Tenants complaining about expensive hydro bill

[llee]

Hi,

My tenants called me twice and chatted (or complained) about the expensive hydro bill.

They moved in the townhouse (1000 sq ft, 2 storey) in January. The townhouse has been newly renovated by a vendor. All windows were properly sealed. It is electrically heated (with water and dryer in suite)

When they rented the place, I told them the hydro should be around $80-120, depending on their usage. The vendor said that`s about right. However, the tenants received their first bill (2 month) of $500! They said they have been keeping the place cold (18C) and they work at day.

I asked them to check around the neighbor and see how much the neighbors are paying.

This is really none of my business as I don`t need to know about their utility bill. Do you think I need to do anything with them? My concern is the electric wiring was done wrong (multiple units connecting to their meter), resulting in high hydro bill. Is it possible?

Lucas

 

[Nir]

Are you serious? Yes it`s $120 on average but $500 in January. not that surprising (ha ha)

Sounds like a communication issue. you should have added one word: "on average".
Something like "around $120 a month on average - much more during the winter, less in the summer."

 

[GarthChapman]

We don`t ever answer the question "how much do the utilities cost?" The range is far too variable, and we don`t want the tenants to make us in any way responsible for the size of those costs.

Since you are in this now, you might want to check yourself what the neighbours are experiencing and report back to your tenants. It is now April, so the March bill should be available pretty soon. I wonder how it will compare.

 

[llee]

QUOTE (GarthChapman @ Apr 10 2009, 10:55 AM) We don`t ever answer the question "how much do the utilities cost?" The range is far too variable, and we don`t want the tenants to make us in any way responsible for the size of those costs.

I find "how much do the utilities cost" is by far the most common question, because the tenants need a budget themselves too (monthly rental + utilities). It`s a sensible question, but I just don`t know the answer for this townhouse, so I asked the vendor and that was the response.

 

[billf]

Hi,

Electric heat is crazy expensive... the bill will go down, and $120 a month on average without AC is probably on target. Tell them to inquire about equal billing. Also a lot of utilities are charging $200 deposit plus new customer charge on the first bill. Talk to the neighbours but I think the bill sounds reasonable to me.


Bill F

 

[Thomas Beyer]

Winter was unusually cold in BC .. so 120 on average means $300 in winter + deposit of perhaps $200.

Ask them to phone BC Hydro .. not you !

Discuss it in a year when you have an average bill for 12 months ..

 

[GarthChapman]

QUOTE (thomasbeyer2000 @ Apr 10 2009, 04:43 PM) Winter was unusually cold in BC .. so 120 on average means $300 in winter + deposit of perhaps $200.

Our recreational property in Invermere BC had heating costs about 2.5 times the normal for Dec and Jan this winter. I think Jan was about $500.

 

[BrianPersaud]

Hi Lucas,

managing utilities is something I take very seriously because I have some properties that have basement apartments and therefore I pay for utilities for the whole property (and charge higher rent).

Here are my thoughts


1. Check out this tool from Hydro One

http://www.hydroonenetworks.com/en/efficie...tor/default.asp

It calculates their bill based on appliance usage based on their lifestyle

2. look at their bills, are the bills estimated for some months? If they are estimated they may be just be getting catchup bills because of low estimates. Lets say that over a 3 month period they have used 6000 kwh. They may just be estimated for 1000 kwh for the first 2 months and getting a huge catch up bill with 4000 kwh on the third.

3. You can have an home energy audit done
This is really valuable and pretty cheap. who knows you may be able to get grants for certain upgrades. This is a must if you plan on upgrading anything to do with heating and cooling.

4. monitor yourself or hire an electrician by looking how fast the meter moves when certain circuits on your breaker panel are on and the others are off.

Generally, anything to do with heating and cooling drives up the bill huge.

Do you have electric heat? Are they using the dryer everyday? Baseboards space heaters? Thomas is right, it was a colder January and February this year so the heaters will be working extra hard to keep the house at 18 degrees. Put it perspective, central a/c uses 1 kwh every 11 minutes and electric heaters (space and baseboard) can you use 1 kwh every 15 minutes.

I was once charging my tenants $40 extra a month for access to laundry, the dryer had to be repaired and as we were waiting for the new dryer my bills went down from $250 to $80. I find out they were using the dryer everyday (even in the summer) for two pieces of underwear (don`t ask why she was washing her underwear everyday). As a result, I promptly removed the dryer from the house.

I know your tenants pay the bills, but this is something you should take seriously for two reasons

1. it shows you really care about them...which will go a long way for customer service
2. Its your property you want to understand everything that may be a potential problem (be proactive and be prepared - 7 habits of Highly effective people)


Happy landlording

Brian

 

[BrianPersaud]

by the way I know hydro one services outside ottawa, they have a an energy conservation team that can work with them to lower their bills. I have hydro one in brampton and I found it useful

 

[realfortin]

QUOTE (llee @ Apr 10 2009, 08:38 AM) When they rented the place, I told them the hydro should be around $80-120, depending on their usage. The vendor said that`s about right. However, the tenants received their first bill (2 month) of $500! They said they have been keeping the place cold (18C) and they work at day.

I have a townhouse in BC that is heated by electric. My average for the year summer 2007-summer 2008, was 100/month. I am on the easy payment plan where it is averaged over the year. In Jan/Feb, I was using 200-250$ a month of electricity(like your tenant`s 500 for 2 months) but in summer I was using 40-60, spring and fall, around 100$

RF