Misread electricity meter? (Austin: credit, how much, cost)

[oskier]

I was just wondering if anyone has had a misread electric meter. I received my bill for December from Austin Energy and it was double what I normally pay in addition to double what i normally use. I asked them to send someone out to reread the meter. I received a bill for January last week and it still seems off. Actually, it seems like they took last months reading and knocked off a couple of KWH. Reading the meter on the side of my house, it seems they have misread it by almost 800 KWH. I contacted customer service again and they said they would put in for an adjustment and to check back later. I called back this week and they said no adjustment was made because the reading was correct. I must be blind or not know how to read a meter (could be both, I suppose ). The lady told me there was nothing else that could be done, but after I kept firmly requesting the next step or a supervisor, she said she would request that someone call me about this problem. Has this ever happened to anyone else and how did you get it resolved? Thanks.

[car957]

Do you have the old analog meter or one of the new digital RF meters? If its the later, it takes one billing cycle to adjust from the old to new meter.

[oskier]

Still the old one.

[tourbound129]

So far I have only noticed once that our meter was read incorrectly but it was only by about 100 KWh. I called them just to let them know but I didn't request a re-read because the $13 or so wasn't really worth it. I check my electric meter atleast once a week so that I can keep an eye on any possible problems that might arise.

[dfarmer002]

A lil fyi..

Our beighbor just bought and installed an electonic digital device that goves him a wireless readout of the exisiting meter usage. I dont have the specifics of where he bought it or the product, but such "after market" items exists.

[tourbound129]

Originally Posted by dfarmer002

A lil fyi..

Our beighbor just bought and installed an electonic digital device that goves him a wireless readout of the exisiting meter usage. I dont have the specifics of where he bought it or the product, but such "after market" items exists.

More than likely it is something like this: Power Cost Monitor

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by tourbound129

More than likely it is something like this: Power Cost Monitor

I've got one of those, it's great. Even though it monitors the overall current usage from the meter, you can easily identify individual power hogs -- just turn everything off, establish a baseline, then turn things on and see how much they bump up the usage. You can view by kWh or by actual $ per hour (based on the rates you input during setup). It will also show you your total monthly bill thus far. They claim you can reduce your electricity usage 20% just by having the ability to monitor your usage in realtime. I believe it.

[cdcurrin]

remember if one month they charge you for an extra 100 KWH, the next month you will be charged for 100 KWH less, if it is a manually read meter. The new RF meters are human proof and should not be a problem.

[oskier]

Just in case anyone has this same problem (I can't be the only one), thought I would post the results. After my last phone call to customer service, which was of no help, I decided instead to email customer service. They were more receptive and asked me to forward the pictures I had taken (I had been taking a picture of my meter everyday since the first misreading) and they would take care of it. They finally got it. . .semi-right on my last bill after two erroneous billings and I got a credit on my bill (although, I believe it should've been $7-10 less, but I am too tired to argue anymore). The last reading they printed on my electricity bill had a date of 2/28, but was actually the reading of my meter on 2/23 (as found by going through my pictures). Hopefully all will be 100% correct on the next bill. So, if anyone else comes across an incorrect meter reading, I would just take pictures everyday so you have proof the reading was wrong.

[CptnRn]

If you look at your electric bill about half way down the first page it will tell you the approximate date of your next meter reading. You can go out and check it yourself on that date so you can compare the readings.