Author: /u/mugsimba

I moved out beginning of June, but paid my lease until end of July since there is a 60 day notice requirement along with a hefty early termination fee ($2500). The apartment manages their own electricity bills (not via Reliant / Gexa / etc).

They sent me the electricity bill of my last month mid June – August to my new address. It was a mindblowing $160 for electricity over 8 DAYS – which is a 50% increase compared to last year’s. My average electricity bill is at $80 for 30 days of full occupancy. I was only at the apartment for 8 DAYS from the beginning of the billing cycle. All my belongings were out of the apartment after those 8 days and I turned off all sources of electricity before I left, so there is no way it’s $160.

I was suspicious and asked them for a metered breakdown. On the bill, it shows that it’s an ESTIMATED amount (since the bill for this particular cycle isn’t generated until September, but they didn’t want to risk old residents not paying). But they want me to pay it all upfront and treat it as if I was occupied for the two months. No refunds if the actual amount came to be less.

$160 for 8 days of occupancy is insane…(they are known for putting on extra charges on residents upon move-out)…on top of a termination fee, two months’ of rent when I wasn’t even there, etc.

Is there anything I can do? Are they legally allowed to impose this fake charge?