My provider keeps screwing me with estimated readings in excess of $400+, when my actual usage has been consistently under $200/mo. Granted they do credit the average when they actually take a real reading, I’m not a loan company and I’m getting frustrated overpaying.
This is a common tactic of utilities recently, to overcharge and build up credit. Basically they want to hold onto your money and earn interest off it.
i'm on a 'budget' plan, where the bill is the same every month, adjusted once per year. the muni-run utility always adds more on top of estimated average bill--which i then have to pay. i always have a surplus built-up at the end of the 'year' of at least 1.5-2x the monthly bill amount. and no, they don't pay interest on the surplus, but they certainly do charge late fees and interest if you ever fall behind or don't pay for a month or two.
Check with your neighbors. If this is happening to them, too, your electric company is using y’all to earn pennies of interest for free. Call your local news agencies and tell them your electric company keeps consistently overcharging you and give them that “not a loan company” line. Local reporters are incredible at investigating this kind of shit and other people seeing it on tv will encourage them to speak up as well.
I live in a rural area and don’t have any nearby neighbors to ask. My wife has said that a lot of people have been complaining about it on Facebook though (locally)
I live in south Texas and there are people with identical issues to yours on the outskirts of my city. I think you should cordially raise a stink about this predatory practice.
It looks like simple ratio gears in series. Each alternating dial turns in the reverse direction of the previous. Since all you’re doing is reading off numbers, the direction of rotation doesn’t matter.
If you watch it for a bit, one dial will move. It’s probably the one on the far right, but you can verify this through observtion. The dial on the opposite end probably won’t move perceptively as long as you live there - that’s a total number since the device was installed and it could take decades to increment by one.
Take a picture every month on the same month-day; make a spreadsheet and record your kwh cost, and multiply that by the difference from the reading from the previous month. Taxes and fees aside, that should be your bill.
How you fight this overcharging & occasional refund, I have no idea. You might call your local township/city/whatever and see if you can track down the regulation office and find out if you can legally file a complaint, or if this practice is allowed.
If you write to the electric board, date the letter from from the year 1694, ask that your bill should be reduced by two-fifths because two of the dials mean that you’re giving them electricity, write it all in red pen at an angle of 45degrees, and decline the offer to pay as you have not consented to a contract to pay for your energy usage - they’ll cancel the bill and apologise for bothering a true citizen.
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