High wapa bill

yeah tell the tenant they have to pay anything over, say, $200

I'm gonna have to do something like that cause this is killing me.

We had a tenant with a bill of $1600 last month in a 2 bedroom condo, I guess they will turn off the AC when they leave after that bill.

Now I see what my realtor means about tenants taking advantage of utilities included...

The only way I would include utilities as a landlord would be if there was no AC and no laundry facility for the tenant. Otherwise you're asking for trouble.

I'm often in homes that run AC 24/7 in the whole house. I shudder to think how much they are paying a month.(and sometimes wonder if they are bypassing the meter:-o) And vacation rentals can be the absolute worst. Lights, AC, and fans running full blast with the doors wide open. Coffee pot on all day, blow dryers and curling irons.........I've heard of some whopper WAPA bills.

Last month - 714.00 - month before 709. - this month 669.00. Can't handle much more of this.

How large is your condo?

Sigh. From what I've seen, this is the Stateside mentality, because power is so much cheaper there, so there's little incentive to conserve. They don't think about the consequences of leaving water running or air conditioners on at all hours.

It's a catch 22 for landlords, because if tenants had to pay the entire bill, they'd never rent.

IMO you need to set a reasonable limit and have tenant pay the excess.

We've rented 2 houses since we've lived here and WAPA was not included in either. In the first case, the service was separate and in the owners name. He brought us a copy of the bill and we wrote him a check. In our present house, we went and had the service put directly into our name. If I was an owner, I would definitely adjust the rent and have the tenant responsible for his/her own WAPA.

six of one, half dozen of the other, Makes no difference if you up the rent and cover wapa, or lower the rent and cover their bill. Someone has to pay the bill. Better it is the person who is running the AC and leaving lights on than the poor landlord who just has to take whatever comes and pay it. They will make a quicker association with their usage pattern and what comes out of their checkbook next month, than some gradual up and down of the rent over time. (u know what, gas or grass, no one rides (or runs the AC) for free)

That sounds like my WAPA bill. I have a programmable Tstat in my 2 bedroom condo which is 1700 sq ft if you include closets, bathrooms, and the useless but beautiful foyer that still needs to be cooled. It controls a 5 Ton, 10 SEER central ducted system. It keeps the A/C off all day and runs at 79° from 5-8 pm and 78° at night. One great option if you have conventional ducted A/C is a WIFI stat. It's a programmable stat that you can monitor and control from the internet while you are away. A great tool for vacation rentals. You can override the setpoint when no one is home, or see what stupidness is going on while the tenant is there. These are relatively cheap, too. I strongly recommend using an A/C tech to install it so you don't mess up your equipment.

Some older non-inverter mini splits can be converted to WIFI stats but they're not efficient anyway. All window A/Cs suck energy like crazy and should promptly be recycled and replaced with high efficiency mini splits. And portable units are the worst.

About $100-$150 per ton per month is a ballpark estimate for what to expect to pay for A/C.

shdoug - very helpful info, thanks!

Very helpful indeed, shdoug.

Best,

Islandlola

My bill was lower this past month even though I know we used the ac in the bedroom more. Maybe there was a reading error? It has happened before and it shows up the next month.