He guessed it was an estimate of the prior owners usage.

Check your rents versus what the market is charging on a site like www.rentometer.com and make adjustments, if you can, over time to account for usage.

I have had BP for a little under a year now however my usage and dedication to the site has been nonexistent.

I separated the gas & electric for each of my 5 units, then installed sub-meters for the water after the main water meter.Gas and electric are in the names of the tenants and I add their water usage each month to their rent statement.I did this over time...

Seems somebody thought my earlier post was inappropriate.

The alternative is having the owner call the utility company and provide a deposit then get billed for usage and have the deposit returned by check once the new tenant takes over service.In my opinion, It is only a good idea to rent furnished homes when the property is a short term rental, executive/luxury home, or a student rental and you don't care what happens to the furniture.  

Tenants are more careful with their usage if they are paying for it!

mods delete if in appropriate -We have excellent quality cabinets that work for investors.

Otherwise there's minimal energy usage as opposed to a tank design that's trying to keep water in the tank at a set temperature.  

Sometimes they've knocked on my door or caught me while I was in our shared backyard, but even this was never at an inappropriate time (ie 1AM) or bothersome.Of course, I suppose there is always the risk of an annoying tenant.