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Sorry for the long post, I wanted to give you the whole picture.
Ok, so here's the story: I moved into an apartment (in a medium-sized apartment building) last April. Last April was still chilly and as soon as I settled in, I noticed the place seemed drafty. I inquired about the heating situation and was told that the boiler was on automatic, so whenever the temperature outside dropped to a certain amount during certain hours, the heat would come on automatically. It did, but the apartment was still cold at times. As soon as summer rolled around, this was no longer a problem. I figured the heat in the winter would be more substantial. It wasn't. But it was still within the legal limit. So I dressed warmly in my own apartment, sealed up the windows, and every day I turned on the oven to get the place nice and toasty. I resorted to buying a space heater for my bedroom because as soon as the place started to get a little warm, the heat when off and it was cold again. I kept the space heater on energy saver so it cut off when the area reached the desired temperature. When spring came again, I was thrilled. During the summer, I didn't run air conditioning much but the bill was about $175. In the fall, when I didn't use air conditioning or a space heater at all, the bill was still $90. Then with the space heater it went up to about $200. I figured the air conditioning and space heater were running up the bill, but I had to pay if I wanted to be comfortable.
Then came June. I got a $2500 bill from ConEd. I figured it was a mistake. ConEd swore up and down it wasn't and said that it was for the months of December and January. They said my energy usage spiked in those two months and this was the adjusted bill (on top of the $175-200 a month I already paid). I wasn't buying it. I saw my usage and in the hottest months it went up to 700kwh. But in a two-month period, it was 11,670kwh. I know space heaters use a lot of electricity, but this we are talking about $3000 for two months and I only used it a night - just me, one person!
I continued to question the bill but ended up making a payment arrangement so it wouldn't accrue interest. ConEd said it was no mistake and that if I wanted to investigate my landlord would have to hire a private electrician. My landlord said my bills are my problem and that they would not pay for anyone to access the meters. So I started and paying and paying.
Then I got a letter via telewire that has my name and account number on it, but is addressed to the super once you open the letter. It says they will fine me/him $100 if he doesn't call to set a time for them to access the meter that is supplying service to various tenants. This got me to thinking. The super used to live in my apartment. Is it possible that I am paying his bill too? Or maybe paying for the light bill in common areas? When I looked back, a $90 for one person with no ac and no space heater (cooking gas is paid separately) who works and has no special appliances besides a laptop and a cell phone(which I have always had). And then in December in January the bill was sky high. True, the heater raised the bill, but maybe I am paying for someone else's space heater or the Christmas lights in the lobby, etc.
Has anyone else had a similar problem? How did you resolve? Have you ever heard of a bill this high? I called ConEd again and this time reported possible “theft of services” so now they are finally agreeing to send someone out. In the meantime, I still have to pay until they finish their investigation.
So I dressed warmly in my own apartment, sealed up the windows, and every day I turned on the oven to get the place nice and toasty.
You understand that Con Ed is charging you for both gas and electric, right? Gas = having your oven on all the time to keep yourself warm in addition to the space heaters. I've never run the oven often enough to know what having it on constantly during two months would do to my bill, but know that it would certainly increase the bill. So I would check if you can distinguish between the gas and electric portions of the bill.
Often Con Ed will do an estimated billing until they can get in and actually read the meters. Therefore they might not have estimated that you would have the oven on constantly in the winter.
You understand that Con Ed is charging you for both gas and electric, right? Gas = having your oven on all the time to keep yourself warm in addition to the space heaters. I've never run the oven often enough to know what having it on constantly during two months would do to my bill, but know that it would certainly increase the bill. So I would check if you can distinguish between the gas and electric portions of the bill.
Often Con Ed will do an estimated billing until they can get in and actually read the meters. Therefore they might not have estimated that you would have the oven on constantly in the winter.
Oh, I forgot to mention that Con Edison does not provide our gas. I pay a gas bill too!
You understand that Con Ed is charging you for both gas and electric, right? Gas = having your oven on all the time to keep yourself warm in addition to the space heaters. I've never run the oven often enough to know what having it on constantly during two months would do to my bill, but know that it would certainly increase the bill. So I would check if you can distinguish between the gas and electric portions of the bill.
Often Con Ed will do an estimated billing until they can get in and actually read the meters. Therefore they might not have estimated that you would have the oven on constantly in the winter.
And remember, I do work in the day, so the oven is just when I get home from work and on weekends. I never slept with it on - that's when I would use the space heater.
You never should have paid them anything. 11670 kWh for 2 months is like having over five space heaters going full time. It's not just crap, it's obvious crap, and ConEd knows it.
any appliance that draws heat uses a lot of electricity. space heaters are the worst.
con ed rates have been raised severly. I am still in the same apt for 25 years and started on a buget of 30 dollars, now other than a computer it is 92 a month.
robbery con ed is robbery...then they lower the power so we dont have a black out, but the rates still stay the same.
any appliance that draws heat uses a lot of electricity. space heaters are the worst.
con ed rates have been raised severly. I am still in the same apt for 25 years and started on a buget of 30 dollars, now other than a computer it is 92 a month.
robbery con ed is robbery...then they lower the power so we dont have a black out, but the rates still stay the same.
sigh
I think in order to really understand a 2500 bill, you have to understand kwh. People see the term 'space heater' and they say that it spikes up your bill. But one space heater on energy saver only at night will not amount to 116000 kwh. The lowest my light bill has ever been since I moved is $90 and was for one person who works during the day using no ac or electric heat. I have a lot of sunlight and dont need a lot of lights on during the day on the weekend. I am not using anything more than before I moved here last year. My old apartment was so hot that I used ac all year long.
I fought coned on this because the bill was always so high and then to slap an extra 2500 on.top of it.was crazy. I only paid them to stop it from accruin interest. The bill crossed 3k mark with the interest.
I faxed the letter about the meter reading to the landlord. They finally realized something wasnt right. Has anyone ever had a bill with this much lwh usage?
I am just having my morning coffee so maybe a little foggy:
BUT I see "116,000 kwhr." At $.29 per Kwhr one would expect to pay $33,640.
Okay, now lets look at a space heater, usually 1500 watts or 1.5 Kw. Running continously for 2 months, an assumption, will use 1116 Kwhr costing $324. This is awful but nowhere near itsasmallworld's billing.
So someone IS using your electricity. It happened to me for months and months till I figured it out (a large apartment was broken into 2 and all the electricity came through MY meter.)
Do you have access to your meter. READ IT, RECORD IT to get a baseline.
Then throw the circuit breaker (or pull the fuse if an ancient building.)
When I did it, it didn't take long for my neighbor to come into the hall complaining about "no lights."
I quizzed nim and he said "The landlord told me my electricity was included in the rent."
So I offered to split the bill but he said NO.
So then whenever I went out I unscrewed my fuse.
The landlord had him wired separately.
In any case, snoop around and see what power goes off or what tenants come out grumbling...perhaps the entire basement. BUT since the brouhaha occurred midwinter, my guess is that you are paying for someone to run SEVERAL space heaters full tilt.
Walk around with witnesses and take pictures of everything in case you try to recover the $2500 in court.
A home just cannot use $2500 worth of electricity in 2 months. We had 2 - 5,000 Watt electric heaters to provide ALL my heat and NOB0DY in the building ever paid more than a $400 electric bill...ever. So there is theft of service going on for sure.
Yeah, there's simply no way that figure is correct. It sounds like you're paying for several people's electricity. A space heater simply can't use that much, unless by "space heater" you mean "freaking industrial warehouse heater running all damn day." That's wonderful that ConEd can simply stonewall you and basically stick their fingers in their ears and shout, "LA LA LA, CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
Unless you have a large apartment, your figures all around seem pretty high. I have a one bedroom, and in the winter I average around $75-$80 (with a space heater) and in the summer around the $100 mark with the A/C going.
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