Divvying Up the Utility Bill

HeatingHelp

Divvying Up the Utility Bill

There’s long been talk about how to divvy up the heating expenses in buildings that have tenants. In this episode, Dan Holohan shares some methods he’s seen over the years in Europe and the US.

Read the full story here

Tomato

I used to get sent to troubleshoot excessive electrical usage. In order to charge each tenant for their heat use an apartment building had switched from Central Heating to heat pumps and baseboard heat in each apartment.

One tenant was complaining that their electric bill was extraordinarily High. I checked everything out and all was working normally and the electric meter was connected correctly.

On my way out of the apartment I noticed that the old central heating thermostat was mounted on the wall. The thermostat had a mercury thermometer on the front of it. (Of course it was locked so that this tenant could not change the temperature for everybody in the building under the old central heating system.)

I noticed that the mercury thermometer said it was 85° in the middle of winter. I then understood why the electric bill was so high.

Long Beach Ed

Sub-metering utilities is usually illegal in New York. The penalty is treble damages to the tenant who was charged.