electricity payment on consumption

[Paolo9]

Hello to everybody!

Any of you charges electricity separately on consumption?

If yes do you ask a deposit when guests come in?

[Robert4755]

Hey Rob,

I've been doing one price and for the most part it's working out OK.  Now I have a tenant who is running the laundry everyday.  My other tenant (not Airbnb) said they hear the laundry going all day and they find the hot water tank is empty when they want to shower.

There doesn't seem to be any reasonable solution.  If the guest is staying only a few days it's not so bad.  My guest is here for an extended stay due to the pandemic.  I can't understand why 2 people would need to do laundry so often.

Since I'm ranting...  They jacked up the heat in the house to 25F and the downstairs tenants were complaining of being much too hot.  I went by the house and the tenants had doors and windows open.  They said they had the heat up because they were cold.  I told them to close the doors and windows.  Can't begin to imagine what goes on in some peoples heads.

Cheers

[Cathy864]

My tenant book my home.  However it was not disclosed. They had a electric car & would be using my house as a power station. 

It is not included in my amenities. How do I recieve payment for the additional cost. 

[BenkaandKeith0]

No, we do not.

[Andreï0]

Hello Dear Community, we rent 3 bedrooms / 100m2 flat in Lisbon area, city of Montijo. We do not have A/C but electric heater in all bedrooms and in the two bathrooms, individually controlled. Double windows. We explain to hosts that electricity will be charged outside the fee rate if they stay more than 1 week. Calculation is simple: kWh consumption x price of kWh average price.

I do not consider to be a hotel because there is no hotel in the town where you can rent a 100 m2 room! It does not exist. So, it is our rule, and we are very transparent. Either the host accept, either they refuse. We have 4.5 starts reviews, so I think we are doing great. We do not try to maximize our gains. Furthermore, we rent to cover our costs and earn some money with the least problems and avoid difficult hosts.

I hope one day AirBnb will link modern consumption control electricity (the one linked to internet) and AirBnb platform. I think it is aligned with sustainability, global warming and so on. Very important nowadays for the future of our planet. And that hosts will be able to control their consumption in real time and pay for it, automatically integrated to AirBnb billing system.

[Elaine701]

Hmmm... Yes, well, it's a difficult problem, and most guests don't monitor their own consumption, and wouldn't expect to have it monitored in their STR. 

We also have a large space, heated with gas, which here in Spain, is very expensive (as is electricity, but we have solar power.. Different set of issues). 

The main living area of 80 m2 also has ceiling of 4-5m. That's over 350 cubic meters of airspace that needs to be heated (not including bedrooms) Granted, it doesn't get that cold here, but it can get near freezing on some nights. We need heat in winter. 

Many guests live in somewhat average apartments. 2 bed, 2 bath, 2.5m high ceilings, maybe 70 cubic meters of airspace in the main living area. Comparatively easy to heat to 25°c, and that's what they expect to get. They simply don't understand that our cost of heating is 5-10x what they're used to. The costs can approach what they pay for their entire stay. 

So, one solution is simply to jack the prices up and deliver their 25°c, if that's what they must have. But then, it makes the price appear abnormally high. 

Basing it on consumption makes sense because guests are inclined to be careful about consumption, but that adds the burden of measurement, and we don't really have that facility, and getting a meter installed turns out to be a huge regulatory ordeal and ridiculously expensive (we have a large propane tank, not measured city gas). 

So, we've simply created a flat rate energy surcharge of 15€ per day. It sometimes covers it, often not, but it helps a lot.  I think 15€ is probably the limit we can charge without guests getting too testy about it. But so far, it's been without much resistance. A few  question it, but when we point out the size of the living space, they seem to understand. Reluctantly. 

I don't think there's an ideal way to cover this, but this is the best we've been able to come up with so far.

Really, it's all in the psychology of the guest. Some get it, others don't. Something we just have to navigate on a per case basis.