Electricity Bill for Tenants: Who Pays What in India?

The default rule

In most Indian rentals, the tenant pays their own electricity consumption. For an independent unit with its own meter, the connection is typically in the tenant's name and they pay the bill directly to the electricity board. The landlord only gets involved when a property has a single meter serving multiple units.

Single meter, multiple tenants

When one meter serves several tenants (common in PGs, hostels, and subdivided flats), you have three options:

• Sub-meters per unit: the cleanest and fairest — each tenant reads their own sub-meter and pays their share of the main bill proportionally.
• Per-unit flat charge: e.g. ₹1,500/month per room for electricity — simple, but unfair if usage varies widely (an AC room vs a fan-only room).
• Proportional split by headcount or floor area: fair-ish, but harder to justify than sub-meters.

Common-area electricity

Lifts, stairwell lights, water pumps, and security lights are common-area charges. The usual practice is for the landlord (or the society) to pay these, and recover them through maintenance charges. Charging common-area electricity to a specific tenant is generally not done unless agreed in writing.

The deposit question

When electricity is billed by the landlord (sub-meter model), it is wise to include a small electricity deposit in the tenancy deposit, so a tenant's final unpaid power bill is covered at move-out. Without this, an unpaid bill lands in your name and your next tenant's connection can be held up.

How TenantsFlo helps

TenantsFlo lets you log opening and closing meter readings, apply a rate per unit, and generate an electricity bill automatically. Each tenant's bill shows the exact units consumed and the amount. No more manual calculations or arguments over "who used what".