Comments on: Our electric bill doubled

By: Hokie Hokie Hi

Hokie Hokie Hi — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:55:47 +0000

I thought that if you suspected a problem with your meter, they were supposed to come check for free. I would be so ticked…cows would be had.

By: bluntmoney

bluntmoney — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:38:48 +0000

Good points, Debbie. I definitely plan to check into that as well.

Bruce, I found a site that tells how to figure household energy usage (http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/whyhigh.html) but unfortunately it looks like that method won’t work for us because we now have the new style of meter. So I’ll do the math first ;)

By: Bruce

Bruce — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:29:10 +0000

When you figure out how to check that for free (aside from the math problem from Debbie M), i hope you’ll let everyone know.

By: Debbie M

Debbie M — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:43:58 +0000

I think a doubling of your bill might make sense.

Let’s assume it started at $100, because that’s a nice round number. Let’s say that because it’s so much hotter, you used 33% more energy than usual per day, so that’s $133 for the month. Because the prices are higher, you might be paying an additional 10% per unit of energy used, so that’s $13, bringing you up to $146. Because you’re paying for an extra week, that’s an extra 25% of energy use time or $36 for a total of $182. That’s close to double.

You can check all these percentages yourself (for free, without paying $25).

I agree it’s rude of them to charge you for an extra week right when they’re charging their highest rates, but it’s just a scary time of the year.

My condolences.

By: Ashley @ Wide Open Wallet

Ashley @ Wide Open Wallet — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:19:14 +0000

Oh man… I’d be livid! That’s crazy. I hope you get it worked out. Keep us posted.

By: Nan Patience

Nan Patience — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:26:10 +0000

Boy, you know when a company has you by the b*lls when they think they can charge you $25 for a visit like that. New meters that are supposedly twice as accurate and double your electric bill? What??? It’s outrageous.