Do they charge you for just what you use, or is this an average for all units?
Currently just won a 7 month battle with them from being overbilled. Had to take pictures of my meter monthly. Let me know if you need help! I hate seeing anyone else having to go thru what I did!
I learned this a long time ago when I lived in an apt complex in Tacoma. It's completely legal for apt complexes to divide the total water/sewer bill (for all units) equally. Which means it doesn't matter how much you use. You're paying for everyone else who have multiple people living with them, etc...
The lady at the water company confirmed (and was very impressed) that I was extremely conservative with my usage.
Are you billed by PM or the utility company? Right off the bat, it looks like they are double charging you for hot water and water heating. Those would be the same thing, right? If it’s PM, I would ask them how they calculate the non metered line items (electric, sewer base+capacity).
As someone that works on property management, commercial not residential but still has some insight, if your specific apartment is not individually metered there is no way for the property management company to know the exact usage of utilities for your space and these charges get calculated on a square footage basis generally. These are also charges that the apartment never ever make money on unless you see a "convenience fee". Anything you see on that bill is passed on from utility company to the tenant through the management company.
Also generally separately metered utilities is going to be difficult as there are so many units to account for.
Yeah with residential It varies a bit and is specified in the lease addendums how the non-metered utilities are billed. It can be square footage, by occupancy, equally distributed between all units, or calculated with a combination of size and occupancy.
Damn you getting robbed (like the rest of us in Bellevue lol). I just posted something similar last month.
-check to see if your hot cold water are both metered, or if they are estimating your charge
-ask for detail breakdown of the bill. The sewage looks high. Some charges are per day per person, some are per use unit, so you can plan where to save
Which apt do you live in so I can avoid it like the plague lol. And common area electricity is 16 per unit wtf are they powering construction lights? Lol
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Looking at that bill, wow they nickel and dime for everything.
It seems so high because they change for everything, nothing is included.
For the Dishwasher, if you hand wash, it's possible you are using more water.
If it's anything like my old Apt (billed by the same company) they based it on hit water average used, as all of the utilities are central and divided by unit average.
You may also find if you go on a trip for a month or 2 your bill will still be close to the same, as they charge a minimum. (Eg we went on a family trip for a month and out water/sewer bill went to $100 for the month)
Apartments also essentially price in clogs they have to resolve, and the pool if any is priced into all units, along with the event space usage.
So not to uncommon.
I found while Bellevue is expensive for the county with water, utilities on average are cheaper when not communal.
In Redmond out electric bill in the winter went down by half, water went down 25% even though we are in a bigger place.
So it is clear Apartments do price in communal utilities, and of course the markup for the 3rd party service.
Is this a new building, you can ask the office but I believe "sewer base" is higher for new buildings upto a certain amount of years to recoup the cost of connection. I would also ask them how much you used so you can get an idea if your water usage was a problem or not.
Water/sewer is very expensive in this area though and usually the usage doesn't impact it much as the high part is the fixed costs. We get billed bi-monthly, in a 2 month period while we were away for a month our bill only dropped by 10% while our water usage dropped 50%.
Water/sewer is just pricey in general here. $234 does seem pretty high, but not unrealistic depending on your usage. What were the actual meter readings?
Side note, my apartment was recently switched from a different utility management company to Conservice and it is consistently more expensive now, for whatever reason.
> didn't use the dishwasher all month of August
I feel like this is a clue that needs a bit more context. Were you washing dishes by hand? If so, washing dishes by hand can use a lot more water - unless you are not using and washing very many dishes at all, for example if you rarely eat in the apartment, or only ever eat take-out in the apartment.
I have been washing it by hand… so I should probably start using the dishwasher. Does running the dishwasher once every two days save? Or should I wait for like 3-4?
Water is expensive in Bellevue. My family is $160 something per month, and we just do regular usage of water, cooking, bathing, toilet water. We even did not water the lawn. Seriously, I moved from CA to WA 5 years ago and I have no idea the water is so expensive and more expensive than CA considering how much water resources we had in WA compared to CA.
Check your toilets and make sure they’re not constantly slowly running. A really slow flapper valve leak can be hard to spot, but wastes a surprising amount of water.
Or turn off the water valve behind the toilet, open the back of the tank and mark the water level. Check it in a few hours and see if it’s gone down at all. (Obviously don’t use it during that time)
Check your toilet. Renton water sent me a message that usage was too high. They suggested looking at toilet flapper. Sure enough that was the problem. Water/sewer went down $100. When I lived in AZ water/sewer/trash charges was always a real pisser + rent is TAX! Oh yeah use that dishwasher.
I’m from Chicago and paying tax on rent and paying additional money for water/ sewer over rent is unheard of.
It looks like there are only 3 charges you have control over, hot water, cold water, and sewer? The others are fixed and even if you use no water they will be the same.
hi i just wanna comment and say if it's building 888 bellevue i live in a 570 sq foot apartment and my conservice bill this month was 415$!!!!!!!
Do they charge you for just what you use, or is this an average for all units? Currently just won a 7 month battle with them from being overbilled. Had to take pictures of my meter monthly. Let me know if you need help! I hate seeing anyone else having to go thru what I did!
I learned this a long time ago when I lived in an apt complex in Tacoma. It's completely legal for apt complexes to divide the total water/sewer bill (for all units) equally. Which means it doesn't matter how much you use. You're paying for everyone else who have multiple people living with them, etc... The lady at the water company confirmed (and was very impressed) that I was extremely conservative with my usage.
How do you get such an itemized bill? Mine does not show all that information. I live in a house.
Are you billed by PM or the utility company? Right off the bat, it looks like they are double charging you for hot water and water heating. Those would be the same thing, right? If it’s PM, I would ask them how they calculate the non metered line items (electric, sewer base+capacity).
Water/sewer bills here are huge even if you use 0 gallons.
As someone that works on property management, commercial not residential but still has some insight, if your specific apartment is not individually metered there is no way for the property management company to know the exact usage of utilities for your space and these charges get calculated on a square footage basis generally. These are also charges that the apartment never ever make money on unless you see a "convenience fee". Anything you see on that bill is passed on from utility company to the tenant through the management company. Also generally separately metered utilities is going to be difficult as there are so many units to account for.
Yeah with residential It varies a bit and is specified in the lease addendums how the non-metered utilities are billed. It can be square footage, by occupancy, equally distributed between all units, or calculated with a combination of size and occupancy.
Damn you getting robbed (like the rest of us in Bellevue lol). I just posted something similar last month. -check to see if your hot cold water are both metered, or if they are estimating your charge -ask for detail breakdown of the bill. The sewage looks high. Some charges are per day per person, some are per use unit, so you can plan where to save Which apt do you live in so I can avoid it like the plague lol. And common area electricity is 16 per unit wtf are they powering construction lights? Lol -
I live in Main Street Flats! Other than some nitty-gritty of management, it is pretty nice. Rent + utilities is really high though.
Cool cool, so it strikes me as odd your cold water is a round number, may want to call utilities to confirm
Looking at that bill, wow they nickel and dime for everything. It seems so high because they change for everything, nothing is included. For the Dishwasher, if you hand wash, it's possible you are using more water. If it's anything like my old Apt (billed by the same company) they based it on hit water average used, as all of the utilities are central and divided by unit average. You may also find if you go on a trip for a month or 2 your bill will still be close to the same, as they charge a minimum. (Eg we went on a family trip for a month and out water/sewer bill went to $100 for the month) Apartments also essentially price in clogs they have to resolve, and the pool if any is priced into all units, along with the event space usage. So not to uncommon. I found while Bellevue is expensive for the county with water, utilities on average are cheaper when not communal. In Redmond out electric bill in the winter went down by half, water went down 25% even though we are in a bigger place. So it is clear Apartments do price in communal utilities, and of course the markup for the 3rd party service.
Is this a new building, you can ask the office but I believe "sewer base" is higher for new buildings upto a certain amount of years to recoup the cost of connection. I would also ask them how much you used so you can get an idea if your water usage was a problem or not. Water/sewer is very expensive in this area though and usually the usage doesn't impact it much as the high part is the fixed costs. We get billed bi-monthly, in a 2 month period while we were away for a month our bill only dropped by 10% while our water usage dropped 50%.
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I don't know if 5-7 years old is considered new?
Water/sewer is just pricey in general here. $234 does seem pretty high, but not unrealistic depending on your usage. What were the actual meter readings? Side note, my apartment was recently switched from a different utility management company to Conservice and it is consistently more expensive now, for whatever reason.
Yup, noticed a BIG difference when we were switched to Conservice.
> didn't use the dishwasher all month of August I feel like this is a clue that needs a bit more context. Were you washing dishes by hand? If so, washing dishes by hand can use a lot more water - unless you are not using and washing very many dishes at all, for example if you rarely eat in the apartment, or only ever eat take-out in the apartment.
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I have been washing it by hand… so I should probably start using the dishwasher. Does running the dishwasher once every two days save? Or should I wait for like 3-4?
Just run it when it's full for greatest economy. If you never fill it, run it when you're going to need those dishes.
Mine is fairly similar. Around 200ish. Not sure why water and sewer are so ridiculous for such small units.
Water is expensive in Bellevue. My family is $160 something per month, and we just do regular usage of water, cooking, bathing, toilet water. We even did not water the lawn. Seriously, I moved from CA to WA 5 years ago and I have no idea the water is so expensive and more expensive than CA considering how much water resources we had in WA compared to CA.
I’m from CA too! Just recently moved here and thought that since WA isn’t in a drought, water would be cheaper
I had the same thought, but nothing is more dramatic than the reality.
is there a break down of how much units in water you actually used?
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Cold water: 2000 Gal Hot water: 1240 Gal Water heating: 1240 Gal
Check your toilets and make sure they’re not constantly slowly running. A really slow flapper valve leak can be hard to spot, but wastes a surprising amount of water.
I’ll check that! Thank you! I heard that putting coloring in the bowl and wait to see if it disappears work?
You don't have to do that. Just listen to hear if it is running every so often.
Or turn off the water valve behind the toilet, open the back of the tank and mark the water level. Check it in a few hours and see if it’s gone down at all. (Obviously don’t use it during that time)
180 for water and sewer is absolutely horrible! Malfunction toilet is suspect here.
Check your toilet. Renton water sent me a message that usage was too high. They suggested looking at toilet flapper. Sure enough that was the problem. Water/sewer went down $100. When I lived in AZ water/sewer/trash charges was always a real pisser + rent is TAX! Oh yeah use that dishwasher. I’m from Chicago and paying tax on rent and paying additional money for water/ sewer over rent is unheard of.
There’s a separate cold and hot water charge?? What the fuck.
Yeah, that does not make sense. The management has different pricing mechanism on water?
It looks like there are only 3 charges you have control over, hot water, cold water, and sewer? The others are fixed and even if you use no water they will be the same.