@KittySitter There are people from all walks of life using THS. Not every sitter has $30 or $40 to spend on extras, for many people that’s maybe a week’s groceries. And I expect not all home owners have $40 extra to pay out on utility bills.
In this instance it was well over $100 extra for each month! I would have cried 
As a result of this thread I’ve been having fun with math (WAY too much fun), and I learned a LOT. The chart below is imperfect, but ‘big picture’ shows the difference in heating, cooling, and water costs across four major cities.
In Oslo you pay to stay warm, in Miami you pay to stay cool, in Sydney you pay just to take a shower — and Londoners, of course, complain about the heating. It is easy to see from this chart how a homeowner might harshly judge a sitter from a different region. For example, had I ever done a sit in Sydney, the HOs would have been livid - where I come from, water is abundant and inexpensive. Taking long showers and doing lots of laundry would be - nothing to me. I might have bankrupted them without knowing it. Conversely, I would have been stunned had I returned home to find a Norwegian running the A/C at 68 Fahrenheit - comfortable for them and a minor fortune for me.
This is a long way of saying what everyone has been saying - communicate, communicate, communicate. Do not judge. Someone using more or less electricity, or gas, or water, does not make them a better or worse human being. It just makes them different from you.
Another number nerd, fascinating! Yeah Australia you pay for water. Never leave a tap running while brushing your teeth or doing anything else. Short showers. English habits of laying in a bath regularly total luxury. Run the dishwasher and washing machine for a full load. Just what we all grow up with.
That was a great illustration, KittySitter!
Yes, water consumption is a similar matter. In some countries water is «free» (or you pay a fee for water and use whatever you want) while in other countries it is metered and/ or expensive. Even within a country some could pay metered or not.
I know a HO who came home early and found that the sitters were running a candle making business in her kitchen. They had gone through almost all of her range top gas tank. Ya never know what’s going on! LOL The cost of the tank still pales in comparison to paying for in home pet care for a month so she let it slide. Food for thought 
English habits are changing now that we pay for water in most (all?) areas. Short showers seem to be taking over from long deep baths…. in one’s own home, but maybe not when using someone else’s water.
Too ingrained in my brain to waste water whether it’s mine or someone else’s. It’s like chucking rubbish on the ground, I can’t physically do it. 
I agree with you- in principle! But if I am sitting for a rich person- who invites me to use the bath tub, especially in winter- then I will definitely take the opportunity to indulge! 
With you @Cathie, we are from South Africa and water is a scarce resource.
My absolute pet peeve is when you have to wait more than 10 seconds for hot water. Yep, I get really uncomfortable with water going down the drain for no good reason.
I pay around £55 a month for my water and disposal of waste water. That’s a two bedroom apartment in southern England. If you look at the UK news you will be aware our water bills are going up because the water companies realise that the water mains and sewars need updating and large repairs. Instead of laying money aside for this they have been paying shareholders huge dividends. So, in a country where people complain about the wet weather we pay approximately £630 a year to convert that rain into drinking water and then get rid of it to treatment areas where it is cleaned just enough to go back into our sea and rivers. Bring back the old well in the garden or even the natural spring down the road.
This is a question about electric. On my electric bill it says I am using 100% renewable energy. How do they know? As far as I’m aware there is only one electricity supply (pylons) to my large town. It all comes down the same cables. Have they got a way of separating dirty energy from clean energy? Are the clean electrons green and the dirty ones red? Just asking for a friend.
(This is a jokey question, please do not take it seriously. I know what they mean)
We’ve gone down a rabbit hole in Australia years ago the govt (maybe just Qld) decided every new house should have a rain water tank and gave subsidies for old houses. Great. Then we had a 7 year drought.
Also eventually pumps wear out and tanks need cleaning. Seemed like a good idea:thinking:
