Landlord has shared utility hooked up to my electric: anyone have experience with this?

Submitted by ModalEclipse t3_z6jv45 in philadelphia

I live in an old rowhome with several apartment units. There's a breaker box in my apartment, and it has a breaker that is connected to my fridge, convection oven, and microwave and some lights. I was running all these things earlier, along with a dryer in a shared laundry room. The circuit overloaded, and the dryer stopped as well.

I checked all the meters. There's one for each unit and one labeled for the basement. I switched the basement one off and the washer turned off, but the dryer and some lights are connected to a breaker in my apartment.

Is there any way this is not metered to my apartment? My meter read is 40% higher than the second highest tenant's, and the basement meter read was pretty low.

Where do I go from here, after bringing it up to my landlord?

EDIT: PECO is coming out to investigate. For anyone reading this later on, they hold the charges on your account for 30 days while they conduct the investigation. Thank you all.

26

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

tempmike t1_iy20utt wrote

> My meter read is 40% higher than the second highest tenant's, and the basement meter read was pretty low.

The numbers shown on the meter aren't really a good way to tell the whole story, and even if you have the historical use its still not a clear case

But, you are right that there's no way you aren't being metered for the dryer (and whatever else is going through your breaker box)... though I wouldn't be surprised if the washer isn't going through another unit and your landlord (or a previous owner or some contractor) just figured this was an easy "solution" on how to split shared utilities. And it might actually be legal. From what I recall (IANAL, btw) things like heating and lighting of common areas has to be covered by the landlord, but I'm not sure that extends to how shared laundry facilities work.

First step is reread your lease and figure out what it says about the laundry and utility costs. You could be setting yourself up to have the laundry removed if the landlord figures thats now the easiest solution. Though maybe they're not an asshole and its an honest mistake they weren't aware of.

also: check out https://www.phillytenant.org/ they probably know the most for people giving out free advise

12

skip_tracer t1_iy1yf5f wrote

different context but I do have experience with this. I'd call PECO first, and ask if they can come out and check your box to see if it's properly set up. In 2012 I had them come out only to find that the water heater to the upstairs unit where I lived was hooked up to my breakers. In the roughly 7 years I had lived there they estimated I paid anywhere from 5k-7k extra in electric costs because of that.

8

stuff_like_that t1_iy3kkpz wrote

Call peco and say you need an investigation into "a foreign wire", explain your circumstance. They actually take this quite seriously and will send someone out ASAP. If it is found to be mis-wired they will switch your bill into the landlords name until it is fixed and re-inspected.

Happened to me with a POS landlord a few years back.

8

WeNeedElon t1_iy1x3x5 wrote

Speak with a lawyer if you don't get compensation you are satisfied with from the landlord. Sounds like you could have been paying for everyones laundry for a while.

5

cemego t1_iy2fsmn wrote

I've had this happen with a greasy philly landlord. Call Peco and explain it to them. They will come out and inspect it, and then your landlord will have to compensate you.

3

roobinsteen t1_iy4tr1f wrote

You have a single breaker that serves a fridge, microwave oven, a convection oven (I assume it's a gas oven, so the electric is just for igniter/display), and some lights? That's a whole lot for a single breaker. Even just a fridge and a microwave together are nearing the threshold for a 15A circuit. I also assume the dryer is a GAS dryer, right?

3

LFKhael t1_iy4u1ao wrote

Oh man, houses were wired terribly for 50+ years.

My parents' kitchen, dining room, and garage all operate on one breaker.

We found out using the microwave and plugging in an electric stovetop in the garage for a party.

2

ModalEclipse OP t1_iy4wmby wrote

The convection oven is a standalone appliance, like an air fryer.

These are all plugged into different outlets as well. Not sure if the dryer is gas... but yes, this place is wired poorly.

1

roobinsteen t1_iy5j1i4 wrote

Must be a gas dryer, because electric dryers use 240V outlets--there's no way it could be shared with 120V lights and outlets. Either way, there's just way too much on a single circuit. Those countertop convection ovens are using like 10-12 amps I imagine, so you really can't use that at the same time as anything else on the same circuit besides lights, etc.

1

defusted t1_iy3w312 wrote

Call peco and see if they can send someone out to evaluate.

1