Electricity drama with my apartment

[marina]

Okay, so in order to take this out of the "What fucked up your day?" thread, I created a new thread for this because it just got a little weirder than it already was. So here's the back story, brought over from WFUYD?, cut and re-edited for clarity out of context.

Originally Posted by marina

Last month and this month my electric bill has been 180 dollars, and our usage shows a nearly 300kwh increase from 600 to almost 900kwh a month.

Our unit used to be a 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment but it was split into our 900 sq foot 2 bedroom and two other units. The re-wire was shoddy, I know that for sure because of how many plugs in our house don't work and how we have switches to nothing in both our bedrooms. I wouldn't be surprised if the neighbor is on our same circuit. The usage jumped the same month she moved in. The apartment had been empty the whole time before that.

We don't have heat or AC, we don't have a dishwasher, and we've been turning our computers off every time we leave the house or go to sleep. We shower together and because I abhor hot water, it's usually tepid at best, there's no explanation for this high of a bill.

And here's the update:

This morning I turned off all the breakers except the one that the fridge is on before we left the house.

This afternoon when I got home, every single breaker was back on.

However, all the frozen stuff in my fridge was mushy, my ice was barely cool water.

I can only think that someone complained that they weren't getting power, the maintenance guy came into our house and switched all the breakers back on.

But what I don't understand is why the fridge breaker was turned off. Was it to spite me for fucking up my neighbor's electricity (electricity that I obviously pay for by virtue of my breaker box turning it off) ? Was it not the maintenance guy and whoever flipped them initially was just flipping switches the opposite direction? Of so, was it the maintenance guy who came back in and flipped the fridge back on?

Ether way, this prooves to me that I am paying for my neighbors electricity. I've emailed the apartment manager asking for an explanation.

Do you guys have any experience or advice about this?

I know that it was illegal for anyone to come into our apartment without leaving a work slip behind justifying an emergency.

[jeffdrafttech]

It's easy to fuck with you over email. Go see him in person so he can explain to your face how he's fucking you in the ass.

[jeffdrafttech]

did you check the lease like the other person recommended? Does it say that you are responsible for the entire building?

[marina]

Originally Posted by jeffdrafttech

did you check the lease like the other person recommended? Does it say that you are responsible for the entire building?

No, I haven't checked the lease. I was going to call socal edition and see if that was legal in CA, because the truth is that I don't know where our lease is. I thought that it was in the kitchen drawer, because that's where I put it on moving day when our file cabinet was on the moving truck, but it is not.

We're planning to do the turn all the breakers off trick again this Saturday when we can sit at home and read, and wait and see who comes to fix the breakers.

Also, going down there is a nice idea, but Irvine is 2 hours away in good traffic. If I have to take a personal day to sort this shit out, I will, but I really don't want to have to.

[spooky]

If I had to guess, I would say that nobody is intentionally out to get you, and you should treat the situation like that.

1. Let the new neighbor know the wiring is all messed up. Tell them you flipped off some breakers today trying to sort out where the power problem was, you had no intention of trying to screw them over and hope they will be tolerant in helping you deal with it.

2. Talk to the landlord by phone, and follow up with an email reviewing what was discussed for both your records. I'd say send a physical letter over email, but these days, email probably holds up alright. In all likelihood, they will clear up all your problems.

3. Decide now what sort of situation you want to be in long term with the neighbors and landlord. Demanding reimbursement may be completely within your rights, and you are probably owed that, but will the pursuit of that money be detrimental to your relationships with them? Maybe it is worth it to just let the whole money thing slide as long as the problem is fixed ASAP.

4. Turning on some breakers in your apartment is reasonable when the neighbor's power goes off. Maybe they should have written a note, left a work order, whatever, but is it worth starting trouble over? I'd bet money that flipping off your fridge was an accident.

Think long term, don't get in a huff because you feel like your nest/personal space has been violated, or you just might wind up making your life unnecessarily harder than it needs to be, and over something fairly trivial.

[FreydNot]

Originally Posted by spooky

If I had to guess, I would say that nobody is intentionally out to get you, and you should treat the situation like that.

1. Let the new neighbor know the wiring is all messed up. Tell them you flipped off some breakers today trying to sort out where the power problem was, you had no intention of trying to screw them over and hope they will be tolerant in helping you deal with it.

2. Talk to the landlord by phone, and follow up with an email reviewing what was discussed for both your records. I'd say send a physical letter over email, but these days, email probably holds up alright. In all likelihood, they will clear up all your problems.

3. Decide now what sort of situation you want to be in long term with the neighbors and landlord. Demanding reimbursement may be completely within your rights, and you are probably owed that, but will the pursuit of that money be detrimental to your relationships with them? Maybe it is worth it to just let the whole money thing slide as long as the problem is fixed ASAP.

4. Turning on some breakers in your apartment is reasonable when the neighbor's power goes off. Maybe they should have written a note, left a work order, whatever, but is it worth starting trouble over? I'd bet money that flipping off your fridge was an accident.

Think long term, don't get in a huff because you feel like your nest/personal space has been violated, or you just might wind up making your life unnecessarily harder than it needs to be, and over something fairly trivial.

What have you done with the Real Spooky? Why have you replaced him with this good natured and well intentioned doppelganger? LOL /shrug

Hope you get this worked out Marina. I absolutely hate dealing with landlords and apartment maintenance people. It always works out in the end, but it is always such a hassle. At least I don't have to mow the grass.

[marina]

Originally Posted by spooky

If I had to guess, I would say that nobody is intentionally out to get you, and you should treat the situation like that.

1. Let the new neighbor know the wiring is all messed up. Tell them you flipped off some breakers today trying to sort out where the power problem was, you had no intention of trying to screw them over and hope they will be tolerant in helping you deal with it.

2. Talk to the landlord by phone, and follow up with an email reviewing what was discussed for both your records. I'd say send a physical letter over email, but these days, email probably holds up alright. In all likelihood, they will clear up all your problems.

3. Decide now what sort of situation you want to be in long term with the neighbors and landlord. Demanding reimbursement may be completely within your rights, and you are probably owed that, but will the pursuit of that money be detrimental to your relationships with them? Maybe it is worth it to just let the whole money thing slide as long as the problem is fixed ASAP.

4. Turning on some breakers in your apartment is reasonable when the neighbor's power goes off. Maybe they should have written a note, left a work order, whatever, but is it worth starting trouble over? I'd bet money that flipping off your fridge was an accident.

Think long term, don't get in a huff because you feel like your nest/personal space has been violated, or you just might wind up making your life unnecessarily harder than it needs to be, and over something fairly trivial.

You're right. Being amicable is better than having a shitty relationship with all involved. I wish that I was home enough to even know who my neighbor is. I wish my maintenance guy spoke better english, or that I spoke better spanish so that this would be easier to discuss with him, because he is really nice and he's nice to us.

Also, when we came home from the gym I realized that our fridge and freezer were still painfully warm so it's possible that the same day I decided to test who's on what breaker is the same day our refrigerator broke.

Dr. BF noticed that our temp gauge was turned way down, so we cleared everything out, left the water in the ice trays and we'll check in the morning if it's ice and we accidentally turned the temp down, or if it's water and our fridge is broken.

[spooky]

Originally Posted by FreydNot

What have you done with the Real Spooky? Why have you replaced him with this good natured and well intentioned doppelganger? LOL /shrug

Marina is not a dick.

You get what you give, internet.

[marina]

Originally Posted by spooky

Marina is not a dick.

You get what you give, internet.

Awe. Don't get all mushy on me now.

But seriously, I value your input. I can get really worked up in instances like this where a clear solution is not immediately apparent, and your post calmed me down and reminded me that I have to maintain my cool in order to have a working relationship with my apartment owners and my maintenance guy.

[Rhian]

I totally also agree with Spooky. Going in aggressive an assuming shit is always a fine line with never a good outcome.

If it's happening to you, it's likely happening throughout the building too. And yes, as much as it was wrong (if they in fact did) enter your HOME without your permission or a work order note, putting your foot down, but stating the facts calmy is good.

Thinking of you!