<prompt> Human: I live in an apartment with four other guys 5 of us and we each have our own lease. We are required to pay the entirely of the lease by the time it ends in August, but theres nothing about paying utilities. Im the only one planning on staying for a month and a half in the summer, while the four guys are moving out. By this I mean they wont be living in the apartment, but theyll be leaving all of their stuff inside until the end of the lease to make storage costs cheaper. A lot of things Ive seen online say that they shouldnt have to pay utilities if they move out, since they arent using water or electricity, but since they wont have technically moved out completely, I feel like they should still pay their cut. They said theyll probably come stay for a day or two throughout the summer so theyll still be living here part time. Thoughts?  <response>: I feel like a lot of people are missing the boat here. They should still pay. For example, whether its the winter or summer months, heating or cooling will be required to make the space habitable. Say a 4 bedroom house is kept at 75 degrees in the summer - its not like you can prevent the air conditioning from going to the uninhabited bedrooms. Climate control is probably the biggest portion of the electric bill, to boot. EDIT: In addition, extra cable boxes are a flat charge per month. The rooms are unable to be sublet-ed, so consider that too. 