Utilities, specifically water

[S. Perry]

In the process of getting a SFH ready for rent. Property sits on over 2 acres, with a portion of it zoned commercial and 2 buildings on it that we will maintain use of. Separate drives to the home and buildings. Unless you were told that it was all one property you would not know.

We have split the electric service (one for home and another for a building) and are waiting until the spring thaw to have the gas separated as well (can't get the gas company out in the winter for a non-occupied structure unless we were to foot the bill. Waiting allows them to cover the costs).

Tenants will put electric and gas in their names and be responsible for those utilities.

Our water service is like so many where the bill remains with the home and not the actual resident. One of the buildings has access to water running the lines from the home however we have it shut off and have never used it due to misc. plumbing issues which will run in the $2000 range to have repaired.

Here is what we have come up with and wanted to get opinions. We could spend the 2 grand to solve the current plumbing issues in the building which we will occupy. We would then also have to pay the water company to run lines directly from the street to the building to the tune of approx. another 5 grand. (could be higher).

Desired scenario would be that we keep the current water bill in our name and put in the lease that anything above $60 will have to be paid by the tenant. In 2.5 years we have never paid more than the minimum bill to have service (our usage is very low). At our current bill of $10.35/month this gives the tenant nearly $50 a month cushion. Per the water company a typical home with our sq. footage and a family of 4 will use on average 7000 gallons a month to the tune of $41.70/month. Does this seem fair?