PSE&G Bill (apartment, lease, condo)

[ohnozer]

I moved into my 1 BR apartment the last week of August, at which time I had the utilities transferred to my name through PSE&G. I just got my first bill from PSE&G, for August 27-Sept 12, and it was around $95. This is very high for me. In my old 1 BR apartment, which was just slightly smaller in the next town over, my bill for the whole month was rarely over $60 (once or twice it was $70, but never above that!), and this $95 bill is for basically half a month.

I am at work most of the day so I don't use that much electricity. I don't turn on the A/C, and unplug most of my appliances. I called PSE&G, and they said it was an estimated rate, and that I should call them with the actual meter reading. Believe it or not, the actual meter reading was even higher than the estimated so I am really confused. When I came to see the vacant apartment in early August, the A/C was blasting in there. I am wondering if this has something to do with the bill. Could I be paying for when the A/C was running in the vacant apartment? Since they do estimated readings, is it possible they didn't actually read the meter on my move-in day, but rather based it on when the previous tenant moved out (which I think was end of July)?

In any event, I now have the reading for mid-Sept, and will check it again in mid-Oct so I can get a better idea of my actual usage.

[balancesheet]

Originally Posted by ohnozer

I moved into my 1 BR apartment the last week of August, at which time I had the utilities transferred to my name through PSE&G. I just got my first bill from PSE&G, for August 27-Sept 12, and it was around $95. This is very high for me. In my old 1 BR apartment, which was just slightly smaller in the next town over, my bill for the whole month was rarely over $60 (once or twice it was $70, but never above that!), and this $95 bill is for basically half a month.

I am at work most of the day so I don't use that much electricity. I don't turn on the A/C, and unplug most of my appliances. I called PSE&G, and they said it was an estimated rate, and that I should call them with the actual meter reading. Believe it or not, the actual meter reading was even higher than the estimated so I am really confused. When I came to see the vacant apartment in early August, the A/C was blasting in there. I am wondering if this has something to do with the bill. Could I be paying for when the A/C was running in the vacant apartment? Since they do estimated readings, is it possible they didn't actually read the meter on my move-in day, but rather based it on when the previous tenant moved out (which I think was end of July)?

In any event, I now have the reading for mid-Sept, and will check it again in mid-Oct so I can get a better idea of my actual usage.

I had a similar situation - then I found out that the difference was my old apartment have appliances that ran on gas (dryer, stove and HVACs during winter, etc.) and everything is electric in the new one.

[EANJ]

I hear you. I've often thought there is no rhyme or reason to this. Yes, based upon "estimated" rate, usage, etc.

In your case, I would check to see if that first bill truly only covered from the date you moved in through the end of the billing cycle. If you walked into a vacant apartment, and the AC was blasting -- the landlord could have done that, workers or people there painting, whatever. Yes, look into that.

Good luck.

[jaymoney]

If the last tenant moved out in July everyone in there has basically ended up on your bill. There's no way the landlord switched over to bill themselves for those months.

Get them to tell you what the meter read when your lease started instead of when the last bill was paid.

[daliowa]

When we moved last year PSE&G billed us incorrectly for the entire month. We had turned on service the first day of our lease, in mid-billing cycle. Called PSE&G and they did credit the overage on the next bill.


Another time we got a very large PSE&G bill. We had PSE&G check the meter against the reading stated on the bill. The guy from PSE&G said that whoever read the meter had gotten the number totally wrong. PSE&G did credit the overage the next month.


Our area recently got new PSE&G meters that are read electronically from a central location. Hopefully this will avoid some of these problems. We shall see!

[ansky]

It's ridiculous that they were blasting the AC in a vacant apartment. Maybe someone forgot to turn it off and it was needlessly running for days or weeks.

[boater1]

If you moved into a multi-apartment building with individual meters.
make sure the meter they read for your bill was in fact your meter.

[ohnozer]

So, to update here, I just received my October bill, and it was $0.00. I'm not going to complain, but I'm awfully confused, and I'm a little nervous for what November will bring.

[GiantRutgersfan]

Originally Posted by ohnozer

So, to update here, I just received my October bill, and it was $0.00. I'm not going to complain, but I'm awfully confused, and I'm a little nervous for what November will bring.

PSEG sucks. They have screwed up my bill like 3x over the last few years (I’m in a condo complex).

It does eventually work itself out. Look online and you can usually figure it out. Most recent error was they miscalculated my gas usage by 1000 units, didn’t notice for like 4 months.