Imagine renting an apartment, and your power goes out. If the electric bill were in your name, would you call the landlord or the electric company?

In this story, one renter is in this exact situation, and he calls both. However, it’s still a hassle getting the problem solved. Keep reading for all the details.

Landlord “can’t” talk to the electric company directly.

I lived in a one bedroom rental unit, where I had to open my own account with the electric company (EC) directly.

No big deal, until my circuit breaker went and I had no power in the middle of snowy winter.

Landlord said they couldn’t talk to the EC directly since the account was in my name.

Fine, so I call EC and they schedule to come out, arrive and tell me that since its a rental unit they can’t do anything without some info from the landlord.

He had to get this problem fixed!

EC leaves and I spend the next few days freezing and going around and around on the phone, each telling me they can’t do anything until the other takes action, but neither is willing to speak to the other directly.

So I get them on a three way call and individually confirm with each they will only speak to me, but neither can move forward.

EC speaks to me, and tells me what info they need from landlord.

Landlord was right there on the call hearing them speak, but before they could reply I relayed the message verbatim to the landlord.

It was getting pretty ridiculous.

He replies with annoyance and I repeat his words to the EC.

Finally EC has a good laugh and agrees to speak to landlord directly while I’m on the line.

I had power back within two hours after the call.

I do not miss renting instead of owning.

That sounds really frustrating! I’m glad he eventually got the EC and landlord to speak to each other while they were all on the phone together.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person can relate to this situation.

Another person points blame at the landlord.

It really is ridiculous.

Here’s a story from years ago.

At least he finally got the power back on.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.