Excessive utility usage by guests

[Rozlyn3]

I've come across similar posts discussing this issue, but I'm not content with simply absorbing the extra costs, especially when there could be negligence on the guest's part.

Recently, we hosted a guest who stayed for a few weeks and worked from our home. It seemed they worked at night, so I anticipated a reasonable increase in utility use, which I was prepared to cover to some extent. However, the electricity bill tripled, and unfortunately, I didn’t discover this until after I had already left a review for the guest.

Is it possible to set up contractual expectations regarding utility usage—such as limits on electricity and water consumption—so that guests would be responsible for covering any excessive use? I’ve heard of nightmare scenarios where utility bills exceeded $1,000, and the homeowner couldn’t recover the costs. I don’t know the specifics of those cases, but the thought is concerning.