So my room mate is a complete disaster. He is on another boat than I am in the Coast Guard so we are always in port at different times. So I have been paying the cable/internet bill which is about 94 bucks a month, after the 150 first month fee.
He is in charge of gas and electric bill. the gas bill is like 2 bucks a month, more when i am home because i actually cook. Gas is used for only the range. Electric heat.
He doesnt respond to my emails asking what the electric bills cost. he told my friend on the boat that it was SOOO MUCH, that he doesnt even want to talk about it. I think that is bs. I dont watch much tv and have the A/C set on 75.
So my question is should I worry about me pay much more then him for my bill when winter is coming. my APT is about 1200 sq feet, so I think it will cost a bunch to heat, considering much of our APT is exposed brick.
The money isnt as much of an issue as the fact that he is a POS and I dont want him to get away with screwing me over.
You might be able to get the utilities to keep the bill in whichever name you want them in but give you both access to the bills online. I think I remember seeing that as an option. Either way I think you have to talk to him and make it clear that you need copies of the bill. Heck, tell him you need it to prove residency for something or another.
I would have to agree with syzgy, you might also be able to view the bill online. If he is trying to screw you over with an electric bill I would suggest a looking into a new roommate. Or dividing up the bills in a different fashion.
You can view the bills online, but will need to set up an account online, for which you will probably need his info. In addition, both gas & electric in Boston offer balanced billing options (which I use myself) which give you the same bill every month throughout the year (based on historical amounts) and at the end they adjust it if you used more or less. It's a good way to budget, and you will know exactly what the bill will be each month! Good luck, the first thing I would do is talk to him...if not, like someone said tell him you need online access to the bills to get a resident parking permit.
So basically, you want to know if the electric bill is reliably equal or greater to the $100 you are paying for internet and cable. With electric heat, I can assure you that he is paying more than $100 a month easy. It will, of course, fluctuate between summer and winter. I'd guess he's paying $50 or so during summer months and upwards of $250 during the winter. If you keep the thermostat at 70 or higher I wouldn't be surprised if he's seen a bill upwards of $500. Electric heat is expensive as ****.
If money isn't a issue, then you should split the overall bill amount strait down the middle or boot him, have more space and pay the bills yourself. Everyone has to contribute, or you could just end up having bad arguments and hating living where you are imo.
Get ready to start shelling out some extra money. Electric heat is very expensive, more so than gas and I daresay oil. We bought a house in May that has gas heat so obviously we didn't use it until the last month when it got cold. Our gas bill jumped from $15 to $75 for the one month. With that in mind, I can only assume that your electric bill is going to be over $100.