Whos to blame?

I have a problem that occurs every year and I havent been able to master a solution, and wondered if anyone could give some feed back on this.

inevitably at least once a year a resident will come to me with a really high power bill and insist that it is one of our appliances that is causing the increase in their power usage. of course I have maintenance check it and they cant find anything wrong, but the tenant insist that we pay the bill and replace the appliance. Now granted if it is on our part that the appliance is defective I will more than gladly rectify the problem and compensate. The power company used to come out for surge checks and they no longer do that due to cut backs everywhere, so how do you know if it really is an appliance or just the tenant using alot of energy. If any has a solution to this I would love to hear it.
Thank you.
Jenn Cove

Rather than looking for blame, why not offer a solution such as splitting the bill with the resident? If it only happens once a year and you can't completely rule out your appliance (even though anyone who has worked onsite knows it aint the appliance causing the high bill). If you fight the resident over one high bill a year what are you gaining? I would say better to admit nothing but agree to split the amount with the resident. Just credit their next months rent by the amount. Done. Then on to your next nuisance.

Jenn-I run into this issue occasionally myself, and being in the North East, electricity is at a premium. An older refrigerator is usually the culprit if it is, in fact, an appliance. A refridgerator is responsible for up to %15 of an electric bill. Have they been running the air conditioning extra cool? Also, big screen tvs, computors and different electronics all on at the same time will spike power usage. Good luck getting a straight story-Bruce

Thank you Laurie,
Actually that is what I did, split the bill and did what I call the placebo effect and traded the A/C unit with a different one. seemed to work and didnt hear anything back so far....

Thank you Bruce.

Whenever someone has a high electric bill, you can do an energy audit. Either the utility company will do it for you, or they can offer instructions on how to perform one.

It's easy to do. I do energy audits regularly and it really uncovers the problem.

Just an example: Years ago I was leasing a house and had very high electric bills. We found that the 220 wiring was shorting the 110 in the breaker box. The box was improperly wired.

It would be a good idea to have a pro do the audit if you don't find an energy-hog appliance in the renter's unit.

Also, high electric bills may indicate a potentially dangerous situation that could result in a fire.