that's a cheap fix or spend a couple hundred to keep the tenant happy but I wouldn't go too far beyond that.   Most rentals aren't 100% energy efficient and aren't expected to be.  

     Leaky vents can be resolved with a $2.50 tube of caulk. If the trunk lines are leaking excessively that can be resolved with a $5 roll of aluminum tape and an hour of labor. However, neither of these should cause an $800 bill. 

    0Reply
  • Chris Sukala
    Rockford, IL · Member since 2015 · 343 posts · 95 votes
    10y

    @Tariq B., i have a friend that has everything electric. Water heater, furnace, stove, and theirs is no more then 400-500. I would go to the utility company and see what is going on

    0Reply
  • BeBe Cheng
    Investor · San Jose, CA · Member since 2014 · 65 posts · 52 votes
    10y

    I had a tenant who complained her electrical bill was over $500 one time. I called our electrical company and they helped me to analyze her bill. The usage was way high at night and in normal range usage during the day. I was told that she may run electrical heaters at night. She told me everyone thinks the portable small electrical heater is efficient. But it is totally opposite. Those little portable heaters are electrical monsters. It turns out that is exactly the case. She sublease the sunroom to make extra money. But the electrical bill bited her back.

    Just investigate and find out the real reason for the large bill. Good luck!

    2Reply
  • Mike Hanneman
    Investor · Coeur d'Alene, ID · Member since 2016 · 551 posts · 218 votes
    10y
    Originally posted by @Michaela G.:

    I had a situation where the HVAC system was on a double breaker and one of the breakers had tripped and the other one was working overtime and created a huge bill and almost killed the system.

    Being an electrician for over ten years... Whatever electrician told you that I would never use them again. Breakers don't and can't work overtime. Your heater is only going to draw the amount of watts that is listed wether one breaker failed or not. The only way for this to happen is with a short but then you'd have electrical fire and many more issues.

    0Reply
  • Ian WalshBusiness Member
    Lender · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    10y

    Send your own technician and find out what the report said on the audit.  Who did the audit?

    0Reply
  • Tracy D.
    Investor · Neptune Beach, FL · Member since 2015 · 143 posts · 172 votes
    10y
    No way would i pitch in or pay for the bill. I tell them all up front that i never will and they are responsible for notifying me immediately with water leaks and AC issues and they alone are responsible for their energy consumption. I will fix issues but never pay the bill. Ive had tenants ask but its always something like a leaky toilet they didnt tell me about or a broken thermostat they didnt tell me about or sometimes even a double bill from not paying their bill the month before. At any rate, the answer on that is no. Ill fix my place, change a thermostat, caulk leaks, add insulation or whatever sometimes but nope on paying their bill.
    1Reply
  • Michaela G.
    Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    10y

    Those of you in other geographical areas than Tariq, please be aware that different utility companies charge very different rates. 

    In Atlanta it's very common to have a heating bill of $ 400-500 in the colder months. And it doesn't even get anywhere near as cold as the Northeast.

    0Reply
  • Nicole A.Pro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Baltimore County Maryland and Tampa Florida · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    10y

    True on different rates. He's in my area, and his tenant's bill is several times higher than my highest bill ever and I'm almost certain that my house is larger than his rental unit. Same thing happens with my own tenants. They get these $400 or so bills in the winter (for gas usage I bet) for their little apartment, which is crazy. 

    Don't expect the utility company to be helpful. If they are, awesome. But if they're like the water company, they will insist that unless something was broken or needed repair/insulation/etc, that it must be the user. They don't even acknowledge that they could have a bad meter or misread the meter or input the numbers wrong.

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  • Lesley Resnick
    Real Estate Agent · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    10y

    i would call the power company and ask for the prior year bill amounts before doing anything drastic.  i am guessing the tenant had something to do with the high bill.  A new thermostat is under $30 a bit more if you want a timer.  The leaky vents, sounds suspect to me.

    1Reply
  • Colleen F.Pro Member
    Investor · Narragansett, RI · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    10y

    See the actual bill.  I got this once from tenants it was $1100 but found out it was for two months when calling the electric company.  

    What kind of thermostat?  It would be rare that a thermostat resulted in this kind of bill except if there was operator error. If it is a mercury dial they rarely fail.

    We have an all electric heat rental. We have had $800 electric bills because the tenants did not understand that you need to close windows and doors when the heat is on and it is not as warm here as in AZ. You are doing the right thing sending someone out.  I would probably change the thermostat and seal the heat vents.  You can test the thermostat for accuracy, if it is significantly wrong I would do something, a minor deviation I think it is the tenants problem.  Any chance she moved up from the south?

    0Reply
  • Marcus Johnson
    Investor · Saint Paul, MN · Member since 2015 · 663 posts · 512 votes
    10y
    I would call the utility company and request a copy of the bill to see the time frame and also to get an idea of the usage amount.
    0Reply
  • Account Closed
    Greenville, OH · Member since 2016 · 51 posts · 1 vote
    10y

    Could it possibly be a faulty meter?  I've had 2 friends in the last year whose meters went haywire.  One made their bill extremely small, the other very high.

    0Reply
  • Jim Brown
    Millersville, MD · Member since 2015 · 140 posts · 47 votes
    10y

    BGE didn't happen to just install a smart meter did they.  I had this happen at my personal residence and my rental and both properties electric bill skyrocketed the next month.  

    1Reply
  • Frank B.
    Consultant · Oklahoma City, OK · Member since 2015 · 122 posts · 34 votes
    10y
    Originally posted by @Tariq B.:

    Have a fairly new tenant in. She told me she had a high bill about $800. So she had an energy audit done which was free, they told her the vents had leaks and the thermostat was wrong. 

    So called the pro's in for this one to see what's really going on technician should be there soon.

    She requested that I pay half of the bill since it was not her fault. I will probably help her out and pay the half or offer to do a few up dates to the place instead so my money goes to something instead of an electric bill.

    But curious how other landlords would tackle this one.

    Don't know what your electric prices are but around here it's around $0.10/kWh. 

    So at that rate they had to use 8,000kwh in one month, which means they would have to have used like 11kW of power for all 720 hours of the month. 

    I don't know anything about your property but it's hard to dream up a combination of things that would cause that to happen.

    So I'm guessing either someone misread the meter or someone is lying. 

    0Reply
  • Levi T.Pro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Tucson AZ / Nice FR / Washington DC · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    10y
    Tenant likely had the emergency heat running, which eats electricity alive. Seen tenants run the bill way up doing that number.
    0Reply
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