Managing a 2 unit with connected utilities

[Alex Gordon]

Hey guys, new investor her and I've been looking at some potential deals.  

I saw one with potential of a two level house with 2/1 up and a 3/1 below.  The issue I came across was they are on the same utilities and furnace.  In my city paying water/sewer/garbage is standard but I'm unsure how to handle utilities.  

My thoughts were if I put a flat fee in rent it would incentivize the tenants to have high power use and may just appear that my property has high rent to high quality tenants.  My realtor mentioned having them split the bill but I don't think are utility company would handle it, so again I would be including it with rent.   Any creative solutions?  I think this was one of the major issues I had with the property.  Thanks