Have you received your CenterPoint electric bill yet? Be prepared! (Houston: loan, lawsuit)

[Mom2Feebs]

Have you seen this story?

Whopping electric bills come as a shock to some on CenterPoint's grid | TOP STORIES | KHOU.com | News for Houston, Texas (http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou080930_tnt_electric_bills.ca148504.html - broken link)

HOUSTON—Ebony McMillian spent 11 days without power, but her electric bill still came as a shock.

It was $972.57.

“I looked at it and I thought, I don’t even have a house, so how am I going to have a bill this high,” McMillian said.

[EasilyAmused]

That's a lawsuit waiting to happen

[tstone]

No one receives electric bills from Centerpoint. People only get gas bills from them.

This situation sounds more like a data entry clerk issue.

[oceangaia]

Centerpoint is scamming the people.

First, they have said they will be estimating for the next several months, not just this month. So any over estimates will not be corrected for many months.

Second, will they be paying interest on over estimates when it is adjusted? If not, then they have a huge incentive to over estimate. Estimating 2 million customers bill about $50 too high yields hundreds of millions of dollars that are an effective zero interest short term loan. And I'm sure CP is feeling a cash flow crunch right now with the loss of revenues and repair expenses.

I suggest everyone ignore what the bill says if it's too high. Go out and read your meter yourself and make the adjustment to the bill along with a note about the actual meter reading.

[ChocolateBabz]

Got my Ambit bill yesterday and it wasn't any cheaper than last month despite being with out power for a week but and I quote:

'The impact of hurricane Ike has resulted in an estimated meter read for this billing period. Centerpoint has informed Ambit that future monthly meter reads could also be estimated until Ike-related restoration efforts are complete. Adjustments will be made to your bill once Ambit receives an actual meter reading from Centerpoint.'

Hopefully this will sort itself out in the long run but as we move at the end of October I hope they send someone to do a final meter reading.

[MommiePreMed]

Perhaps that was her bill for last month. Center point does billing for the prervious month the first 10 to 15 days of each month. I doubt that the customer has received a bill already for September.

[MommiePreMed]

Originally Posted by DiverTodd62

Centerpoint is scamming the people.



Second, will they be paying interest on over estimates when it is adjusted? If not, then they have a huge incentive to over estimate. Estimating 2 million customers bill about $50 too high yields hundreds of millions of dollars that are an effective zero interest short term loan. And I'm sure CP is feeling a cash flow crunch right now with the loss of revenues and repair expenses.

.

FEMA pays for storm related repairs, not Centerpoint.

[oceangaia]

No, you are flat wrong. Centerpoint is paying for the repairs and they have already announced they will be filing a rate hike request to recover it from us.

[arbucle]

WAit untill the greens ,Obamacans take charge you will be working 24 hours a day at that new green job clipping grass by hand and have a sore butt from the donkey ride around town.

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by DiverTodd62

Centerpoint is scamming the people.

First, they have said they will be estimating for the next several months, not just this month. So any over estimates will not be corrected for many months.

Second, will they be paying interest on over estimates when it is adjusted? If not, then they have a huge incentive to over estimate. Estimating 2 million customers bill about $50 too high yields hundreds of millions of dollars that are an effective zero interest short term loan. And I'm sure CP is feeling a cash flow crunch right now with the loss of revenues and repair expenses.

I suggest everyone ignore what the bill says if it's too high. Go out and read your meter yourself and make the adjustment to the bill along with a note about the actual meter reading.

This is exactly what I will be doing. I don't give a crap about anyone's estimate, I'm not lending anything for the 16 days without power.