Why I can’t shower

I’m in a dispute with my landlord and the gas company. Unbeknownst to me [and every other tenant of my apartment that I've been in contact with], we’re supposed to be paying for the hot water and the cooking gas. We have to pay for heat, but because there’s only one gas line coming into the building, the gas company bills my landlord and they split it up evenly amongst the 6 units in my building.

It was my understanding, and I based this on what the previous tenants told me when I moved in, that the cooking gas and hot water was taken care of by the landlord during the summer months because of the inequity of having all apartments pay equally for the gas heat in the winter. [My apartment is much smaller than other apartments and there's actually times during the winter that we have the heat off, but we pay the exact same amount for heat as the large and spacious apartment next door that cranks there heat up ungodly warm.]

The tenant previous to me lived there for almost four years and never saw a gas bill. His roommate had lived there for six-ish years before that, and never saw a gas bill. I’ve lived there for 15 months now, and never saw a gas bill.

Last Thursday, the gas company came and shut off my gas and removed the meter. I can’t cook; I can’t take a shower; I can’t wash dishes. My landlord tells me its my responsibility to pay it, which I can totally buy and would have no problem doing if I had been informed of it and if any of the tenants in the last four years had been informed of it.

On Friday, I called my landlord to get things sorted out. That’s when I discovered this tangled web of misinformation. By the time it was definitely concluded [on their part] that it was my responsibility and they gave me the gas company’s phone number, their customer service center had closed. This means I’ve had to walk 15 minutes every morning to work so I can take a shower. I’ve spent more than what my gas bill will likely be in the summer on restaurant food this weekend because I have no other choice.

This morning I called up the gas company to figure out how much they think I owe and when I can get my service restored. They have no record of my apartment and have no record of a shut-off occurring on Thursday anywhere near my building. Ball bounces back into my landlord’s court, because they assured me on Friday that al I’d have to do is call the gas company up and they’d have all the information right there and I’d be good to go.

Its now the end of the working day on Monday and I’m nowhere near getting the ability to shower in my own apartment back. I have to bring a copy of my lease to my landlord tomorrow morning because they have no record of it, so they can’t prove that I’ve lived there for only 15 months. Then they can go back to the gas company and hopefully make some headway.

Lesson learned from all of this: only rent apartments where all utilities are included.

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