Landlord steals electricity from tenant

Talk about adding insult to injury. If any of you read my last post, you will understand my dismay in regards to living in NYC. After living in our apartment for 2 1/2 years, we discovered our landlord was tapping into our electricity. Our bills were in excess of $600.00 per month for a 1400 sq ft apartment during the summer months. The only reason this was discovered was Con Ed pulled our meter after countless complaints over my excessive bills, and the apartment upstairs (occupied by the landlord) lost power! Con Ed didn't want to get involved and told us to sort it out amongst ourselves. The electrician that came to correct the problem told us this was obviously done on purpose as all major appliances from upstairs were tapped directly into out meter. The landlord reimbursed us by forgiving rent for 1 & 1/2 months. Now we've moved out due to the earlier posted construction nightmares and the landlord is holding our deposit of $3800.00, until we can calculate the actual electric usage. She believes she may have over paid us for the electricity. Can we go after her in court for tapping into our meter? Can the landlord be forced to disclose this information to former tenants? Please send some advice.

Living peacefully in the burbs