After some investigation into their condo association's energy setup, one owner took to Reddit for guidance about their outrageously high bills.
"Our HOA charges us electricity monthly," said the original poster. "However, they are only providing the KWH and a bill. No information or breakdown."
According to the original poster, there was something fishy about the totals they were seeing. "My neighbor and I have been doing some digging," they said. "They won't show us the meters or readings, and the charges seem outrageously high. Our electric is through the electric company owned by the developer but billed via our HOA."
According to what the original poster could find out, their bills ought to have been reasonably low. "They said we are using solar panels in the day with a solar company (conveniently owned by the developer) and getting charged at night via the state's electric company."
In most cases, solar power is an affordable option, including community solar. It's an ideal solution for a condo, where the owner may not have control over the roof to install solar panels of their own, and it also works for renters who don't own their homes.
In this case, though, the developer and the HOA didn't seem to be passing on the savings to the individual condo owners.
Commenters were concerned that the original poster wasn't being fairly charged for their power usage. "Not only does this situation sound suspicious, but are you sure that the meter that is being read for your home is actually yours and the same meter each time?" asked one user.
"Not being forward with how much energy is being used and what the meters say is leaving a lot of opportunity for fraud. … If it were me, I'd call the state public utilities commission or city/county building inspector/code enforcement and ask them if this violates a building (or other) code."
In a reply, the original poster clarified, "I did call the county electric's line and they said I have to call my association. They are apparently all sub-metered and we have our own meters. They won't let us in the electrical room to look, though."
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One option when dealing with an unreasonable HOA or condo association is to work with the system to change the rules. You can check out a simple guide to this process here.
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