Comments on: “WTF?” Widespread Overcharging and Irregularities Reported from Utilities’ Bi-Monthly Analog Meter Reads and Estimated Billing- Tempers Flare at Washington State Forum

By: Mrs. Mary Seres

Mrs. Mary Seres — Mon, 21 Nov 2016 19:58:42 +0000

The last of July I was in the hospital for almost a week with heart problems, my husband being there with me every day until I came home. Two days after we came home we got out Edison bill and that almost put me back in the hospital. It was for $472. We have lived in this house with 4 kids and grandkids and an A/C that has a automatic turn off during the summer months for high use by Edison of our choosing. We opted out of the SmartMeter over 3 years ago, paid our opt out fee of $75 and every month a $10 fee on top of that for 3 years. To get a bill for over $400 is not right and we noticed on the bill it says (estimated use) they are not even sending some one out to read our analog meter?
This is not right. I have health issues above and beyond my heart issues as in thyroid (no thyroid gland) which makes me very sensitive to heat and cold as well. When I called Edison about this bill they said well she couldn’t tell my use because I didn’t have the Smart Meter, but that I could pay this bill over a 3 mo period and apply for a “Medical baseline” where the fee’s would be charged at a lower rate. What difference does that make if they are just estimating the cost. There is no one here in our home except my husband and me and two dogs, and then later in the evening my grandson comes home and then leaves at 6:30 a.m. every day. Something needs to be done about Edison and their over charging especially to those of us who have decided not to get the Smart Meters this is pure revenge. We have lived in this house for 36 years and never in our life living here has our electric bill been even near that rate. Can someone let me know if there are any lawsuits against Edison on this? Thank you.
We are on fixed income, and we can’t afford this every month. This last bill we got even tho I applied for the medical baseline was still over a $100 and it has not been that high for years.

By: Karina T.

Karina T. — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 22:37:53 +0000

Pge estimated my usage from 8/22-10/26 and I do have a smart meter installed. For whatever reason, they were unable to communicate with the meter from their end and so they had to send someone out to manually read it or reset it or something. How could they let this go on for so long??? Oh right, they make more money that way. So now I have a $900 bill on my hands for those two months when I haven’t run the a/c since early September.

By: R

Sun, 06 Nov 2016 21:27:21 +0000

I had the same problem with PG&E and low usage estimates in the first month of the two month periods, followed by high usage in the second month pushing my bill to the next tier level.

The first time this happened, I tried calling customer service and asking to have the bill adjusted and the customer service rep told me they could not adjust it. After repeated calls and request to speak to a supervisor, I eventually got to a supervisor who adjusted the charges (changing the bill for both months and crediting back my account) to an even split across the two month.

After that they continued to be difficult every time I called in with the issue. I filed a complain on the CPUC web page and got back a call from a higher up manager in PG&E who agreed that I could call in and request to have the bills from both months recalculated to an even split. He gave me a direct phone number and said I could call him directly if I encounter any further difficulty on the issue.

So far things seem ok, but too soon to tell yet.

By: Dolby Dubrow

Dolby Dubrow — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 00:13:40 +0000

I am mad as hell; I just got off the phone with those robbers. How dare they estimate me. Telling me, they charged me 700.00 based on my usage of Oct of last year. Are you fucking kidding me? Just because I did it yesterday, doesn’t mean I did it today. I pay them every month to be opted out, and they still are raping me. Where is the class action lawsuit for such injustice? What can we do, let’s start one now? I know there are more people out there too. We can go on social media and gather people to stop this rape…..

By: Albion

Albion — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 04:12:50 +0000

Well I have a analog meter here in San Diego and they have started bi monthly reads and I have noticed my bill go up by $250 more then normal. I try to save on electricity by immediately stopping any A/C after this happened and even with that and stopping other usage, my bill is still higher then from a year ago. How do they expect people to conserve or want to conserve. I mean does this mean I have to shut down use of ANYTHING at all in order to get something I use to be able to afford to pay? The first time I called SDGE to complain about this, the so-called representative said three times, “Well why don’t you change over to a smart meter?” We had read the meter the same day they use to come out and read it and gave them the numbers, but they said, “We don’t take readings from customers.” They said they would extend my due date to 15 days or so later. It turns out when I called to get the balance and due date from the automated voice, it was still the same and I am late on the bill. So the next time I called I asked for the email for the billing department so I could send in the estimated numbers and ask them to revise my bill in writing. The rep, a female this time, said the billing dept doesn’t have an email. “How about a fax number?” No they don’t have that either, she said. So I asked where I can go to the department in person to drop off my letter. She said they don’t have a place where you can go. Days later…I called again. Turns out there is a way to be “rebilled” for two months that should accomplish what I am looking for so I called and asked to be “rebilled” for the last two months I have been overcharged. Finally they said, “Okay, but it’s going to take months for that to happen.” I asked why. She said the billing department don’t have enough people working there to catch up. Can you believe that? Huh? I said I will gladly apply for a job there to help them out since I am going to need another JOB just to pay my electric bill. She said, “Ha, ha, funny.” Yes, it is “funny” alright. Anyway, they told me to check into perhaps, “Medical Baseline Allowance” that should maybe be helpful but a doctor has to sign off on it. Their bi-monthly estimation program is a HUGE scam designed to make “unlimited” amounts of money off of you. Jerry Brown is letting them get away with this. If everyone made a complaint to their district attorney and the Attorney General, I would recommend this. SDGE are liars and thieves. They are trying to force everyone into using smart meters with this blatant tactic. They are totally obnoxious. Everytime I call them, I get a different story. They are literally destroying the economy with their monopoly. I am considering doing without electricity and going on candle power. I can use my office for my computer for which the rent costs less than their electric bill per month. I can use a generator or battery to power my cell phone. This is what I will have to do if this doesn’t change. I have no other choice as I don’t make enough money for their GREED and MONOPOLY.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sun, 28 Aug 2016 19:07:40 +0000

I live in Huntingburg Indiana and my bill doubled for no legitimate reason. I made an inquiry on Facebook and found that my neighbors had the same thing happen.

By: Lorraine

Lorraine — Sun, 17 Jul 2016 20:18:02 +0000

In reply to Ronny Rat.

I TRULY UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU MEAN!!…I am a victim of SCE being over charged a tremendous amount every month. I will try to keep things brief so that you won’t be discouraged to reading lengthy information I would like to share. I have lived in my home since 10/14. I paid a little over $200 for a deposit, I do have a large family of 6 4 adults and kids. We use electricity in moderation keeping a healthy bill in mind. In the early months Jan -May, the bills were from $200 to $350 a month which is high but affordable for us. during the summer of 2015 we used ac quite a bit so expected a higher bill roughly around $500-$600 which is still in the affordable range. We pay our bills EVERY MONTH! and our income dropped because of loss wages & employment but still continued to pay bill. We had a couple of checks that was returned , when funds reached account late, but always paid soon after what ever amount of return was. After summer of 2015 is when our NIGHTMARE really! started. in September of 2015 we received a bill for a little over $5000 WTF!.. to our DISBELIEF we contacted SCE, they said we haven’t paid our bill in a year!!?? I never heard anything crazier. So going forward we made arrangements to pay bill, not knowing why or what we can do. We got help paying bill from utility assistance of just $1000 which question the bill as well. We are on a fixed income. receiving SSI and VA benefits. We have been paying monthly $500 to a $1000 a month excluding whatever the monthly bill is. I didn’t know what to do so we continue to call SCE to question bill and same response. A threat of disconnection and also inconsideration of our situation. I DO NOT believe that were being billed correctly! there has to be an ERROR of some sort down the line. We really need help because were currently on a payment plan of $550 a month excluding regular bill and this month I received a monthly bill of a little over $600 so that is due along with the $550 totaling over $110 for just 1 month. I really understand how you feel and hoping allot of others can come forward and join together to have this company investigated for FRAUD and THEFT to many others and a possible reimbursement which I’m sure allot of us are due for. thanks for your post, which inspired me to do the same..I’m really looking for some help to resolve the monthly stress and headaches I receive because of this company OUTRAGEOUS GREED and MONTHLY CHARGES.

By: Tara Fryer

Tara Fryer — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 14:44:08 +0000

Elect bill 615! It tripled! And summer just started wth!! My biggest bill last yr was 656! It’s because they estimate every other month they dont read every month so the estimated month didn’t charge us enough and new bill charged the new charges which have the difference in amount we used last month but thrown us in high high bracket but thats not fair because we used part of that the month before so how can they charge us for the most expensive tier when last months could have been a lower tier usage but they cant kno the difference that was used so im just screwed?!! The months they estimate are gonna be off previous read so now their gonna go off my 600 bill??? How can this be fair???!

By: Sean

Sean — Sun, 27 Mar 2016 01:09:26 +0000

All I can add to this is I’m on the True up method where once a year at my true up time they add up all payments I’ve made during the year-true up to true up for me is Oct to Oct. Since I don’t want a huge bill I still pay monthly and that includes the small electrical charge amount and I read my own meter-analog of course on the same day they do according to the meter read schedule and I note the time as well. I’ve been getting the same BS from PG&E, every other month estimate reads, so far if it’s higher on one by the next one it usually balances out, my usage is usually the same month to month year to year but with my solar depending on the weather, their est can be higher than my reading. So, example since I pay monthly even though it says the amount I’ve entered is more than twice the amount due-another sneaky maneuver they use since they’re only using that small electrical charge as all I owe-and using my usage statistics online I can compare as close as I can get for the kwh’s and cost based on previous bills, since I did this all last year when they did the true up I came out ahead and had a high credit amount from which they deduct only that small charge amt all yr. but you have to keep track of it so you know when you’ve used that credit amt up-they will not deduct the actual monthly amt I pay from it I have to do that and I must say that’s just rotten of them to do, it took me awhile to realize this since I’m not used to a credit amount showing a minus sign before the dollar amt and thought I owed them that amount that’s how I ended up with such a huge credit amt. As of today I did the math since I only paid the 1st bill and figured since cash was tight I’d use up my credit and I’m now evened out but that credit amt won’t reflect that, and will start monthly payments again going by MY readings and comparisons not theirs and since I’m on the true up method they can’t charge me for late payments anyway or I could wait till next true up but I’d have a large bill. They basically are punishing us for opting out and I feel sorry for anyone who goes by them telling you if you phone you have a credit amt but neglect to tell you they are figuring that according to that small electrical monthly charge and people could go all year thinking they still have a large credit amount but that will be deducted at true up time and they could end up owing a lot more than they were led to believe. Obviously this is from a solar system point of view but I thought there may be people out there that need to know this and it stinks when you think of all the $ they’re saving by not paying meter readers anymore plus less book-keeping charges and still they want more and what got me going today was reading about those trojan horse meters, rotten to the core these people are, don’t think I have one but will be getting an RF meter just to be sure.

By: Craig

Craig — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 05:44:15 +0000

My SDGE utility bill last month was unusually small. I figured it was a catch up from an actual meter read and they had estimated the previous two months.

I have refused to pay the opt out meter exchange fee and the monthly reading fee ever since I had the analog meter put back due to severe health problems caused by their SM. I only pay the actual charges. I have sent them two letters demanding they remove the charges, but they tell me they can’t. They have never threatened me with delinquency or shut-off. It may be because I notified them in writing when I filled out their on-line form that I refused to pay the fees, but must have the meter replaced due to health problems. I screen captured my opt-out form notice and saved the image for evidence.

Regarding the estimated meter readings and preventing escalated billings, my suggestion is to read your own meter, write down the numbers, and take a digital photo with a date/time stamp. When your bill comes, compare your meter read with their bill. If it differs greatly, make your own math adjustment based on their billing charges, and pay only what you calculate that you owe sending them a copy of the photo with your meter read number. You should be able to time this exactly to the date of the utility meter read as their bill indicates the date of the next meter reading.