PG electricity bill calculator

How to split a PG electricity bill fairly

In most PGs and shared flats, each room has its own sub-meter. The fair way to bill it has three parts: work out the room's bill, decide how the room shares it, and handle the paise that don't divide evenly.

1. Work out the room's bill

Units used = this reading − last reading. Room bill = units × rate per unit. Round once, on the total, not on each person's share.

2. Decide how the room shares it

• Equal per bed is the usual choice when residents stay all month. Divide by the number of beds, not residents, and keep the empty beds' share yourself, so nobody's bill rises because a roommate moved out.
• By days stayed suits rooms with mid-month move-ins and move-outs. Each person's share is weighted by the days they were there. Days nobody occupied a bed stay with the owner.
• Between residents only divides the bill among the people present, ignoring empty beds. It's simple, but residents pay more when a bed is vacant.

3. Handle the leftover paise

₹1,130.50 is 1,13,050 paise. Split four ways that's 28,262.5 paise each, which can't be paid. Give everyone 28,262 paise and hand the remaining 2 paise out one at a time by a fixed rule, such as “longest-standing resident first”, so the shares add up to exactly ₹1,130.50 and nobody can say the rounding favoured anyone.

Ways to avoid electricity disputes

• Put the per-unit rate and split method in the rental agreement.
• Photograph the meter when you take the reading, and share it.
• Read every room's meter on the same day each month.
• Show electricity as its own line on the bill, with units and rate.
• If a meter is replaced, note it, so the next reading isn't mistaken for an error.

In Nivasin you can set each lease's electricity as included in the rent or as a fixed monthly charge, so it appears as its own line on every invoice. See how leases work in Nivasin.