My roommate likes to set the thermostat at 68-70 in the summer, in the hottest month, in the hottest part of the country, meaning our AC gets extremely overworked.
Our bills are so high. And the worst part is this: I went home all summer, and thought she did too. I noticed the electric bills were enormous and way higher than they ever were so I drove over to check on the AC and turns out she never went home and stayed all summer. And she never mentioned this to me or offered to pay the whole electric bill.
When I suggested maybe something was wrong w the thermostat bc our bills are so high, she said she would get them to come look at it, but the bills stayed really high.
Now this wouldn’t be as annoying to me but there’s also this: last year, she moved in a week after me and I waved her bill and paid for both of us for a MONTH, even tho I was alone for only a WEEK.
She was alone for three months and turns out she was setting the thermostat on 68-70 AND THEN LEAVING ALL DAY. from 6am-8pm she went to work everyday working with training camp. And our thermostat worked harder. she also leaves lights on when not home, but I just gotta take it one thing at a time. She was completely silent and never offered. Even though I set a precedent of offering when i paid for her and paid 3/4 weeks extra than I needed to.
I just paid hundreds and hundreds of dollars for her to cool off our furniture while I was away all summer and she was home only at night.
The bill is in my name and when I forwarded it to her last time, I mentioned that if she would like to overwork the thermostat when home alone for months or not home at all and at work, then she can pay the whole bill. I put it very clearly where she could read it and she ignored it.
I just moved back this week, and she still goes back and changes the thermostat to 68-70 every time I change it to 73-75, which is still pretty low considering its 90+ outside and our thermostat is compensating hard.
The obvious option of talking to her doesn’t seem to work. She’s either just spoiled/careless or she’s intentionally being rude. Other than that, I’ve considered buying her a bunch of fans and telling her they use less energy than overworking the thermostat.
I know this is a common debate so I’m hoping anyone has any advice or experience with this. Should I just suck it up and keep paying hundreds for no reason? What was the solution in your case (if you went through this)?