So, all day I’ve been hearing construction going on outside my apartment; from peeking out the window, I figured out they’re replacing the stairwell next door to me. I just went out to run an errand, and discovered that these guys have an air compressor and a circular saw plugged into the outlet on my patio.
Electricity is not included in my rent. Whatever these guys are feeling free to use, without asking me, will come out of my pocket - unless the outdoor outlets aren’t considered part of my apartment’s domain, but I doubt that very much.
I’m trying to decide if it’s worth calling the office and making a stink about this. It’s not like the tools are constantly running; the air compressor turns on for a couple of minutes a few times an hour, and I hear the saw being used a few seconds at a time every ten or fifteen minutes.
I know this is a tough question to answer without information on electrical rates and such, but can anyone give me a ballpark figure on what this will cost? I just looked around the web a bit, and the impression I’m getting is that I’m looking at a couple of dollars at the most. Does that seem right? If so, I don’t think it’s worth the hassle of making an issue out of this.
If it is a 15 amp circuit and they ran it at its full capacity (very unlikely) for 8 hours straight, they would use about 14 kWhs of electricity. That would translate to something like $1.50 to $3.00 depending on your rates. In actuality, I would guesstimate they are using a tenth that amount or even less.
Yeah, that’s not worth the headache of getting into it with the people at the office, then.
FairyChatMom, I’m guessing that they assume people are at work all day, so they feel free to use the outlets thinking the tenants will be none the wiser.
If you are looking to avoid confrontation, just flip the switch on the breaker from inside your apartment tonight. Tomorrow there will be no power. They can either come and ask you for it, or go somewhere else.
Actually, though, that outdoor outlet is right on the other side of the wall from my computer, so I assume both are on the same circuit. And no wayz am I going without my computer.
I think it’s a moot point now anyway - they don’t have their stuff plugged in anymore, but they’re still working, and it looks like they’re almost done.
The same thing happened to me about a month ago. I unplugged the cord and immediately called the office to complain. Now the construction people are plugging the cord into the outlet by the mail box “farm” across the way.
