Justice · Court of Public Opinion

Should the roommate who works from home pay more of the electric bill?

Two roommates have split rent and utilities 50/50 for two years. Since March one works from home five days a week: two monitors, a space heater in winter, air conditioning in summer, a kettle all day. The other is at an office and home evenings and weekends. The electricity bill went from about 90 to about 160 a month. 70/30 or 50/50? A general question, not about any real flat or roommates.

Side A: A deal is a deal

We agreed 50/50 and the lease says 50/50. There is no separate meter, nobody can prove who used what, and you also enjoy a warm flat in winter and a cool one in summer.

Side B: Pay for what you use

The bill nearly doubled the month you started working from home, and nothing else changed. I am not asking you to pay it all. Seventy-thirty is fair for a cost your workday created.

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What the law says: The lease says 50/50 to the landlord; between you, it is a deal

• Most places · the lease and your agreement: A lease or utility account makes the named people responsible to the supplier, usually jointly; it does not decide how roommates split the cost between themselves. That is their own agreement, written or not, and either can propose to change it; without agreement the old split stands and a small-claims court would look at what was agreed and what was actually used.
• United States · California: An employer must reimburse employees for necessary work expenses, and courts have applied that to a share of home internet and power when working from home is required. Elsewhere in the United States, employees generally cannot deduct home-office costs on their federal taxes.
• United Kingdom: An employee who must work from home can claim a small fixed weekly tax relief for household costs, or the actual extra cost with evidence; it is tax relief, not a payment from the roommate.

General information, labelled by place, checked October 2026. Not legal advice.

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