HVAC Problems

By Kristina

I’ve been living in my current apartment since 12/2011. Back in April and May my electric bill shot up from under $60 (all estimated Dec. to March) a month to just under $200 two months in a row. After opening the first bill for $192 (actual reading) my fiance and I began frantically investigating our apartment trying to figure out what caused our bill to shoot up so much. We chalked it up to be a combination of not turning the lights off every time we left, leaving chargers and such plugged in when not in use, and using the dryer too much. We reduced usage of all things and even began leaving our air on a higher temp. (75 degrees instead of 72). Well when the next bill came (estimated) and it was still high at $180. We still were trying to figure out what would cause it so much, after close observation we realized that our thermostat would be set to 75 degrees but the temp in the room was reading 60 degrees. We then began listening closely to the fan when the air would click on and off and realized the air was never shutting off, basically giving us 24/7 AC. We immediately called our property manager and filed a work order. It turns out that our thermastat was a really old model still using mercury so they replaced it with a new digital thermostat. The bills that I have gotten since the HVAC unit has been fixed have all been actual readings (June and July) and they have both been under $40. I spoke to my property manager about getting some kind of reimbursement for the two exteremly high bills. Her manager has said that since the thermostat was fixed in a timely manner they cannot offer and sort of reimbursement. My problem with that is that it is not reasonable for me to listen to my AC 24/7 when I work, go to school, and SLEEP to determine if it is working properly. I cannot get the money back from the power company because the meter was read correctly, obviously since the AC was running 24/7 it was very high. I have also asked for contact information for the corporate office so I can speak to someone directly, above the property manager’s supervisor, and after a week I have yet to hear from the property manager. I have emailed her twice and spoken to her in person twice about recieving the contact information. All times she has said she will email me the information and hasn’t done so yet. She has sent out several emails to all residents, including myslef, about upcoming maintenance. Now it feels as if she is withholding information that legally I have a legal right to. What should I do? I live in MD and wonder if there is a county or state acency I can contact in addition to trying to reserach on my own who to contact in the corporate offices for my apartment complex. Thank you!

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