HELP!!! My electric bill TRIPLED! **UPDATED- RESOLVED**

[mel]

I work for an electric company and deal with this on a daily basis. Most customers call in when they receive a high bill and automatically think something is wrong with their meter. We explain that "MOST" of the time when electrical meters "go bad", they slow down, not speed up. We issue a RRHB (re read high bill) ticket and have meter service go back out and check the reading. Our meter reading is contracted out to another company and there have been several times the meter reader had estimated the customers bill instead of reading it. Sometimes they have legitimate reasons for estimating such as if there are dogs in the fence or the gate is locked. However, there have been plenty of times there was no reason for the estimation. If we find a reading discrepancy, we turn in the correct reading and they are credited for it on their next bill.

I know this isn't what happened to you, but just wanted to let others know their options in case it happened to any one else.

 

[nana2tots]

mickeyfan2, It says, Love thy neighbor , but don't get caught, but to share electricity

 

[Cindi0511]

UPDATE:

Ok, It was my fault . A few months ago, I had misplaced my Disney Visa so I temporarily stopped the automatic billing. When I found my Visa 2 days later, I re-activated the automatic payments. Apparently, I somehow missed a payment so this statement (for the $200+) was for TWO months of service, plus a late fee. I believe it is all good now. I went back and checked my Visa statements and verified that there was indeed a month with no charge to the electric company.

I'm glad you got it figured out. It will be less of a shock if you wrote the amount out of your checkbook to pay the Visa anyway a few months ago. Either way, at least you know, and that is .

 

[seashoreCM]

>>> coils under the fridge

In order for something to be made cooler, something else has to be made warmer. In the case of a refrigerator, a Freon circulating system (physics Ph.D. required) takes heat from the inside of the cabinet and tries to put that heat outside the cabinet and the coils act like a heating system radiator. Air must circulate to cool down the coils otherwise it takes longer for the interior of the cabinet to be cooled down and the 'fridge mechanics operate for more hours. Dust impedes the air circulation as does pushing a 'fridge with rear mounted coils all the way against the wall behind it.

>>> share electricity

This is actually a misnomer. Any individual watt or kilowatt can only be used by one person's device or light or appliance, etc. Now you can say, "share an electrical service" where two or more apartments are served by the same meter.

>>> flat panel TV

The plasma models consume much more electricity for a given screen size than the LCD models.

 

[nordkin]

I work for an electric company and deal with this on a daily basis. Most customers call in when they receive a high bill and automatically think something is wrong with their meter. We explain that "MOST" of the time when electrical meters "go bad", they slow down, not speed up. We issue a RRHB (re read high bill) ticket and have meter service go back out and check the reading. Our meter reading is contracted out to another company and there have been several times the meter reader had estimated the customers bill instead of reading it. Sometimes they have legitimate reasons for estimating such as if there are dogs in the fence or the gate is locked. However, there have been plenty of times there was no reason for the estimation. If we find a reading discrepancy, we turn in the correct reading and they are credited for it on their next bill.

I know this isn't what happened to you, but just wanted to let others know their options in case it happened to any one else.

I also work for an electric company and our procedure is the same. We do not contract out our meter reading as we are automated with drive by technology and only visually read commercial meters and time of use meters.

There are many reasons a meter is estimated and most of the time it is legitimate. I wish more people would realize their friendly dog gets very protective when a stranger attempts to come into the yard. Dogs and fences are a Meter Readers worst enemy. Also depending on where you live, weather can be a factor in whether or not your reading is estimated. If it too dangerous for you to be on the road then it is too dangerous for the Meter Reader to be on the road. We only have a three day window to read the meters for specific location per month. If we are unable to read them in that three day window they are estimated.

 

[girli565]

I'm glad I went with an LCD over plasma. Our electric bill is high enough already with my mother and her constant hot flashes!