Electric Bill problem!!! (apartments, refrigerator, estimated)

[cabal1366]

I just received my final bill for my last apartment (790 sq. ft.). I average about 700 kwh, but on this bill it says I used over 4000 kwh for only 20 days. How can something like this happen? Other than disputing the bill, which I have, what else can I do?
I will say this, if anything it should have gone down. I got rid of 2 large aquariums and I quit using the dishwasher (due to hard water problems). The a/c thermostat had not been touched. The only thing different that happened was our refrigerator stopped cooling, but was replaced in less than 24 hours.
Does this sound like a bizarre situation to anyone else?

[tdhg566]

Yes, sounds pretty bizarre. Possibly someone was stealing/using the electricity in the apartment between the time you left and the meter was read. ?did you arrange for it to be read the last day you were there? Did you read the meter yourself to double check their numbers?

Will be interesting to hear their explanation for why 700 kwh/month average usage suddenly jumped to 6000 kwh (extrapolating your 4000 kwh for 20 days).

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Not sure if this applies in your case, but for manual readings on residential meters, it is common practice for the electric company to guess/average your meter now and again when they cannot read it for one month, for whatever the reason. Dogs, even heavy rains can cause the company not to get a reading, they only visit once a month and don't re-visit if they missed it.... they guess, and what happens is what you experienced. Eventually they will read the exact numbers and your bill will return to normal, or may even go down if they overestimated. 'Happens all the time.

[HoustonRonnie]

Originally Posted by cabal1366

I just received my final bill for my last apartment (790 sq. ft.). I average about 700 kwh, but on this bill it says I used over 4000 kwh for only 20 days. How can something like this happen? Other than disputing the bill, which I have, what else can I do?
I will say this, if anything it should have gone down. I got rid of 2 large aquariums and I quit using the dishwasher (due to hard water problems). The a/c thermostat had not been touched. The only thing different that happened was our refrigerator stopped cooling, but was replaced in less than 24 hours.
Does this sound like a bizarre situation to anyone else?

I had that happen once. Called my provider, they looked at the history, told me "that can't be right", postponed a payment due date a week, sent out a dude to re-read the meter and I ended up with a bill that made all the sense in the world.

Ronnie

[cabal1366]

I can understand that they sometimes estimate, but this is an apartment and there is absolutely nothing blocking the meter. I tried to go read the meter, but the problem is there are 8 meters and 24 apartments. I am wondering if they have 3 apartments per meter and average it? Plus, there is no way of knowing which meter is for what apartment.
The other problem I have with the estimation, is for there to be a mistake this large means that they have never actually come checked the meter. Like one poster said, if you extrapolate to a full 30 days, that is 6000 kwh used. That would be avbout 75% of a year's normal use. There has to be a problem.
I am currently disputing it, but if that does not fix it, I guess I will have to file a complaint with the PUC.

[cabal1366]

Also, we were completely out on Sept 3rd, which is the day the power was to be turned off. I find it hard to believe that that much electricity could even be used in such a small apartment in such a short period of time.

[piyf]

I've heard of a sub meter for water but not for electricity.