Post: Utility Bill includes other tenants

Posted by Eric on 7/01/08

We live in a house with an upstairs and downstairs section.
We live in the downstairs section which includes a basement
with meter and breakers. Upstairs is not allowed into the
basement area as per lease agreement. However we were
unaware that there is only 1 meter in the whole house, and
we're "stuck" with paying outrageous electric bills which
includes upstairs tenants use of electric.

in lease:
10. UTILITIES. Tenant shall be responsible for arranging
for and paying
for all utility services required on the Premises. It is
understood by the
above mentioned tenant that there is one set of utilities
for the entire
home, thus this above signed tenant is responsible for
paying for all
utilities of the home.

Our primary concerns are extensive usage that may drive us
to not being able to afford the electric bills at all, which
would shut off the electricity in the house anyway.

question:
Are we legally allowed to collect half the bill from
upstairs, and upon refusal turn off the breakers for
upstairs until we get paid half the bill?

Posts on this thread, including this one

Utility Bill includes other tenants, 7/01/08, by Eric.