Students living at the University View are being charged vastly unequal amounts for utilities in a building that has no way of monitoring an individual apartment’s energy use.
Dozens of interviews with tenants and energy bills obtained by The Diamondback show the View is not following its own policy in charging residents for utilities. View owner Otis Warren noted the formula, outlined in leases, has some kinks, but analyses of students’ bills show widespread discrepancies when most bills should have been about the same.
Students said they were unhappy with the discrepancies in the utility bills, but said the time commitment involved in fighting with management was overwhelming. Still, a scattered group complained, and a few students interviewed said they simply resorted to not paying the bills as a way to “fight back.”
“I don’t understand why [some] people are paying $6, and I’m paying $78,” said Christopher Amerasinghe, a junior economics major. “I do want to live here, but I think what we pay is through the roof. If we’re paying that much rent, I don’t know where it’s going.”When the apartment building was built, Warren had planned to incorporate utilities into tenants’ rents, distributing costs evenly. Though most apartment buildings in the area have individual utility meters, he installed only three in an effort to cut costs because the meters are expensive. The meters were sufficient for the old policy.
But in November, as energy costs rose around the country, the View changed its policy and began charging tenants for utilities in addition to rent – sometimes as much as $1,000 on its own – using a formula based on apartment size.
“For two years we ate the whole thing, but it’s not my fault utilities are going through the ceiling,” Warren said. “There’s always going to be someone who’s not pleased. Wait until they buy a house.”
That’s when the discrepancies started, students say. Residents’ monthly bills have been drastically different from apartment to apartment, and in some cases, from room to room, even though apartments vary less than 30 percent in size. Some students reported no monthly bills, while others said they paid as much as $80 a month. Some students had bills that rose every month, while others had bills that decreased every month.
Starting Aug. 1, the View plans to go back to splitting the cost of the building’s energy consumption evenly among its tenants, but until then, Warren said the current system will remain in place.
This is how the current system works, according to the lease:
n Three meters measure energy use for the entire building.
n Utility companies bill the View directly, which then charges the students.
n The charges are calculated based on the square footage of a student’s room multiplied by a formula.
n The formula is calculated by taking the amount charged to the entire building, then subtracting the percentage of unoccupied space in the building – like hallways and stairwells. A utility credit of $65 to $70 for each resident is also subtracted from each bill.
And yet, the building hasn’t appeared to be following this method. Differences in room sizes couldn’t explain the vast discrepancies students reported in their bills.
Warren said it’s been difficult trying to formulate a fair method for charging the View’s 1,056 tenants with only three energy meters for the entire building. For two buildings he’s planning for College Park, however, he said he’d install individual energy meters.
But given the current situation, Warren said, “We’re trying to be as fair as we can.”
For some students, the utility bills are a small price to pay for a bed. For others, the way they are calculated is hard to fathom.
Andrew Venaglia, a senior accounting major who lives in a four-person apartment in the View, said he and his roommates have gotten utility bills ranging from around $4 to $14.
In November, junior agriculture major Mary McMullen’s three roommates got utility bills for $48 each – but not her. Since then, their bills have dropped into the single digits, she said.
Jessica Light, a sophomore history major, said her first utility bill in November was around $58 for her and her three roommates. Since then, they have gotten bills for $0, $40 and everywhere in between, increasing and decreasing depending on the month.
“It’s a pain,” she said. “I mean, we’re already paying so much to live here and they just smack our apartment with a bill.” Most residents pay close to $1,000 a month in rent.
Amerasinghe has taken his beefs beyond typical complaints and requested a series of bills utility companies sent the View, which showed discrepancies in the formulas used to calculate utilities on Amerasinghe’s bill and the utility bills sent to building management.
For example, the formula used to calculate gas charges in January was almost three times as high on his bill than it was on a utility bill sent to the View from Washington Gas.
The bills are two or three months retroactive, depending on the utility. A November Pepco bill charged to the View shows that one of the three energy meters for the building didn’t collect any data for the month of September – one of the months for which residents were retroactively billed.
“I’m sure they know there’s problems with the way they’re handing out the bills,” said Amerasinghe. “They’re carelessly handing them out. This is probably just another way for them to collect money.”
And yet, despite this utility discrepancy and other complaints of rowdiness, high rents and a sometimes slow-to-respond management staff, the waitlist for next year is already at 351.
Warren took it as a sign of customer satisfaction.
“We have fully occupied buildings and big waitlists,” he said. “People are happy with what they have.”
Although the charges may have been inconsistent, the View’s online ad pitch hasn’t changed.
“Basic utilities included,” it says.
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