DIYbanter - View Single Post - Sharing well and pump--how much should we charge?

Oren[_2_]

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:49:30 -0800 (PST), wrote:

I share a well with my neighbor. For both of us, the well and pump
were supplied by the developer who old us the land on which we built
last year. Both houses use the well and pump, but only one house
supplies the electricity--and that's our house! We agreed that we
would pay for the electricity along with the rest of our electricity,
but our neighbor should pay us half the cost of the electricity
required to run the pump. Problem is, I don't know how to charge for
that. I don't even know how much electricity the pump uses. It's on
a circuit connected to our house's electrical service--there's no
separate meter. What would be a fair amount to charge?

In case it helps, both families have two adults and two children with
typical water usage--no hot tubs, swimming pools, etc.

Here's another thing I'm wondering about... Ours was the first house
built, and ours was the first plumbing connected to the pump, so I'm
wondering if we paid for some initial set-up that our neighbors didn't
have to pay for. For example, besides the electricity each month,
wouldn't there be a cost to initially run the circuit out to the
pump? What other initial costs might there be that should be shared
with the neighbor?

Finally, when our house was built, we installed a pressure tank. The
purpose of the pressure tank is to improve the overall pressure of the
plumbing in the house and to provide a sort of pressure reserve so
that the pump doesn't have to turn on so frequently. I'm not sure the
cost of this tank and it's related controls, but I know it was over
$1,000. I also know that our neighbor did *NOT* install one of
these. My question is this... Is our neighbor benefiting from our
pressure tank? Besides lessening wear and tire on the pump, is it
also improving the pressure for our neighbor's house, too? (The tank
is located in our house's mechanical room.) Is this something that
our neighbor should be compensating us for?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

- Johnnie

Talk to the developer. After all, it's only been a year. Find out some
more facts from him. You did have inspectors out when the house was
built this year, right? Call their office for documents.

Some places in the desert of Las Vegas, NV have up to 12 homes on
community wells. Apparently, the wells and all on are on an
easement...but I don't know for certain. Again, as others say! Check
your documents.

Is the well on his property and you agreed to pay the electric bill,
because of a slight oversight?

--
Oren