A most interesting power bill

[Clifford]

A little over a month ago my local power company decided to cut the power to my house.  Yes, the bill was paid...  actually it was paid up several months in advance (that story to follow).

So..   that action plunged me into the solar energy market.

Well, I finally got my first electric bill being "off grid" for an entire month.

Apparently the electric company doesn't like ZERO power consumption  (which of course is most easily explained by the fact that they cut the power lines feeding my house and I've flipped my main to prevent backfeeding).

And, I would assume their electronic power consumption metering system is not functioning right (due to power company having cut the power to it, and my not backfeeding it).  I wonder how long it will take them to send out a technician to determine the problem with their electronic signaling device.  Maybe I will get a brand new meter !!!!

So...

They've charged me for the connect fee ($7.25/month) PLUS an estimated consumption of 30 KWH at 5.42 cents per KWH.  And, of course, adding in 47 cents for the city tax.

I have no idea where the 30 KWH came from.  Perhaps from last month's bill which was only a partial month.

I guess they still want the connect fee, as they still have wires coming to my house.  There is just a 1" gap between my wires and their main service wires.

My conclusion is.....

Even if GOD provides the power to my house...  the power company still wants a cut of it.

[ghurd]

So why did they cut the power?

Seems like work orders etc would show you shoudn't get a bill.

G-

[adelaide]

good side sounds like u are getting more self sufishent  , maby ring sort out and make some more things r e with the mony u save , refund / they may just follow a set proces if meetrer broken? (not take into acont you are r e )

[wildbill hickup]

See that's what you get for overpaying your bill :->

"They've charged me for the connect fee ($7.25/month)" course if you tell them to come disconnect it they'll charge a disconnect fee.

It'll be interesting to see how many nasty-grams you get before they realize they turned the power off. Did you get a letter or any documentation that advises you they were turnig the power off?

[Volvo farmer]

$.055/kwh is a pretty good rate, it's over $.08 here.

I wonder what they will do if you don't pay the bill? Shut off the sun?

[drdongle]

Sounds like a typical corporate SNAFU and they don't want to admit it. You may have a case for a law suit. The 30 KW is probably from bill averaging, some power companies make fewer rounds in the winter and rely on the average from the previous month, or even the previous year.

If you doing well on your own get it disconnected and screw im.

[crashk6]

Hmm, find out for sure if the 30KWh is from last month, if so pay that and that only. Do NOT pay the connect fee or the city tax. As you are no longer a customer due to there actions you have no responsibility to pay for current charges, your only responsibility would be to write a letter stating their services may be considered terminated retroactive to the disconnection date... infact do it as a re: to the bill.

They may infact then want to charge you a disconnect fee... refuse to pay it on the basis that they already preformed the disconnect, and as it was unauthorized you are not required to pay them for a service rendered without your consent. <GRIN>

Treat it as though you are building a legal case... then laugh wildly about corporate idiocy! I know I am!

Do you own your home?

If so you might like this story,

A few years ago a fellow I knew went off grid, he called the electric company on the preceding month and requested as of the first of the upcoming moth his service be disconnected, ok, no problem, says the customer service rep.

Yep... you guessed it. They never disconnected him, but it gets better. They charged him the disconnect fee on his "last" bill, which he paid. But they continued to send him ESTIMATED bills after he was "no longer a customer"! No mater how many phone calls and talking to managers going down in person and pleading to stop billing him.. he couldn't seem to convince the electric company that he really didn't need them... they in effect had the idea they were irreplaceable... I guess.

Although his meter was reporting no usage they kept sending the estimated bills.

After six months of this.. at wits end and not knowing what else to do... he called me... I listened to his story sympathetically (and truth be told some absurd amusement), then he spoke those magical words, Do you think you could do anything?

Well... I knew just what to do.

Later that day I arrived at his home and dawned my lineman's gloves...

a few moments later I had shimmied up the ladder with my cable cutters and was in the process of "disconnecting service". We then removed the weather head and all service equipment from the outside of the house (saved the electrical suplies of course). I then had him photo copy the bills and tape them to the meter, I wrote "service discontinued" across them then made my way to hand deliver the meter to the electric co's office.

When I arrived the cordial young woman ask "may I help you", I responded by chucking the dismounted meter on the counter... The expression on the young lady's face was priceless... She then said "uh.. just a moment, I'll get my manager" and she promptly evaporated. After a lengthy and tepid discussion with the manager about electric company policy and all the legalities of "my misconduct" involving one of their CUSTOMERS... I left.

I must preface that everyone working for the companies was extremely "nice"... patronizingly so, they treated you as though you were an unstable mental patient... just nod and smile, not that they didn't hear what you were saying, they just assumed you couldn't possibly know what you want and that what they decided was "for your own good" .

We soon found out they were not convinced just yet when a lineman came out to re-install the meter!... He was surprised to find no place to put it (although at this point we both had a few unspoken suggestions).

He radioed his supervisor who instructed him to investigate to see if electricity was being stolen. >insert hysterical laughter here<

The day came to a close and I went home.

He called me sometime later to report the electric co sent him a letter saying "Were sorry to see you go, thank you for your business. If you rejoin the comunity please let us know" Huh? okay sure.. so if you don't have service that must mean you've moved away apparently.

On the up side, he hasn't heard from them since!

--

crashK6

[dinges]

Why do I feel better after reading your story...

Peter,

The Netherlands.

[Clifford]

I liked your story...  

Carrying in the meter to the power company...  while draumatic...  I hope they didn't try to charge you for tampering with the meter....  It would be suspicious that nothing had shown up for current usage for a few months, then you show up with the meter in hand.

When I purchased my house, my main water shutoff valve was leaking.  So, I talked to the water company and their outside valve had frozen.  But, they said that if I replaced the shutoff valve to just cut the wires around the meter to do the repair and then call them back to fix the anti-tamper wires.  So, I replaced the shutoff valve with full pressure (good think the basement was empty).  And, called the water company up.  They were a bit suspicious at first.  But, put their anti-tamper wire things back on.  As it was a couple of months before I moved into the house, my water usage was kind of low and the water company called up for an additional inspection of the meter.

As far as the 30KW...

That is an "estimated usage"...  based on someone's imagination.  

I have learned to read the meter dial thingies....   They report last month's reading being xxxxx10 (where it still is).  However, they "estimated" that the dials should read xxxxx40 (and thus 30 KW usage).

Truthfully...   I would guess that I generated about 4-6 KW over the month...  so they weren't too far off on their estimate (except that was energy that I generated and didn't buy from them).

I prefer paying bills every couple of months.  I guess I overpaid the electric company a bit more than I should have before they shut off the power...   It will be several months before they run the account down to zero.  And, hopefully by that time, I'll have found a better place to live.