When you rent an apartment, it’s important to know what’s included and what extra expenses you’ll have to pay on your own. For example, are utilities included or not?

In this story, the answer to the question about utilities being included is both yes and no.

If you talk to the landlord, the answer is no, but the electric company had a different take on it.

Let’s read the whole story.

To pay the electric bill, your address has to exist

Seven months into my apartment lease, I received a letter from the gas company stating that I needed to set up an account and start paying, else my service would be “interrupted.”

I was very confused—my roommates and I, five people in total—all signed the lease believing all utilities were included.

Our lease stated how we could pay utilities “where applicable” and based on our conversation with the landlord prior to renting, all five of us left the apartment tour interpreting the lease as including utilities.

I truly don’t know whose error that was, but the fact that all five of us believed the same thing makes me think someone on the building side was mistaken (the unit was managed by one firm, owned by another, and I never knew who worked for the landlord and who for the management firm).

They tried to comply.

I sent an email to the landlord asking about this gas notice, and she tells me that utilities were never included and that I must set up gas and also electric accounts.

I set up a gas account, and to my surprise, we’ve been charged no back bills at all. Seven months of free gas.

One of my roommates goes to do the same with electric, but to our surprise, our apartment unit number is not listed on the website.

Our building has six units—101, 102, 201, 202 and so on. But for the third floor, only one drop-down option exists: 3. There is no Unit 3.

I love that the person at the electric company is on their side.

We call the electric company, who tells us that it’s ultimately not our problem. If the landlord didn’t include our unit number in their paperwork to receive building service, we aren’t responsible for her mistake.

The phone rep from the electric company, perhaps in a risky act of broke college student solidarity, advises us to not contact our landlord since we’re not legally required to inform her of her mistake in setting up electric service.

She is probably paying both electric bills for 301 and 302, thinking it’s the hall lights and laundry machines. Not our fault, we just did what we were told.

That worked out well! I guess the utilities are included!

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

Here’s an example of the opposite type of problem.

This doesn’t sound like a very good setup.

Wow! Free power!

At least the landlord was willing to work with this renter on the bill.

The landlord’s mistake is not their problem.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.