for his share of the energy bill if he wont be here during the summer ( but will still be paying rent ).

My other roommate thinks this seems to be the case and is arguing not paying the extra amount once the other roommmate leaves ( but with his stuff still in his room )

5/4/2008 8:54:06 PM

that's a tough call because technically he's not there to use the energy, but then again his room takes up space for air from the AC to get in soooo i don't know. i would say if anything have him pay a very minimum amount.

5/4/2008 8:56:48 PM

compromise and see if you can get him to pay 50% of what he would pay if he were there

5/4/2008 8:59:53 PM

I had this argument with my roommates..

the situation was they were in NY for the entire summer while I was for the most part not there other than a few nights every now and then. obviously just the frig running and bullshit fees were going to be a creator of some fees.. they refused to pay for anything. shit was in my name so i didnt have much choice

now when i moved out i pulled a dick move of leaving the cable turned on in my name and took the box (and the roadrunner modem, turned it down to the minimum) and wouldn't turn it off or turn the equipment in and they couldn't get a replacement box or RR modem and were fucked for a few months

it was worth the extra $$

5/4/2008 9:00:05 PM

while he is using the air, thats it. all of the electricity you use for tv, computers, etc he shouldnt have to split.

id say no.

5/4/2008 9:00:08 PM

Energy is in my name.

which makes it my problem.


^ again, were not talking about what is fair or not, i need to know if he his legally liable or not. My other rommmate is saying he is, and wont pay the extra share. Yes, i know that is a dick move, and thank god my lease ends up at the end of july.

[Edited on May 4, 2008 at 9:02 PM. Reason : x]

5/4/2008 9:01:30 PM

He isn't legally liable if it's not in his name. WTF is your other roommate thinking?!?!?

5/4/2008 9:06:47 PM

unless you have some type of legally binding contract saying otherwise, ^ is right. why would they be liable?

5/4/2008 9:12:38 PM

well fuck


i sure as hell dont want to pay the extra share. I might as well say fuck it and cut the energy and let it becomes someone else's problem.

5/4/2008 9:15:54 PM

Hey guys. I have an electric bill due next week. Think you all could chip in and pay some of it for me?

Yeah, it's a douche move on his part, but to think he is somehow liable for the electric is laughable.

5/4/2008 9:18:52 PM

personally I think you guys can probably find an easy compromise. do you guys get along well?

5/4/2008 9:19:46 PM

Tell him you will be turning EVERYTHING in his room off and closing all air vents if that is the case. If you do all that and he is ok with it then you cant really say he is using any energy that you wouldnt be using if the room was empty.

5/4/2008 9:21:12 PM

well

the guy saying he's not going to pay the extra share is 36 years old living with college students and a shitload of credit card debt.

the other guy is just fucking weird. I mean, he's got his head on straight when it comes to school, but some of the shit he says and does is strange as fuck. But he looks like a normal dude.

5/4/2008 9:21:51 PM

Just take the other guy's stuff from his room while he is gone and sell it to pay the electric bill.

5/4/2008 9:24:08 PM

^^^ I'd say to unplug EVERYTHING that may be left in his room (I mean, it's just good practice anyway), close all the vents, have some sort of efficient window cover (dark and heavy maybe?), and close the door and his room will be using minimal electricity. Call it even and move on.

If your roommate still refuses to split the energy bill half with you, explain to us what type of living situation y'all have. (IE: Is he a sublet, is this your personal ownership, all you all renting, etc. then we'll have a little more to go on.)

[Edited on May 4, 2008 at 9:27 PM. Reason : ^]

5/4/2008 9:26:47 PM

^^^^you can do that, and then have him pay like 5 or 10 bucks and call it a day imo. if he doesn't wanna pay cash, just have him buy some beer or something.

[Edited on May 4, 2008 at 9:28 PM. Reason : dfw]

5/4/2008 9:28:08 PM

everyone is renting from a private owner.


The energy bill is in my name. 4 renters.

the other roommmate is cool with taking the extra hit. but the old guy isnt.

5/4/2008 9:28:15 PM

just turn off the power and let someone else pick it up

5/4/2008 10:10:58 PM

Close up his vents and turn off his stuff. He's not using anything so what's the big deal? The vast majority of the bill will be because of the remaining roommates. Sounds like you guys want to get him to pay for your power usage. Why should he pay for service not rendered?

5/4/2008 10:22:31 PM

my roommate was gone for 2 months and we made an agreement that he would pay 1/3 to cover the cost of running the AC and refridgerator

5/4/2008 10:24:53 PM

I would probably say no he shouldn't have to pay or it should be very minimal since he is not using things like computers, tv's, stereo, hot water, the stove, etc... He shouldn't have to pay for you to use these things. Yes the A/C goes into his room, but the price to use it is the same anyway.

How much are we talking anyway, like 30-40 dollars for his share? The only way I could see him having to pay his share or most of it would be if he still came to the apartment time to time during the summer.

Legally he doesn't have to pay a dime since it's in your name. I moved out for the summer once but still came up from time to time so I would leave some money or buy all the booze for the weekend or something to make up for it.

5/4/2008 10:43:00 PM

just close the vents in his room

5/4/2008 10:44:26 PM

the only argument you might have is the fact that since he isnt there but occupying a room he is making it where no other people can move in and hence forcing your bills higher than they would be had they just had another roommate move in

5/4/2008 10:51:04 PM

Seriously, whats it going to cost you extra, like 20 bucks? Just pay it and move on. In the end, its not going to matter that you had to pay an extra few bucks a month for one summer.

5/4/2008 10:53:26 PM

^^^ closing a vent may actually raise the cost according to progress energy

http://www.progress-energy.com/custservice/carres/energytips/ac.asp

[Edited on May 4, 2008 at 11:29 PM. Reason : .]

5/4/2008 11:04:27 PM

^ Interior walls are not usually insulated as well as exterior walls, plus interior doors leak a lot of air and have minimal insulation value.

However, I believe this is all bullshit because the room cannot have any greater energy transfer than what would be normal if it were cooled, which means that it should reduce the energy consumption.

5/4/2008 11:20:46 PM

does the old guy see the bill every month, or do you just tell him how much he owes?

5/4/2008 11:41:44 PM

tell the old guy to stop being a prick

5/4/2008 11:49:44 PM

why would your roommate owe if he isn't around to use the service? Are you going to charge him for the cable and water bill too?

5/5/2008 12:15:56 AM

I wouldn't charge him anything but rent and cable (cable doesn't change regardless of if one person watches TV or not...otherwise one could be like, well i didn't watch tv this month, so I'm not paying...), but water and power would decrease if someone wasn't there. Legally, he doesn't owe you anything though if its not in his name and there's not a contract.

5/5/2008 12:37:03 PM

if he isnt there and his name isnt on the bill i dont see what the issue is.

cut the vent off in his room, unplug everything and just deal with it.

its not like it will be an assload of money

5/5/2008 12:41:31 PM

Quote :

"now when i moved out i pulled a dick move of leaving the cable turned on in my name and took the box (and the roadrunner modem, turned it down to the minimum) and wouldn't turn it off or turn the equipment in and they couldn't get a replacement box or RR modem and were fucked for a few months it was worth the extra $$"

NICE! lol

5/5/2008 12:42:17 PM

Get the power turned off and make your cheap ass roommate turn it on in his own name if he wants power.

If you can stand to live without the power for a few weeks until he gets the point, then it would be worth it in my opinion.

5/5/2008 12:47:16 PM

Some energy will be wasted even if you close the vent and unplug everything. It is only fair that they pick up some of the cost if they are renting space there. Maybe cut a deal where you pay half the bill and the remaining three people split the other half or something.

It's not like you're going to be there 100% of the time either. I would assume you will take a week or two of vacation and probably spend some weekends out of town. It would be a dick move for you to come back and say "I was only here 20 days of the month so I'm only going to pay 2/3 of one fourth of the bill." That's basically what they are doing to you though, only on a much bigger scale.

5/5/2008 12:50:30 PM

Yea, just ask the guy to put in $20 or so per month for utils

5/5/2008 12:58:41 PM

Quote :

"I would probably say no he shouldn't have to pay or it should be very minimal since he is not using things like computers, tv's, stereo, hot water, the stove, etc... He shouldn't have to pay for you to use these things. Yes the A/C goes into his room, but the price to use it is the same anyway. "

A/C and to turn the fridge on is by far the most costliest electrical consuming devices in the house.

I have heard from 25%-50% of the electric bill is the A/C alone. Part of having an apartment is paying to keep the environment under control.

5/5/2008 1:08:51 PM

just because someone leaves doesn't mean they get out of paying something - them leaving shouldn't have to impact you financially

you should never have to pay more because of someone else's decision to not live there for a period of time

5/5/2008 1:36:54 PM

no matter what happens, you should look for a new roommate.

5/5/2008 1:50:47 PM

is it in the lease?

5/5/2008 2:14:52 PM

Look at it this way, when all of you are there you are each paying 1/3rd of the total bill
Well lets say your bill was $90, you would each have to pay $30.

However with your roommate gone, there should be substantially less usage, therefore a lower power bill -- Meaning that $90 bill prolly drops to $70 (wouldn't drop by 1/3rd exactly b/c of things like Ac/fridge, but all of his personal electric usage would no longer be occurring)

Therefore, in this case, you would each pay $35 -- the point being, its not like you guys will have that $90 bill to split 2 ways ($45 each) -- The two of you will end up paying just about what you paid each before. This really should be a non issue. kthxbai

5/5/2008 5:18:36 PM

like ive mentioned in thread, My other roommmate and I have no trouble putting up the extra money for the bill. The only trouble comes in with the third roommate ( the old guy ). I really dislike this guy for other reasons so I dont to put up his share of the bill ( that will come from the 4th roommate leaving ). I had a serious talk to him today and he said " sure ". I'll let it run for a month and if he doesnt pay me, i'll cut the energy.

5/5/2008 5:34:02 PM

You obviously didn't read the post above yours, or you're a complete idiot.

5/5/2008 5:42:59 PM

i agree with ernie...this shit is dollars and common sense

5/5/2008 5:53:04 PM

^^ listen up dipshit. I know what he's saying; that i'll end up paying the same cause of the decrease in energy ( if the old roommate doesnt put in his share ). Thats not the point, the point is that this guy has been a complete ass about every little thing in the apt, and to add this on to it would be too much. Im not one to let someone walk all over me, but im sure you're use to it so maybe thats why you're agreeing with his post.

and yes, it was a error on my part when i said " putting up the extra money "... what I meant to say is that " putting up money for the old roommates share "

5/5/2008 6:50:15 PM

Quote :

"just because someone leaves doesn't mean they get out of paying something - them leaving shouldn't have to impact you financially you should never have to pay more because of someone else's decision to not live there for a period of time "

bout sums it up.

Whats next a time clock to figure out how many hours someone "used" the apt?

[Edited on May 6, 2008 at 12:58 AM. Reason : hjih]

5/6/2008 12:53:14 AM

they still have to pay, not a full share, but they still have to pay, just like you would if you have no roommates and go on vacation, the fucking power company isn't gonna let it fly why should you?

5/8/2008 11:55:27 AM