Potentially Paying for Another Persons Electricity

>>18538460
What is the terminology here, electrically cucked?

I'm sure you're paying at least in part someone else electricity.

>moved into college apartment
>us on 1st floor + other girls second floor + basement
>electricity was a bit high
>first time bill owner so didnt know if something wrong
>one day my roommate forgot to pay bill by a day
>no worries they would restore power in a few hours
>girls text us saying washer isnt working
>power is restored
>go check washer
>it works
>ask girls directly how much they pay
>roughly $80
>ours was $150
>we were paying for washing room + exterior lights

definitely check into that. It will cost a lot of money if you dont.
Pretty sure this falls on your landlord but if he refuses seek 3rd party help.

>>18538460
Do you pay this utility yourself, or do you pay your landlord?

I find it weird that a switch in YOUR apartment controls a shared space.

Idk the legality on if an electrician can come to a property you don't technically own, since they might have to get into the walls or something to properly diagnose the issue.
I'd keep badgering your landlord on it until they take action, or threaten to move.

Best thing you can do is to move. Nothing is going to change, you will lose money by fighting this.

>>18538460
Tell him you're keeping the community laundry switch off until you sort this shit out.

>>18538514
Kek this.
Hold the switch hostage, because unless you have something different in your lease, landlord can't just break into your apartment without your permission without going through the legal eviction process first except in cases of emergency.

>>18538514
>>18538514

Better yet - dismantle the switch and ant other random switch in your room that doesnt control shit you know about. Like take the switch apart so it doesnt work and then put the face back on.

Your landlord will bitch for you to turn it back on. Tell him it is on, and invite him to look at it. When he sees that the switch is indeed on, and still not supplying power (because you dismantled it), suggest he has the electrician who is going to fix it look into why your bill is so high.

Make sure you are taking a memo of every single conversation - names, dates, times, what was discussed, and outcome. This will inevidably end up in court, and if you have memos,, you will win - as they are weighted higher in court than simple word of mouth. What your landlord is doing is illegal and he wont have it inspected because aknowledging the problem and fixing it means he not only has to pay for electric like he should but also needs to refund your past bills. Hes hoping you just bend over and take it.

You are being billed for someone elses shit. You are not obligated to pay these bills. You will win if you go to court, as long as you have memos that are timed/dated showing you repeatedly requested to have an electrician look into the problem and your landlord repeatedly refused. Your landlord will be in court stammering like a fucking dick because he wont have any memos or anything to disprove what you have said. Calling via your cellphone so you can link your memo's listed times/dates to times/dates you called your landlord will be of immense help; you generally fan get these logs off your cellphone providers website.

Final outcome will be you getting your electric fixed, your landlord refunding your bills to account for the extra shit, and your legal bills being covered because he lost and was fcking you. It wont be easy, and it will be drawn out, but this is textbook. You cant lose.

In the meantime start looking for a new place to live.

Ok dude start using your brain.

How do they bill you? I'm guessing your apartment has some form of meter? At the meter you should have a fuse box or some form of isolation switch? Throw the main isolation switch for your apartment if you can, most meters have one just before or just after.

Then you can't be billed for shit because the power is off at the meter. Then you can go check the washing machines and driers and lights and any of the other shit that technically shouldn't be coming through your meter. If they are still working, then relax they aren't coming through your meter. If they are all non-functional, then congrats, you have been electrocucked.

Or even turn off or unplug everything in your apartment including the fridge and then check the meter. Record the value and then come back an hour later and see if it has moved. If it has moved then something is drawing power still. Come on dude, what happened to thinking a problem through logically and coming up with a solution of some description,

>>18538544

Great idea, except that meter is probably non-accessable, like in a locked area or some shit. If thats the case though OP should demand to be allowed to turn off his own electricity, he has that right.

>>18538556
Meters and breaker panels have to be accessible.

Where do you live Op?
I'm an electrician and if you're close Id help you for free

>>18538504
Hm, for some reason I never thought about checking my fuse box, maybe I'll play with the switches a bit to figure something out. Glad to see I'm not the only one. I'll look into it thanks.

>>18538507
I pay the borough for it billed directly to me. You have a point I probably don't have the right to get an electrician in. I found it strange too, most apartment building owners in my area are shady scumbags, probably universal trait, but I'm going to do some more investigating first before challenging him again

>>18538508
This might make me sound like a jerk, but other than the electrical bill it's probably one of the better apartments in this area the upper middle section of this area, and I'm locked in a lease haha

>>18538514
I'm not going to do this immediately but it's definitely in my arsenal

>>18538521
I know they aren't allowed to barge in luckily, so I'm going to play with the switch a bit or even play with my personal fuse box a bit maybe feign ignorance about the switch.


>>18538532
Gunna try something similar to this, except my landlord has also worked years as an electrician. So I'd have to make it look naturally damaged not dismantled or anything. Short circuit it or something. Any ideas with that?


Thanks for all the responses guys really helpful!

>>18538544
>>18538549
Damn, you know as simple as this is I never thought of it. Thanks for the slap of logic. I'd considered the meter but never brought it all together.

>>18538556
Oddly enough the meters are nowhere special or secure I could attempt to look at it sometime adding this into my game plan

>>18538562
I really appreciate the offer man. I live in PA, not sure where you're from.

Thanks for all the help guys!!

>>18538544
>>18538556
It's not locked or inaccessible, but afaik tampering with those meters is against the rules and regulations of the building he lives in, he needs to call someone qualified.

I am currently a landlord and spent a few years managing properties for a fairly large management company. My advise assumes you're in the US.

First, find a copy of your lease and read it. Its highly unlikely that he has anything in the terms requiring you to do anything, even if he did its likely unenforceable, but you should know exactly what he's going to be able to come at you with on paper.

Second, document all contacts with your landlord in one place in ink. Date, time, duration of contact, and as much detail as you can.

Third, leave the switch/switches off. If theres a circuit breaker box in your unit, go systematically through it and disable circuits you do not use. Be careful, though, because people always forget about the dishwasher and the closet lights and shit.

Fourth, if you live in a city of significant size there is likely a community organization or city service that focuses on renter's rights. Do your research and contact them immediately. Theres a good chance they can have a lawyer send a letter for free and no landlord Earth has time for that shit. Even if they can't do anything directly, they can tell you what your rights are regarding how much notice your landlord has to give you before entering your unit.

Fifth, do not consent to your landlord entering your unit for any reason other than a true emergency. Beyond that, insist upon him giving you the full notice required by law. Where I live its 24 hours, if he contacts you at noon the day before and shows up at 11:50, make him wait the ten minutes.

Sixth, radio silence. If you've got the switch turned off, let all calls from your landlord go to voicemail. Listen to the voicemail, return those calls if they're about something else. If he shows up at your door asking you to turn the switch on you should deny entry and tell him it sounds like he needs an electrician.

Finally, move when your lease is up.

>>18538544
If he fucks with the meters and anything goes wrong, or anything is already wrong and he's the last person in there, OP has just opened himself up to problems.

>>18538460
Turn the fucking switch off.
The landlord will fix it once enough of his tenants crawl up his ass.

Red Flag: Landlord is an electrician.
He knows exactly what he did, which was to charge the communal area electricity to your flat o we wouldn't have to pay for it himself. No wonder he is skirting the issue. Some good advice on here. Get more info on your rights locally, get evidence, then make your move.

All of you saying "op shouldn't touch the meter because he will be liable" take a look at yourselves. Do you know what an electricity meter is or a consumer unit or mains fuse or anything like that? What would you do in a problem?

The power comes into the building. It will have a main fuse likely with an isolator. It will then go into a meter for the building. It will then go to a distribution board which will feed a consumer unit with circuit breakers on each circuit for all the communal electrics. The distribution board should also feed sub meters for each apartment. The sub meters should have their own main fuses with isolators leading to consumer units for each of the circuits in the apartments.

I mean, power comes into my house. It passes through a mains fuse with an on/off switch. It passes through the meter and onto the consumer unit. I can isolate power to the property by throwing the switch at the main fuse or on the consumer unit. I can isolate individual circuits on the consumer unit.

What would you do if you have an electrical problem and needed to shut off the power? You don't need to be an electrician to throw the main isolation switch at the point where electricity enters the property. You can read your own damn meters.

OP there is a fair chance that there wasn't a suitable supply for the laundry room and they decided to spur off of your supply for it. Throw the isolator on the supply where it enters your apartment close to your meter and see if those appliances work.

Liability? For what? Shutting off the power to your apartment?

>>18538564
>except my landlord has also worked years as an electrician
So he has the exact know-how to pull this shady shit on you.

Breaking news: OP has been cucked hard by his landlord

>>18538677
So much of this.

There is literally nothing that could go wrong. If the breaker were to trip do to circuit overload, or there was an electrical problem inside the apartment, OP certainly has every right to to flip the main breaker for his apartment off, and even the branch circuit breakers.

>>18538579
Sorry man I'm from canadia, but I woulda helped.

Obviously he can't touch the meter, not even an electrician can do that. Only the city electrical authority can touch the meter.
But that's fine, you can touch your breaker panel. So you should go throw your main breaker, it's probably a 100 or 60 amp breaker.
Go turn it off and it will kill every electrical circuit in your apartment.
Then you wait for any complaints of other stuff not working, anything that isn't working you've been paying for.
I'm willing to bet the whole laundry room will be dead, if the washer and dryer aren't working while your main is thrown then congrats, you've been paying for everybodies laundry, and you should seek compensation.

Also, keep us updated op

>>18538589
I wouldn't tamper with the meter itself I would just make note of the usage.

>>18538591
I take extensive notes about things like this so that's not a problem I also have all my paperwork safe in one spot. Keeping the switches I don't use off is one of my plans. I don't know of any community organizations offhand, but I will look into it. I know about the landlord notice they must give and I have all information found about tenants rights readily available for myself.

>>18538646
>>18538706
I know he is a bunch of things in his "past life" I never jumped to that conclusion, but I did consider it. I'll collect as much as I can.

>>18538677
I'll give that a shot when I get off work. I ran home at lunch to better acquaint myself with the meter and breaker.

>>18538786
That is my first plan as of right now. I'm very interested to see what happens. even if it isn't the wash room it will help me.

Thanks again for the help!

>>18538460
Turn the switch off again then call a lawyer. You're paying for everyone to do laundry.

>>18539060
OP will you report back? I'm really interested in this for some reason.

File: Why.png (42KB, 1280x720px) Image search: [Google]

42KB, 1280x720px

>>18539381
Nice to know I'm not the only one who is oddly intrigued with OP's predicament.

OP here.

Landlord came by while I was checking out the breakerboard and gave me a hard time. He said that tampering with the electric for the whole apartment would break my lease agreement and that if he saw me doing it again he would take steps to have me evicted. I told him that I was only checking the breakers associated with my apartment, and that I would never tamper with my neighbors stuff. He didnt care though, he said if he sees me doing it again that will be the last straw.

What am I supposed to do here? Im pretty sure theres nothing in the lease agreement about touching the breakers to my own damn apartment, can he really get me evicted over this? Part of me thinks hes bluffing and just wants me to stop looking, but Im really not in a good position to move right now. I'd be screwed if I lose my deposit.

>>18539543
Nice try, you almost got away with it too. Lol

OP here, just got home, going to look in the breaker box now

>>18539560

First thing is I'm going to turn the light on in the washroom and play with my switches

>>18539581

Tested it and first flipped the main, noticed the light went out, found the corresponding switch. Now I know which breaker switch controls the light at least. Next I want to see what happens what I unplug everything and check my meter

>>18539604
Took a pic of the available ones. Now comparing the reading to see which may be mine by seeing, hopefully, which is closest to my last reading.

>>18539628
So turned my main switch off and went around to all the sockets in the washroom and tested them to see if any didn't register a current, three didn't. Went back and flipped the main back on and checked them all again. The only one that worked was the one that was powering the light, but it has 4 sockets on it and all are powered by my apartment. Nothing is normally plugged into them, I don't think, so while I'm paying for the washroom light the washroom isn't the culprit. The switch for that room is being turned off though on my breaker. Now I'm going to grab a bite to eat and in the meantime I'm turning off all switches in the breaker with the exception of the fridge to see if anyone complains. I'll keep you guys posted. Any other ideas I can do after dinner?

>>18539581
>>18539604
>>18539628
>>18539662
Thank you for the updates! I don't have any more suggestions for you, but I'm enjoying this progress.

Never been in adv before, I have no idea why but i'm also very interested in how this plays out.

Please keep the updates rolling

>>18539746
>>18539834

Glad to have people interested. So, I'll be heading home shortly and I'm going to check what I assume to be my meter to see if it's changed drastically. Haven't heard any complaints from landlord or other tenants. Hoping to see a noticeable change in it which would lead me in the right direction. I don't know the exact kilowatt hour of a fridge but I'll post the differences to see what you guys think. Stay tuned!

>>18540024
you could've turned off the fridge one, too. The food would be fine for a couple hours if you kept it closed. If the landlord is an electrician, and he's reeaallly trying to pull shit on you, he might have wired the stuff through the switch that you would never turn off, I.E. the fridge.

>>18540197
I know it wouldn't have went bad and I did consider it, but lucky for nothing was wired that way because I only generated one kilowatt hour since I turned off everything but the fridge. Tomorrow morning I will check with only my bedroom and fridge switched on and so on until I find a switch that is consuming more power than the others. This may be a inaccurate testing method because I'm relying on someone uses electricity when I want them too, but I'll hope for the results at least for tonight. This thread will probably be achieved when I get up in a few hours to I'll start a new one. Thanks to all those who helped me thus far. Gunna see this to the end

>>18540284
Good luck

>>18540284
Back, hmm turned only bedroom and fridge on and used 2 kilowatt hours. So it's not the bedroom. I'll be switching off all of the switches except the fridge at lunch. Give the rest of the day to see results

>Active realtor here
For anyone to try and rent their house or apartment out through us we have to get them to get seperate meters for each space.

How it should be is your rent is individual and then communal power use is split among everyone living there.

Stops lawsuits from forming and trust me we had plenty before we had this policy.

>>18538460
your landlord is fucking with you. Confront him and tell him you want him to reimburse you for all your electrical bills. If he refuses, threaten a lawsuit.

>>18538460
>got a call from the Landlord saying to turn my one switch back on it runs the lights in the community laundry room.

Damn son they're fucking you over

>>18538521
>>18538532
That's dumb.

It'll just keep everyone from being able to wash their clothes.

>>18540197
Little too paranoid there brosed

>>18541894
Apparently the local borough just says the buildings are old so doesn't surprise them. Another thing is the landlord charges for washers and dryers, which is not the issues, they claim the coin operation is for getting some electrical back, but found out each electrical socket in the washroom is tied into another persons breaker box so they are paying for the electricity to wash and dry and the coins to do that. Even if the landlord would have tried to cover himself better by saying it was to get some money back for the water, but no they are charging for washer and dryer then making each apartment pay for it.

>>18542085
As of now that light isn't getting flipped back on until an electrician is called in. Still no complaints all day I'm really starting to wonder

>>18542099
gotta think eight steps ahead of sneaky jews I mean landlords

>>18542089
That's the landlords problem. When every single one of his tenants come to him griping about the laundry not working, land lord will fix the wiring.

So far little to no progress, haven't had much time to gather sufficient data or consistent for that matter. I don't want to waste a space on this board by posting minor updates every few hours so I'll continue down this guess and check road and come back with results in a few days. Thanks again for everything guys!!

>>18543821
I'll be looking for your thread if you have to make a new one for updates, this is really interesting and I hope everything works out for you.