The electricity cost is not involved in the unlawful detainer case at all. You say that you paid what he asked for electricity. If you tried to deduct, then you are guilty of unlawful detainer in California. dj1 can't think. Its not the judges' choice.
The landlord can sell you electricity. Edison has raised the rates enormously these last few months (read the newpapers). I don't have Edison at home, myself, but my tenants who do are screaming (I mean screaming). dj1 cannot comprehend how we have de-regulation and competition and even private companies that buy from Edison and re-sell to consumers. So can the landlord.
When you got the 3-day notice, what was the amount demanded? Was it exactly 1 month's rent. Had the landlord taken what you meant as a rent payment, and applied it to the electricity charges, leaving more money to be paid as rent? He can do that. Check the 3-day notice, and read the unlawful detainer complaint. If necessary, call the landlord and ask him (nicely) to explain.
If the amount shown on the 3-day notice is correct, and you have a receipt that the judge will recognize as a receipt for that amount for that rental period, the landlord will not get an unlawful detainer. But if he is correct, and your receipt is not convinceable as that amount for that period, then the unlawful detainer will succeed.
Go over your notice and complaint, and get it straightened out as to what you are being sued for. If you have already paid everything, then you need not be afraid to go to court. But if there is something that you withheld, and you do not have a receipt for the amount that he demanded, then discuss it with the landlord and pay him what you owe, including his legal costs, and get him to drop the suit.
This dj1 (aka mary hartman, aka mee, pee and others) is a pain in the butt. He doesn't know what he is saying, he has no logic, he has never been in court, he doesn't understand how courts work or how they make decisions, but he won't shut up, even when he doesn't know what he is talking about. What a jerk!
[Edited by LL on 05-11-2001 at 01:28 AM]