conversation: User (sonataincminor): "So I've been renting a room at a 4 bedroom house for about 5 months now with my boyfriend. Everything has been pretty good and it's a decent enough price. We always pay our rent and utilities on time. Utilities are about $150-180 a month for my boyfriend and my share. In the past couple months, utilities have been shutting off due to none payment, like electricity, Internet, garbage service, and water. They've never been off for more than a couple hours and get resolved, but I imagine there's something going on with late fees. This month, the head of the house tells my boyfriend and I that our share is $380. I objected and asked to see the bill, and he said he'll show me today when he gets back. He claimed the hot water heater was turned all the way up, and lights were being left on which spiked the electricity bill to $500. I'm a little flustered because the main roomate doesn't have a job and is obviously just living off the other roomates bill money. I knew that our initial utility bills of $150-$180 were high for our share, but wasn't complaining because it's still cheaper than renting a house or apartment on our own. But $380 for utilities sounds ridiculous. I'm going to see the bill today, but I'm assuming this happened because he has been living off the money everyone gives him for bills and pays just enough to keep utilities on. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to handle this situation. My boyfriend and I don't feel like we're responsible for paying late fee penalties for these bills. We always pay our bills on time and this seems like horse crap. We're on a month to month lease so we're definitely considering moving is this is resolved. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.\nIt sucks too, because we really like the guy renting to us. He's very nice otherwise and we're happy living here. It seems foolish on his part to think we're naive enough to believe electricity spiked to $500 for leaving lights on and the hot water heater thing. FYI there is no heating or central ac in the house. Thanks for your time guys."
  Self: "Ask to see not only this bill but to go online and review past bills. Also since you pay on time you should refuse to pay any fees or penalties related to non payment"
  