u/Ornery_Beautiful_143

I’m a tenant in the Somerville area and I recently figured out why my electric bill has been so high. My neighbor’s outdoor AC condenser is wired to my electric meter, so I’ve been paying for their air conditioning on my own bill for months.
I have been keeping the switch off of course and these past few weeks my meter is running regularly but the landlord never believed me and I had to figure this out in my own. After my neighbors complaint here is what happened:
• A technician who came out found the miswiring.
• My neighbor confirmed to me (in writing) that it’s his AC.
• I made an unedited, continuous video showing that when I flip a specific breaker in my own panel, the outdoor condenser turns on and off — while my own AC (a window unit) stays off the whole time. So it’s clearly his equipment on my meter.
• I have my electric billing history showing the pattern.
What’s frustrating: the landlord is denying there’s any problem and told me that if I’m unhappy I should “look for another place.” I’ve already flipped the breaker off (and taped a note on it) so I’m not bleeding money going forward, and I’ve filed a complaint with the local inspection/health department.
I also have a consultation booked with a tenant lawyer.
My questions:
1. What’s the smartest order of steps from here to actually get reimbursed for what I’ve already overpaid?
2. Has anyone actually recovered money for something like this — through the utility billing process, small claims, or a consumer-protection (93A) claim? What did it realistically look like (amount, timeline)?
3. Is a lawyer worth it for this, or is small claims something people handle themselves? These claims can shift attorney’s fees to the landlord if I win — does that change the math?
4. Anything I should be careful about or documenting that I might be missing?
5. Given the “look for another place” comment after I complained — how seriously do people take retaliation here, and does it change how I should approach this?
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s dealt with cross-metering or utility overbilling as a tenant. Thanks in advance.

Somerville, MA tiny tiny studio (a hole basically) in a multi-unit building. Bills have been unexpectedly high for a couple of months (went from 40 - 70 - 160 - 240!!) Here’s what I’ve measured with dated photos of the meter:

**•	10 kWh over 6.5 hours** while I was out — no hot water used, AC unplugged, nothing running but a new fridge. That’s \~1.3 kW continuous.  
**•**	A similar rate on a separate day under the same conditions.  
**•**	\+1 kWh registered shortly after a brief hot-water draw, which looks like reheat cycling.

What’s been ruled out:
• Eversource came on site, tested the meter, confirmed accurate.
• With my main breaker off, the meter stopped, so it’s only reading my unit.
• An electrician checked wiring and appliance consumption, found nothing.
• Laundry isn’t on my meter (ran it 20 min, meter didn’t move). No AC use. Cooking accounts for its own spikes separately.
Apparently my daily usage is 30kwh but I don’t understand where is this coming from! I have compared other apartments and friends having way more appliances ( I have only an air fryer and fridge) and their daily usage is around 10 KWh.

Main hot water is gas, but the property manager mentioned there’s an electric booster. My panel directory doesn’t list a water heater breaker at all.

Is ~1.3 kW continuous plausible for a booster just holding temperature in summer, or does that sound like a stuck element/thermostat? Property manager has been unresponsive for a month.
Do you have any ideas? I’m a post doc and poor because of the shitty academic salary and I cannot afford this bills. I am really struggling