For All You Problem Solver & Number People

[blandino]

Trying to simplify this as much as possible. We rent a seperate house for the daycare. Our landlord's daughter runs her business (a doggy daycare and grooming shop) in a seperate building right next door. We were aware of this upon moving in.

Of you can imagine the set-up, two buildings with a fenced in yard in between them (that is the yard of the doggy daycare). The house we rent has the garage on the side of the house, so the garage is next to the doggy yard. We do not rent the garage space from our landlord. It was converted into extra kenneling before we moved in, so the doggy daycare uses it for "overflow", when she needs some extra kennels. We knew this upon moving in.

Well, the overflow room is being used regularly. Which is slightly different than we understood, but not a problem. The issue is the air conditioning.

Her shop is on a different electric bill than ours, however the garage are is on our account. Today we went in there and she has two window unit air-conditioners running (and probably runs them 24/7). Clearly we do not want to pay for two AC units running all day. When we first discussed it, she said she would pay a percentage of the bill that correlates with the percentage of the oral square footage. Which isn't really fair/accurate. She runs those AC units 24/7, we are only at the daycare M-F, 7-5:30, and we don't run our AC constantly while there (we are very energy efficient as a general rule). So that calculation isn't accurate at all, right ?

We are very worried that the electric bill will be sky high. So my solution was to go over on a weekend. Turn the window units off. Put our AC on, and a typical amount of lights and appliances. And watch the meter for an hour. Then multiply that by the cost per Kwh, and figure it at 53.5 hours a week and that will be our part of the bill.

I had thought about, leaving only her window units on and watching the meter, but then I don't want it to become an argument over how many hours she ran them each week/month.


Does my solution sound fair ? Is there any other way that sounds good to you ? I have seen some of you with excellent problem solving math skills, and I would LOVE your input.

[Unregistered]

Trying to simplify this as much as possible. We rent a seperate house for the daycare. Our landlord's daughter runs her business (a doggy daycare and grooming shop) in a seperate building right next door. We were aware of this upon moving in.

Of you can imagine the set-up, two buildings with a fenced in yard in between them (that is the yard of the doggy daycare). The house we rent has the garage on the side of the house, so the garage is next to the doggy yard. We do not rent the garage space from our landlord. It was converted into extra kenneling before we moved in, so the doggy daycare uses it for "overflow", when she needs some extra kennels. We knew this upon moving in.

Well, the overflow room is being used regularly. Which is slightly different than we understood, but not a problem. The issue is the air conditioning.

Her shop is on a different electric bill than ours, however the garage are is on our account. Today we went in there and she has two window unit air-conditioners running (and probably runs them 24/7). Clearly we do not want to pay for two AC units running all day. When we first discussed it, she said she would pay a percentage of the bill that correlates with the percentage of the oral square footage. Which isn't really fair/accurate. She runs those AC units 24/7, we are only at the daycare M-F, 7-5:30, and we don't run our AC constantly while there (we are very energy efficient as a general rule). So that calculation isn't accurate at all, right ?

We are very worried that the electric bill will be sky high. So my solution was to go over on a weekend. Turn the window units off. Put our AC on, and a typical amount of lights and appliances. And watch the meter for an hour. Then multiply that by the cost per Kwh, and figure it at 53.5 hours a week and that will be our part of the bill.

I had thought about, leaving only her window units on and watching the meter, but then I don't want it to become an argument over how many hours she ran them each week/month.


Does my solution sound fair ? Is there any other way that sounds good to you ? I have seen some of you with excellent problem solving math skills, and I would LOVE your input.

IDK about the #'s, but a possible solution is that she can put the window unit on Auto/ "energy saver" and "low" if there is an option. This way the a/c will only kick on when it needs to and not run 24/7 like how I set mine up. Mine does have a setting for Auto/energy saver and "low" and I believe my old one (different brand) did too. I am sure there is something like this so that she can conserve the energy and lower that bill.

[Cradle2crayons]

I'd think the easiest way to do it is to actually go over there on a Friday afternoon after you cut everything off on your side for the weekend.... And document what the meter is.. Then return in exactly 24 hours and see what it is and subtract. That amount is how much she uses in 24 hours without your usage. Then keep up with how many kwh she's using in a month... In your bill gives the current $ per kwh... And multiply that to find HER amount she should be paying. Your usage is completely going to be different than the usage of her two window units.

Every window unit is different and its easier to calculate HER usage compared to yours because hers should be pretty constant. And yours depends on more factors.

That's what I'd do. It doesn't matter if it ticks them off or not. The only ACCURATE way to see what HER side is using is to actually document her usage per 24 hours while running those two units.

[MamaBearCanada]

Could you tell the landlord that for tax reasons (if audited about deductions etc) you need the garage to be moved onto her meter. It shouldn't be that hard to do.

[countrymom]

I would do what the above poster said. Turn everything off, and then 24 hours later turn it back on. Also, can you put the garage on a timer.

[daycare]

Our electric company offers a smart meter. I can log onto the website and see everything in regards to my eletric usage.

I would call and ask your electric company if they have that option. Here in my county the smart meters were put in and are required by the electric company.

[Mister Sir Husband]

The electric company should very easily be able to move the lines that power the garage from your meter to theirs. If if takes them half an hour I would be suprised. If if were me I would even pay for it. For what it could cost for the air conditioning of the dogs, you would prolly have the expense back in your favor within a couple months, your bill will be only what you actually use, and it would avoid any chance of having problems with the people next door over this

[DaycareMom2012]

Do your bills fluctuate or run about the same? I would look over my bills prior to what it was b4 they started using it and compare to what it is with them using it and make them pay the difference.

[blandino]

Do your bills fluctuate or run about the same? I would look over my bills prior to what it was b4 they started using it and compare to what it is with them using it and make them pay the difference.

See the problem is, we have only been there since January - so we don't have an accurate estimation of what our electric bill looks like while running the AC.

[DaycareMom2012]

See the problem is, we have only been there since January - so we don't have an accurate estimation of what our electric bill looks like while running the AC.

I see...well that ****s! I would for sure talk to the landlord about the issue, no reason you should have to pay for someone else's usage. It should be something the landlord needs to rectify. Those units can be very costly especially being on that much. I have central heat & air in my home, but my daycare room is a garage converted to a room and has one of those window units and even using it a few hours on energy saver makes a difference in our bill.

[Cradle2crayons]

See the problem is, we have only been there since January - so we don't have an accurate estimation of what our electric bill looks like while running the AC.

That's why the only way to find out what THEIR part of the bill is.... Is to run their ad units for 24 hours while shutting off all power to your side... And to show your landlord how much power they are REALLY using. Using your last bills amount per kwh x what they use will show the landlord how much you are paying for THEIR power.

[blandino]

That's why the only way to find out what THEIR part of the bill is.... Is to run their ad units for 24 hours while shutting off all power to your side... And to show your landlord how much power they are REALLY using. Using your last bills amount per kwh x what they use will show the landlord how much you are paying for THEIR power.

I think we will do that this weekend.

My only worry with that, is we could get into dividing up which days she had it on vs not. But truthfully in this heat I can't imagine NOT running them.

[NeedaVaca]

My vote would be move the garage to their meter. Then there will be no issue or arguments over anything, completely straightforward! If it's not heated then I assume they use some space heaters in the winter so you would have to keep re-figuring usage all the time...

[MyAngels]

The electric company should very easily be able to move the lines that power the garage from your meter to theirs. If if takes them half an hour I would be suprised. If if were me I would even pay for it. For what it could cost for the air conditioning of the dogs, you would prolly have the expense back in your favor within a couple months, your bill will be only what you actually use, and it would avoid any chance of having problems with the people next door over this

It shouldn't cost much to do this, and by all rights the landlord should pay for it anyway.

[lizzardb85]

Could you suggest extension cords from her house? As the year goes on and temperature changes her and your use would be expected to change. Making any calculations difficult.

Additionally, moving the lines can seem very drastic to some people. I'm actually not sure if the power company would do it considering they are most likely two different parcels of land that happen to be owned by the same person. They may add another meter for just the garage but it would involve rewriting a new electrical box in either case.