So I'll be off-campus next year, since I'll be in 2nd year.. We already signed the lease for a place, and it is very good! We're happy with everything about it, and we're fine with the fact that utilities are not included... It's a house of 6 engineers, so we're fairly certain we can do a bit of division and distribution of numbers.

But we are wondering how other houses do it first of all... I mean, you have water, gas, hydro, cable... All of these bills come in at different times of the month, then you have the rent too... No ONE engineer should ever have to take care of all those payments and collecting from 6 people... Especially not 6 busy engineers.

One theory I had was the use of paypal, but I think the charges for use out of Canadian banks might add up... But if we did it that way, each one of us could take a bill (With 1 spare person) and simply divide it in 6, and send an email-invoice through paypal with that number, and everyone is good! That way, payments are tracked, no cheques are flying around, and no trips to the bank will be needed. I guess it all depends on how much these two options would cost each of us.

Any other hints/tips/tricks?

Have everyone add the utility company to their bank, and have each person pay their portion of the bill. Have each company under the name of a different person.

It seems when there is one bank account or one person is responsible for all of the bills people don't pay up.

Originally Posted by lorend

It seems when there is one bank account or one person is responsible for all of the bills people don't pay up.

This system is more of a hassle. Its how my house collected utilities. The one advantage of it is you can ensure that you are paying your bills in full. That does mean if one person is late on payment you may have to fork over and extra couple bucks, which i had to do many times. But for that reason i knew that everyone paying their portion to each individual bill wouldn't work. (i am not very good at nagging people for their portion of utilities). Just make sure you take the time to create a thorough spreadsheet so you can keep track of everyones payments and balances.

If you do opt to go for the one bank account route, in the summer and warmer months you can all elect to put a bit extra in every month, that way when you get hit with a huge heating bill for December/January you wont have to pay as much because you have saved up some money.

Originally Posted by JeffB

If you do opt to go for the one bank account route, in the summer and warmer months you can all elect to put a bit extra in every month, that way when you get hit with a huge heating bill for December/January you wont have to pay as much because you have saved up some money.

OR... you can always set up equal billing so you know exactly how much you'll be paying each month...
I never went with this option with my apts, because sometimes you end up paying more than you would have paid, and I found that it wasn't a HUGE difference for my former roomie and I between summer and winter months for hydro

but I have lots of friends who when they had 3 or more roomates went with equal billing...because its harder to control use with that many people...when it was only my one roomate and I we both knew to shut off lights and keep the blinds closed when we weren't there to keep the apt cooler.

We usually just posted the billso n the fridge when they came in and split them evenly, and wrote PAID beside our name and the date of the day when we paid our portion, (which we would do through our online banking to the company)....

but again, totally different between 2 and 6 people in a house lol

Equal billing... I mean, it sounds straight forward to me--- each bill is equal... But what are the specifics on that?If other houses did it, it might be worth looking into.


I mean, obviously the most efficient and desired way would be some method that we can all pay whichever way we want. One of the fellows staying with us is older (second career kind of thing) and he might prefer a more physical means of money transfer.

thanks for the tips so far guys

this is what Horizon's website says about billing for hydro
"
Pre-Authorized Payment Plan - We Offer Two Options
Paid in full option:
Your bills will be sent to you as usual. The amount due will automatically be withdrawn from your bank account on the due date specified on the bill.
Equal payment plan option:
This plan allows customers to budget for an equal monthly payment. A fixed amount is automatically withdrawn from your bank account on or after the monthly withdrawal date. You have the option of keeping your normal due date or choosing another fixed date every month. We review and reconcile the payment amount annually. The payment amount is monitored during the year to ensure it is in line with your actual usage. You are notified in advance of any changes to this amount."

I'm not sure if its a requirement for pre-authorized out of a particular bank account or not, but thats just to show you the definition of how they do equal billing vs. monthly usage billing


and in my opinion, from the people and opinions I had collected when trying to figureo ut which hydro company to go with... Horizon is better than Direct energy... my old roomate actually used to work for direct energy and that's a big reason we didn't go with them, she said they were the worst company ever lol

we didn't have to pay gas or water or anything though so I couldn't help ya with those ones... most apartments I've ever looked at usually are rent + hydro... but my friends have had to pay gas before

I'm gonna have 4 other people with me next year (all engineers too), and what I'm thinking of doing is collecting a flat rate (about $65- $70) at the start of the month based on what we know about the costs from the previous people that lived in the house. Pay off whatever bills I can (usually with $70 per person, you can pay off all your bills). If there is extra, then we carry it to next month.

Of course, the problem is when the $70 per person isn't enough the pay all the bills, in which case I will probably have to nag people for the extra money

and I have a question: what internet speed should I get for 5 people? Which provider is the best (Cogeco or Bell)

Cogeco is EXCESSIVELY and Grossely expensive compared to the unavailable-Rogers... Unfortunately, my current understanding of Bell v Cogeco is that the Cable is still better... Just because Cable has more ability for higher speeds...

So with 4 people, my tip would be go for the second highest speed, and find the fine print that tells you how much bandwidth you are allowed, and how much they charge per extra gb ... they will cap it at a certain amount, and that could be advantageous info to have

I have used both Cogeco and Bell, i found that cogeco was the better provider but bell may have improved in the 2 years since I have used them.

It all comes down to what your internet usage is like. If you guys download or youtube a lot you are going to have to go for a higher bandwidth. You will need at least standard internet, but probably the internet pro. You can always start at the lower end and upgrade your contract if you are exceeding your bandwidth, cogeco has no problems with you paying more.

My house has a bank account and we each put in the same amount of money when needed. That way there is always money in the account for bills. I guess it should be noted that we are all high school friends so it works out that way...