I know they are tenants for a reason, but this one really gets to me.
It’s winter. My callers for the vacancies are asking me “How much is the electric bill?”
If one one or two young persons asked, it wouldn’t be so mind-boggling. But it’s well over half of them.
Yes, I have a canned speech on how an electric meter works, and how to reduce your electric bill. I tell them about all of the winterization that the house has.
They don’t seem to be getting it. They still want to know how much it is going to cost them to heat the house.
Just what are they teaching the kids in school nowdays? Because it sure isn’t common sense.
I’m guessing they probably just want a general ball-park range, like $50 to $100 per month, depending on how much you use. Of course the general range would vary, depending on whether the furnace, stove, water heater, etc run on electricity or propane, so maybe they’re asking for a general range for that particular house, because what’s electric and what runs on gas is different than in the last place they lived. I know when I first moved out of my parents’ house, I had no idea how much an electric bill would cost, but now I know because I have to pay one every month. Also, they might be asking if electricity is included in the rent, maybe? Maybe they’ve never had to pay an electric bill because it was included in the rent in their previous homes. Recently, I’ve heard of some electric companies charging a flat monthly rate regardless of how much you use. Maybe that’s the way they’ve been billed in the past.
I worked at a movie theatre about 5 years ago, and people asked all kinds of stupid questions, like “When does the 5:00 movie start?” and “When does the movie let out?” I ask “which movie?” and they say “Oho, I don’t know, I dropped my son off to see a movie and I don’t know which one he watched” and “Do the hot dogs come with buns?” Really stupid questions like that make “How much is the electric bill?” seem like an intelligent question, comparatively. :doh
I always tell them “I have no idea. It depends on how high you keep the thermostat and whether you keep the doors and windows closed.”
A little over a week ago, I drove by one of my SFHs when it was 12 degrees outside. The upstairs bedroom window was WIDE OPEN! Who could calculate the electric bill for someone that stupid? Actually, the government (you and I) is probably paying that electric bill, so the tenant didn’t care.
Mike
you can call the electric company and get an estimated cost for that space based on previous bills.
And what good does it do the applicant to know how much the previous tenant spent on electricity?
Electtricity is on a meter. You pay for what you use.
If the priior tenant was a cheapskate and lived in a coat with the heat down and didn’t cook, are you going to tell the applicant that the electirc bills have only been $60 a month for the past 3 years?
Then your brand new tenant gets in, cranks the heat up to 92 degrees, lives in shorts and barefeet. Opens all the windows, has the front door open for half an hour at a time, and he is FURIOUS when he gets his $350 electric bill after you PROMISED him that the electric would only be $60.
Nobody promised squat, Tater. I would refer to it as an estimate.
You would call it an estimate, I’ll bet the tenant would call it a promise.
tgauchsin has that right.
Tenants hear what they want to hear. Even if you have it in writing, and they signed it, they will still insist that the arrangement was something that suited them better (and that they just made up)
I will not give them a figure. I explain what insulation the house has and tell them the electric is on a meter and they will pay for exactly the amount they use.
Not to mention, that if the estimate was $60 a month and they burn $300, they won’t have enough money to pay both the rent and the power-- so they will buy a big screen and not pay either one of you.
Then they will tell the landlord it is his fault because he lied to them about how much the power costs.
Most electric companies are not doing this any more. Privacy issues is what I’m being told. Whatever.