Same happened with my past landlords. Started with $50 in electric- but they said since I worked from home (on a laptop) that I was using electricity all day - so it went up to $75. Then because they saw I had an AC unit (portable Toshiba 12000 btu) that went up another $100 (flat rate) in electric - then when I got an ebike - they said another $30- $1 a day- when that didn’t make any sense because I only used it during the week to get to work and didn’t need to charge more than like a couple hours at night and obviously nothing on the weekend.

While I did have a fridge, a tv, a conduction cooktop, an air fryer and a microwave- all of which I didn’t use every single day (other than the fridge) these people did not budge and showed me the electric bills as they went up and also showed how from the previous year what their rates had been then.

But this was an Airbnb with like 5 other tenants - including one who had a large desktop computer running day and night - and somehow they singled me out. BUT the worst part was they were quick to raise the amounts but didn’t adjust for when I started to go into work - and then also was out of the place by 7:30am and because I then started to work a 2nd job when I got a car - I was arriving around midnight- so essentially was using minimal electricity- wasn’t using the AC all day - and even when I got the car they didn’t adjust for not needing to charge the bike- and all this in a unit that had no water or bathroom. Only reason I didn’t gripe was because it was ultimately cheaper than anything anywhere by a large margin and I can adapt easily- as long as it was within my budget. But for nearly a $500 monthly electric bill for the whole home they were almost making half off me alone and even when I explained electricity was going up everywhere or showed them the math on using the AC 24/7 - they were top notch at just not budging. So I just told myself they were just trying to charge extra rent by just calling it electric use.

I had originally set myself on a 5 year plan. But because of this I left after about a year and a half - so their loss because I would have been a sure thing - that unit was awesome only because it was a standalone and the person who sold them that home had built it as his home office and had built it well- so much so that cooling and heating were very efficient- and I could be as loud as I wanted - which was great for me personally. I had installed a kitchenette and had “running water” with a combination of an electric pump and my bathroom was setup outside in a tent and a portable toilet - I’d take that to the local RV dump site -

But when I left - I hear from another tenant I stayed in touch with that they couldn’t find anyone interested- either they may have been charging too much or no one was like me- willing to adapt to the situation.