Honey, it's cold outside...

So I've found out what is wrong with my electric bill. I'm essentially paying to heat the entire home. I'm sorry, I didn't sign up for that. Let me break it down.

The furnace in my apartment is hooked up to my electric meter. Ok, fine, that makes sense. Because it is a heat pump, there is a fan out back. Just one fan. According to several HVAC guys I spoke with, one outside unit means there is only one furnace/heat pump for the ENTIRE house. This make sense.

What does not make sense is that my apartment is never really warm. I know I'm a habitually cold person, and I know that basements are cooler than the rest of the house- that's just a fact. But there is no reason why if I set my thermostat to 70 degrees, why my small one bedroom apartment does NOT get warm. I am in sweats all the time, not for comfort but for warmth.

It gets better.

Last week was probably the coldest week all winter here in DC. There were two consecutive days where the temperature high did not break 20 degrees during the day. Think of how cold this is at night. The first night, I was so cold, I slept with 4 hand warmers. It was the only way I could get warm enough to even fall asleep. The next night, Dave came down and spent the night with me. Understandably, he doubted it was really that cold in my place, but boy was he proven wrong. There is a breeze coming through my bedroom windows. A very cold breeze. There is also no heat blowing out of my two vents. This disturbed me no end. Now, at this point you're probably wondering, why didn't I just turn up the heat? Forget the electric bill, I'm cold! Well, I did. I had that thermostat turned up to 80 degrees!! My apartment stayed cold enough that the cup of ice water I had before I fell asleep still had some ice in it when I woke up.

I emailed my landlord because of course she wasn't answering the phone.

They've been in ITALY all week. That explains everything and then some.

While I'm paying to heat their entire home, the thermostat in their portion is the main thermostat. What this means is, when they set it for a particular temperature once the heat pump hits that temperature, it goes off REGARDLESS of what my thermostat is set to. So, if they were out of the country last week, then they set their thermostat very low if not off. Hence me not having heat. It was just my luck that it was so cold while they were gone.

I called the DC government re: landlord and tenant issues. I have a home inspection coming up this week. It's possible that my landlords will be faced with a $1000 fine. When the DC worker informed me of that, I simply told her that at this point, that's really not my problem. These are issues you have to worry about as a landlord. If it had been done properly from the get go, they wouldn't have to worry about such a big fine.

My landlord's response to my email about not having heat last week: "Are you sure you're not running the AC? Let me know what time is best for you and I will come down and look at it after we get back from Italy."

I am at a loss for words. The fact that they have been so uncooperative with me while I fight with Pepco about my electric bill, haven't fixed the beeping smoke detector in my apartment (it's wired to the house, I've replaced the battery multiple times in case you were wondering) even though I've told her EVERY time we've spoken face to face, simply makes me angry. I'm determined to have them refund the money I have paid to Pepco to heat their house and to have them take over my account (since essentially, it's theirs) AND to fix the issues with the heating in my apartment. But to treat me like I'm stupid?! That's completely uncalled for. I've been unable to decide if they were really just clueless or, as a coworker recently put it, conveniently clueless. But that one email made my decision. They're not clueless. They like that I pay for the electric and if I complain about it then they have to do something about it. If they act like they didn't know or I'm the one in the wrong, then they'll have more leeway with me. Well, I'm sorry. That kind of shit just doesn't fly with me.

Otherwise I like the place. Funny how that happens.

I'm staying with Dave until this all gets figured out. But I turned off the heat. My meter isn't running like a turntable anymore. You don't know how much satisfaction that gives me at this point. Plus, I have a nice space heater coming this week. That means that the heat pump will remain off for the rest of the winter. UNLESS they take over my electric bill. Ha!