Why are there arrears on the apartment in the first place?
Was the prior Board responsible for this payment?
Traditionally, the Coop pays the utility bills for the super; however, if there was some other arrangement with the super and he was aware of his responsibility to pay, then there is no reason the Coop should pay for his negligence (unless he reimburses the coop)

It sounds like when the building went to sub-meter, the supers apartment just fell through the cracks. In which case you were paying his con ed prior and are responsible now. Best bet, work out a payment plan (also ensure they are not charging late fees, interest, tax, etc) to defer the 4000 layout if you can't take the hit right now and ensure it is paid on time moving forward.
Just my opinion
~AR

Our board pays the super's utilities.

I agree with AR's take on what probably happened that resulted in such a large bill, and suggest you follow his/her suggestions.

make sure it (or they) have an EER of 11.0. If he has old crapy ones, remove them. This is probably why it is so high. are there also power tools being used on it somehow? that is very very high.

Since the corporation is paying for the electric bills, they also must provide the super with an energy efficient air conditioning model despite what he says or may feel. If he wants to keep the old air conditioner, he can pay the electric bills on it also.

We are not sub metered and we pay for the super's electrical use. Some residents are not happy with this because our super runs his air conditioner 24 hours a day. Even when he is not home so he takes full advantage of the free electricity. The board will not even consider having him pay a portion of the electrical bill past a certain point each month to prevent abuse. I feel for conservation sake, he should use less electricity.

I don't know why Con Ed allowed the bill to mount to $4,000 dollars. I guess they assumed the corporation would pay it.

Al dente - You have $4000 arrears on the resident mgr's apt. What does that amount represent? It can't all be for Con Ed. I seriously doubt they'd let overdue payments go so far without turning off service! Just wanted clarification on this. Thanks.

the 4000 is what is showing up on our monthly accounting statements and will eventually be written off by the corp.

our electric charges are added to maintenance and then the corp pays the monthly con ed bill. so the bill has been paid but its showing up as being owed to the corporation.

i was wondering what other buildings do. there should be a "reasonable allowance" for a 2 br apt. and anything over that allowance he should pay. what if he leaves a/c on all day, lights on, tv on for his dog, etc. that is going beyond normal use into "abuse"

Al, you are baseing your opinions on a lot of guess work (forgive me here) Find out the facts first. There may be other factors causing this high cost. Other eletric items may be run off the meter he has (for example hallway lighting, lobby lights etc, I have heard of such in the past). The meter could be giving a faulty reading, did you look into it. Did you discuss the high cost with your super already?. Finally I am not sure if I agree on a dollar amount on electric usage, and I am not in favor of it. If the super means so little to you in the first place (as it appears why have him/her)

FN

In my experience as a Resident Manager, my apartment was hooked up with the hallway lights, when the there was a problem with the hallway lights, my power went off to my apartment thats how I knew it was connected. $4,000 in electric bills is very high for a apartment, how long was it in arrears?

you need to tell the Super that the coop will pay a maximum of $100 per month for the electric in his apartment (with an adjustment every year for price increases) and that anything over and above that will be billed to him.

You need to be 100% clear about this. you also need to buy him 11 EER energy efficient air conditioners. Tell him to put them onthe timers that now come incorporated into them so they are not on 24 hours a day.

In what country is $100/mo considered adequate for electricity for a modern apartment?

Even WITHOUT AC, my bill runs twice that. And if ConEd gets their latest price hike, it will go up even more.

I agree with you RLM. It looks like the super means nothing much to the building. I personally would start looking at other areas in a building where money could be saved, rather than "giving someone a hard time" over a few bucks.

FN (my ac runs all day at 72 degrees)

As to not quibbling over a few bucks for the AC for the Super. Thses "few bucks" perks start to add up. And extra $200 a month, is 2400 a year. A hundred here a hundred there, and it starts to add up.

Two of our past Supers have had to have a cap put on their ph bills (they and all thier friends called home) and we are now looking at the Electric bills. The Super keeps the AC on even when he is away. When you are not responsible for the bill, you dont care.
ConEd is going up 33% and counting. If you are not careful now and continue adding perks, in a few years, you wont be able to afford a super.

I think a well-run building is a tightly run building. Money leaks in seemingly small places are what really add up. Watch everything and be smart and have creative solutions and you will hjave a fantastic building.

One has to look at what we term "normal use" and abusing the service. So before we go to war on this one,my previous posts mentioned to look into what was causing the high demand/usage. In addition a good superintendend can save a building hundreds of thousands each year so a few bucks for his electric use is like a drop in the ocean. Now you decide.

FN

OK so give it $175. but pick a number and get organized.

OK so give it $175. but pick a number and get organized.