Boiler unit on a 4-plex

[Jim Bice]

Hi all, my wife and I, after many years of analyzing, finally purchased an 4 unit apartment in western NY. Now that we are deep into the winter months we have noticed our heating bill (gas) continue to go up, our latest bill is over $400. We have a single boiler system with four zones and looking for advise or suggestions to lower the gas usage.  One thought was to move the thermostats from the apartments to a single conditioned space and place temperature monitors in each unit to make sure the apartments are at a comfortable level. We are not sure if one apartment or some are leaving windows open of if something else is happening. We have sent letters to each tenant asking them to be mindful and, if needed, to let us know if they have a maintenance issues with a window or door. Has anyone done this? Is there any other suggestions you may have?

Thank you

Jim 

[Nathan Gesner]

Did you investigate the history of heating costs before purchase? Have you talked to the utility provider to see if your bill is above or below average for a building of that size and age?

$400 to heat four units in New York in the middle of winter seems pretty reasonable. That's $100 a unit. A household's average winter gas bill for New York is $120 - $200. There are a lot of variables, but $100 per household seems reasonable. According to several websites, and an AI summary, $100 per month is average for a 900ft apartment this time of year.

Switching to electric would make the tenants responsible for the bill, but you would eat the cost of installation and it may drive your rents down because electricity costs are probably much higher than the gas you currently pay.

I recommend you do more research before switching anything up. Your best option may be to increase the rent to cover the additional expense.