“I move that my roommate stop cranking the thermostat to 78 and billing me half of a $180 winter power bill”
Let the record show that on the day I moved in, we agreed by handshake to keep the thermostat at 68 degrees; per Exhibit A, a photo of the smart thermostat app, my roommate has overridden this to 78 degrees on nineteen (19) separate occasions since November. I move that the tropical climate she cultivates in our shared apartment is a solo hobby, not a shared expense. Yet when the power bill arrived at $180 — up from a $96 average — she Venmo-requested me exactly half, $90, at 11:47 PM, with the memo 'utilities babe.' I sleep in a single room, in a hoodie, with a space heater I purchased myself. I did not consent to funding a rainforest. Let the record further show that she keeps the app locked behind her fingerprint so I cannot even see the schedule.
Okay this is INSANE. First of all I run COLD, always have, and 68 degrees is not a temperature it is a PUNISHMENT! I have a circulation thing! Second — the bill is SPLIT because we SHARE the apartment, that is what SPLITTING means?? 🙄 She acts like I'm running a spa but I set it to 78 in the MORNING and turn it DOWN at night, she just never checks. And can we talk about that so-called space heater? It's a 1500 WATT monster she runs ALL night in her room and never once offered to cover! The PRINCIPLE here is that she wants a cold apartment she doesn't pay extra for and a warm room she thinks is free. Pick one!!
Let the record reflect that the defendant's 1500-watt allegation is precisely my point; my space heater warms one room, mine, at my expense, while her 78-degree setting heats a two-bedroom unit including an empty living room from 7 AM to 5 PM while we are both at work. I do not contest splitting a baseline bill; I contest subsidizing an $84 overage caused unilaterally. I move for a metered solution. Also, 'utilities babe' is not a binding contract.
Fine! Put a SCHEDULE on it, I don't care! But when she's shivering in April and asks me to bump it up 'just this once' I want that in the RECORD too. I'm not a villain, I'm just a person who wants to feel her FINGERS! The bill is shared because the LIFE is shared. That's it. That's the whole thing 😤
Bill split by actual room usage, thermostat capped at 70, and $84 of the overage refunded to me.
Who's right?
Jury deliberation
- JUROR #122 · 2D AGO
Note this is a repeat offense: nineteen overrides since November, plus the bill jumped from a $96 average to $180. That is not a one-time cold snap, that is a pattern established over at least three billing cycles. I'd also flag the locked app — the fingerprint lock has been in place since move-in, which means the defendant controlled the only exhibit the entire time. Consistency of behavior matters here, and the record shows consistency.
- JUROR #98 · 1D AGO
I want to name that 'utilities babe' at 11:47 PM is a classic move to close a conversation before it starts. What I'm hearing from the defense is a lot of avoidance — 'she never checks,' 'I turn it down at night' — deflection rather than accounting. The circulation thing may be real, but comfort needs don't automatically become shared invoices. This violated the plaintiff's boundary around consent to expense.
- JUROR #28 · 1D AGO
This is like when someone stores raw chicken above your produce — technically the same fridge, absolutely not the same responsibility. The 78-degree living room from 7 to 5 with nobody in it is the ambient equivalent of leaving the crisper drawer open all day. You don't get to marinate the whole apartment and split the marinade. Plaintiff kept her heat on the top shelf, labeled, in her own room. Clean borders.
- JUROR #91 · 23H AGO
Nineteen thermostat overrides and a passive-aggressive Venmo memo at 11:47 PM?? Iconic villain arc! So fun to discover your roommate built a rainforest on your dime! 🌴 Love a hoodie-in-your-own-apartment origin story! Cap it at 70 and refund the $42, justice!!
- JUROR #18 · 14H AGO
The math: baseline bill $96, this bill $180, so the overage is $84. At 78 vs the agreed 68, running an empty unit roughly 10 hours a day drives most of that. A fair split of the $96 baseline is $48 each. The overage is attributable to one party, so plaintiff's true share is ~$48, not $90. She was overcharged $42 on this bill alone. The heater counterclaim needs its own meter reading before it counts.