When we first bought this house I heard from several people how much it would cost to run the house - electricity, gas, water, etc. with a pool and everything. I was really scared out of my pants about what our bills would be. I have to say though, I have been pleasantly surprised. The bills have been much lower than I anticipated and I have felt a big sigh of relief the past few months...until yesterday when I opened my electricity bill. The bill was $738.68 dollars!! My heart dropped to the floor when I saw the bill. I started envisioning a month of eating Ramen Noodles and having to delve into my food storage since my grocery bill would be going to electricity. After the initial shock, disbelief started settling in. I mean how could it be possible? The bill was double what we paid at the peak of summer using our AC everyday and we were even out of town 1 week of January.
I decided to call the electric company and beg and plea for some answer to what appliance I had that was sucking so much electricity and how my bill could possibly be this high. I explained my dilemma to the customer service agent and she asked me if I knew where my meter was. After a little bit of searching I found it and she had me read her the meter. She asked me to hold for a minute and then came back..."Mrs. Erard, it looks like your meter was read improperly. We will be sending you out a new bill in the next few days and you can disregard that bill". "huh?" is all that went through my mind. How does one misread a meter? Isn't that the only job a meter reader has? To read meters? Is it really that difficult. If there are any meter readers out there please explain. Anyway, she was unable to tell me what my new bill would be but she said it would be substantially lower and even lower than my last months bill. I thought last month my bill was high but I wrote it off to Christmas lights and extra baking...now I'm wondering. Apparently they can't go back in the records to correct past bills.
I'm glad they were able to correct the problem but now I'm wondering how often am I being billed incorrectly for things. If I hadn't called and just paid the bill no one would have ever known. It's the fleecing of America I tell you! Keep an eye on your electric company and if something seems fishy, don't hesitate to call.
By the way, some have wondered what ever happened in our plumbing episode. Luckily Dave was able to get it all fixed the next day. I had to spend a night and a day without a kitchen or bathroom sink and my kitchen sink plug doesn't quite work anymore... but at least everything drains and there are no leaks! whoo hooo, you have to love home ownership.
12 years ago
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5 comments:
I had one of those experiences this month. I completely feel for you and I am glad you called! When I called, unfortunately the CS Rep told me the bill was right!
Ughhh... can't wait for Spring!
i'm so glad it was wrong! thank goodness we are on a payment plan for our gas bill so I haven't had to shell out life savings during the winter months!
Same thing happened to me once too. Instead of 1000 watts of power they put down 10,000 - apparently it makes a big difference! Some days I want a job as a meter reader.
When we lived in Poland the first few months our phone bill was SUPER high, like $300 a month.. I told Pawel I only called home a few times... the 3rd or 4th month it was still high (and I didn't call at all to prove a point) After that we went to the phone company (who had no phone number to call-it's Poland) and requested a print out of each months bill, of course they couldn't get back ones, only the current one... after that with the SAME amount of calling, our bill was under $50 from then on...
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