Rental Agreement States LL Will Pay Electricity. Has not paid it once in 8+ Years

After signing the rental agreement with these terms we were under the impression that the Landlord would pay the electric bill. It was some six weeks after moving in that the resident in the B unit asked us for our share of the PG & E bill. We assumed he meant the gas because the LL said he was to pay the electricity. No, it was for gas and Electricity. We called the Landlords brother in law because this is who we dealt with for the rental process as the Landlord is often sailing the world in his boat. He told us that the part about the LL paying the electric bill was only there because California law requires it but that we would have to pay it and if we liked living there we wouldn’t rock the boat. We were pissed but we were afraid to say anything for fear of being kicked out.

Fast forward almost 9 years. The Landlord has decided to kick us out and have his daughter move in. Can we sue the LL for the Electricity we paid? we figured it almost 10 grand.