Charging for heat based on what they *think* it will cost

I need some advice on how to deal with my apartments heating charges. Background: it’s an old building with steam heat, utilities are separate from rent, I’ve lived here 1.5 years. Charge of utilities is based on square footage of apartment. Heat gets turned on/off for the whole building based on buildings internal thermostat. Numbers are JUST HEAT. I pay even more for the other utility costs.

When I first moved (summer) the heating cost was based on actual usage of the building 1 month behind. So in summer it was low, like $50. In winter it would be high, like $300. It made sense as it was colder and so the building used more heat.

This past summer we expected the bill to lower again but it stayed around $100. I contacted management and they said they were implementing a new system to charge based on an estimate of what the whole year will be like so that in the winter we won’t get such high bills. We thought that this was strange they didn’t email everyone about this but we were ok paying more if it would all equal out. I did wonder about what would happen if we used less or more heat than the previous year and what would happen then but didn’t dig more into it with them.

Now it’s winter and the heat cost was $300, same as last year. So I spoke with management wondering why we paid double in summer if we were gonna be hit with the same bill in winter. They basically said they got a new boiler system so the cost of heating is higher, the city is charging them more, and if I wanted to discuss further we could do so at my next lease renewal in a year. They also said that they would implement a stop so my personal heat bill wouldn’t go higher than $250.

I’m not really satisfied with as there’s no proof they aren’t just charging what they want and keeping it and the whole thing just seems scammy. Is it normal to charge based on an estimate of the whole year before?

Located in Seattle wa