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allonsyyy t1_jclcopo wrote

I swore off oil heat after renting a floor of an old, drafty three-family building in around, I want to say, 2008ish? Oil was crazy high, gas was like $4/gallon. I spent over a thousand on a tank of oil and it ran out in less than a month. We kept the house hella cold and used electric space heaters, we weren't cranking the thermostat or anything.

I thought there must be something wrong, maybe the tank is leaking or something, asked the landlord to have it checked out. He sent some maintenance jerk who said nothing was wrong and sent me a $100 bill for the service call. Moved out as soon as my lease was up.

My gas bill to heat my house and water was $138 last month. It's an 80 year old house, but I added insulation and new windows because I maintain my house, unlike slumlords who rent out the same building forever and never do efficiency upgrades cuz fuck it, tenant pays utilities why should they care?

It does seem like it should be illegal. We've got some old-ass housing stock that is owned by people with no monetary incentive to do any energy efficiency anything. There's rebates, tax incentives, financing available to switch to gas. But they can't be bothered, carrot don't work. Get the stick.

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