Also, it seems that regardless what happens, economic policy seems to favor consumption and spending and overextending - - while frugality and saving - is penalized via lower rates. 

Our goal was to be as close to Sugar Mountain as possible, but we ended up halfway between Boone and Sugar Mountain. 

All signs point to a tenant consumption issue, not a leak.Avg. bill before May: $120May: $480 (water main replaced due to leak)June: $303 (lowered but still high due to timing of replacement and billing cycle)July: $413August: $479September: $282

Pouring a wheelbarrow load of boric acid and sugar maybe will cut them down.

Every time when we need something, cleaners need to order them via the form, so that I could make the order and keep track of the consumption of these items per property. 2.

The easier you make this for the inspector, the better the outcome ultimately will be for you.There's no sugar coating this though - its going to cost you time and money. 

The short. Potential income stream from tenant electricity. Install solar for say .15 kwh. Sell to tenant for market. So cal edision low tier is .26kwh. .09 kwh profit. So if a rental uses 10,000 kwh. Thats a $900 inc...

Thanks for the welcome - and for not sugar coating it for me! 

@Trevor Lane is down in the Sugar Land/Rosenburg area if you're looking to meet in investor down there.

I was thinking we could install more baseboard heaters and turn off gas furnace all together or at least turn on the baseboard heaters enough to cut down on gas consumption.