Help me convince the utility company my gas meter is broken
March 20, 2018 11:19 AM Subscribe
We got an insane utility bill today that I am positive cannot be correct. Help me convince the utility company there is a problem.
So we get a bill today that is 6x our usual monthly bill. There is a line item for "adjustment" and we call, to be told that our gas meter reading has been estimated for the previous 8 months and only just now actually read this month. The huge adjustment charge is based on the difference between what we have paid and we they say we owe.
Ok, fine, if it was a reasonable adjustment. But this was many times what we usually pay for gas in a given month (including months where our meter has actually been read). We push for more info and they send us a spread sheet where all they can tell is XXX (meter reading in March) - YYY (last meter reading in July). This amount was 1220 units of gas, divided over 8 months.
The problem is that our average monthly gas consumption for the prior SIX YEARS (of actual readings) is about 35 units. The highest we ever used in one month was 77 units, in the coldest month of the past 2 years. In the summer we use 15-20 units. We have made no changes to our appliances or house in any way since July.
So 8 months of average gas usage should have been about 280 units at the absolute maximum. But they are telling us 1220 units. This is literally impossible - we have 6 years of bills to prove that our gas usage has never come remotely close to that. Even if you took our highest monthly usage times 8 months, this is double that.
Obviously the meter is malfunctioning... or we have a MAJOR gas leak we don't know about. Are either of these scenarios possible, and if so, how do we convince our utility company that we shouldn't pay them for gas we are pretty darn positive we did not use?
So we get a bill today that is 6x our usual monthly bill. There is a line item for "adjustment" and we call, to be told that our gas meter reading has been estimated for the previous 8 months and only just now actually read this month. The huge adjustment charge is based on the difference between what we have paid and we they say we owe.
Ok, fine, if it was a reasonable adjustment. But this was many times what we usually pay for gas in a given month (including months where our meter has actually been read). We push for more info and they send us a spread sheet where all they can tell is XXX (meter reading in March) - YYY (last meter reading in July). This amount was 1220 units of gas, divided over 8 months.
The problem is that our average monthly gas consumption for the prior SIX YEARS (of actual readings) is about 35 units. The highest we ever used in one month was 77 units, in the coldest month of the past 2 years. In the summer we use 15-20 units. We have made no changes to our appliances or house in any way since July.
So 8 months of average gas usage should have been about 280 units at the absolute maximum. But they are telling us 1220 units. This is literally impossible - we have 6 years of bills to prove that our gas usage has never come remotely close to that. Even if you took our highest monthly usage times 8 months, this is double that.
Obviously the meter is malfunctioning... or we have a MAJOR gas leak we don't know about. Are either of these scenarios possible, and if so, how do we convince our utility company that we shouldn't pay them for gas we are pretty darn positive we did not use?
You can really easily & safely check for a gas leak, even a small one. Just turn off all your gas appliances, incl. pilot lights, and check the meter at hourly intervals. If it's still moving, you have a gas leak. That's a different kind of problem than an inaccurate bill, so you probably want to rule that out first.
posted by rd45 at 11:31 AM on March 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by rd45 at 11:31 AM on March 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
Have you looked at the meter itself to verify someone didn't misread something? I.E. if your meter is currently reading less than what it was read as at in March? Maybe if it wasn't a cold year, someone misreadi/mistyped the 4th digit, and you only used 220 instead of the 280 estimated?
If the meter actually is right, then I suspect the fastest resolution would be to report a suspected leak due to ridiculously high usage.
posted by nobeagle at 11:32 AM on March 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
If the meter actually is right, then I suspect the fastest resolution would be to report a suspected leak due to ridiculously high usage.
posted by nobeagle at 11:32 AM on March 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
We had something very similar happen and it turned out the guy who was reading the meter wasn't really reading the meter, just guessing what he thought it should be. i would call again and explain again, going higher up if necessary. Ask them to come out and reread your meter, check if its working and check for leaks around it. i don't think they will check in your house, but they should atleast check around the meter.
just rereading the meter today and seeing usage from when it was last read in march should help gauge your usage.
posted by domino at 11:33 AM on March 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
just rereading the meter today and seeing usage from when it was last read in march should help gauge your usage.
posted by domino at 11:33 AM on March 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
The highest we ever used in one month was 77 units,
There's something of a disconnect in the discussion here; usually they are *either* taking accurate monthly readings and charging you on real cost, *or* they are estimating usage over 6 or 12 months, then adjusting based on actual readings they take only once at the beginning and end of that period. The latter is clearly what they are doing now, and if that's what they've always done then you can't know in the past what your actual usage in an individual month was, unless you were personally taking readings. All you'd know from the bill that month is what they estimated your usage as, then for the bill where they applied the correction you'd know the month in question contributed to in some way (but you wouldn't know by how much or even in which direction). Or did you recently have your billing method changed?
Whatever is underlying this confusion might help get at the heart of why your estimates look so different from what they are saying are their actuals. And totally agreed that the very first thing I'd do is go see if what they read looks at all similar to what is now on your meter, and the second thing I'd do is check for a leak.
posted by solotoro at 11:38 AM on March 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
There's something of a disconnect in the discussion here; usually they are *either* taking accurate monthly readings and charging you on real cost, *or* they are estimating usage over 6 or 12 months, then adjusting based on actual readings they take only once at the beginning and end of that period. The latter is clearly what they are doing now, and if that's what they've always done then you can't know in the past what your actual usage in an individual month was, unless you were personally taking readings. All you'd know from the bill that month is what they estimated your usage as, then for the bill where they applied the correction you'd know the month in question contributed to in some way (but you wouldn't know by how much or even in which direction). Or did you recently have your billing method changed?
Whatever is underlying this confusion might help get at the heart of why your estimates look so different from what they are saying are their actuals. And totally agreed that the very first thing I'd do is go see if what they read looks at all similar to what is now on your meter, and the second thing I'd do is check for a leak.
posted by solotoro at 11:38 AM on March 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
I had a very similar situation happen and was successfully able to contest it, by pointing out exactly what you have explained to us here - I compared my historic usage rate over the course of the past couple years to the montly rate that this new reading was generating (which was a noticable spike) and called them back, armed with all that info, and said that I thought something may be screwy with the meter itself and asked them to investigate. It took a few days, but they reviewed the records themselves and agreed, reversed the charges on the overage and sent a guy out to replace the meter.
It may have helped that I also paid the mega-bill as a show of good faith. I absolutely grant that many would disagree with making such a move, though. But paying the mega-bill did put me in a balance of zero with the gas company, and so when they reversed the charges of the overage, that gave me like a couple hundred dollars' credit on my gas account, so I ended up not having to pay anything for about two months.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:42 AM on March 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
It may have helped that I also paid the mega-bill as a show of good faith. I absolutely grant that many would disagree with making such a move, though. But paying the mega-bill did put me in a balance of zero with the gas company, and so when they reversed the charges of the overage, that gave me like a couple hundred dollars' credit on my gas account, so I ended up not having to pay anything for about two months.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:42 AM on March 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I'm with nobeagle, this sounds like a misread on the thousands digit. If your meter is like mine, these are notoriously easy to get wrong.
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:42 AM on March 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:42 AM on March 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
Call them immediately and report a possible gas leak. Do this right now. Stay safe.
If it turns out this isn't a major leak, the technician will also have tips for you. I'm shocked the rep you spoke with did not suggest a technician to rule out a major leak.
(That said the way you explained this was very convoluted. All you had to say to the rep was, "This bill indicates we used more gas in the past 8 months than we have in the previous 6 whole years at the same residence with no changes in appliances or heating. Please send a technician because there's a possibility we have a major leak.")
posted by jbenben at 11:45 AM on March 20, 2018 [15 favorites]
If it turns out this isn't a major leak, the technician will also have tips for you. I'm shocked the rep you spoke with did not suggest a technician to rule out a major leak.
(That said the way you explained this was very convoluted. All you had to say to the rep was, "This bill indicates we used more gas in the past 8 months than we have in the previous 6 whole years at the same residence with no changes in appliances or heating. Please send a technician because there's a possibility we have a major leak.")
posted by jbenben at 11:45 AM on March 20, 2018 [15 favorites]
the fastest resolution would be to report a suspected leak
Anecdotally on that: we had a small leak on the customer side of our gas meter. PG&E were kinda "well, are you sure all your appliances and pilot lights are off" dismissive when I queried why we were still seeing a small amount of usage in summer. But when I called them to report a faint smell of gas around the meter: an engineer arrived within 30 minutes. They take leaks seriously.
(It was a slow leak, and probably had been leaking since the meter was swapped out for a SmartMeter a few months previously. The engineer was surprised: "it almost always isn't a leak." He did also wand for gas inside the apartment.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:48 AM on March 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
Anecdotally on that: we had a small leak on the customer side of our gas meter. PG&E were kinda "well, are you sure all your appliances and pilot lights are off" dismissive when I queried why we were still seeing a small amount of usage in summer. But when I called them to report a faint smell of gas around the meter: an engineer arrived within 30 minutes. They take leaks seriously.
(It was a slow leak, and probably had been leaking since the meter was swapped out for a SmartMeter a few months previously. The engineer was surprised: "it almost always isn't a leak." He did also wand for gas inside the apartment.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:48 AM on March 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
As someone who just tossed 9 years of gas bills in a filed-document-purge..
Do the bills say estimated or actual meter reading ? (If they say actual, it should report the reading, you can compare with what the gauges on your meter say).
Do you participate in any smooth-billing type program ? (Where you pay about the same year round -- comes out to more in the summer, when use less gas, and less in the winter, but is supposed to cancel out -- viz any actual meter reading adjustments).
posted by k5.user at 11:49 AM on March 20, 2018
Do the bills say estimated or actual meter reading ? (If they say actual, it should report the reading, you can compare with what the gauges on your meter say).
Do you participate in any smooth-billing type program ? (Where you pay about the same year round -- comes out to more in the summer, when use less gas, and less in the winter, but is supposed to cancel out -- viz any actual meter reading adjustments).
posted by k5.user at 11:49 AM on March 20, 2018
Assuming the meter was read accurately and there is no leak (not safe assumptions, as others have noted), you probably won't be able to get it changed unless you have some sort of proof. If you just say "this seems wrong", they'll respond "well, we have data saying it's right". Presumably you have not been taking monthly readings for your own records, so you're unfortunately ill-prepared to contest. This is why everyone is telling you to check your actual meter reading: your only real hope is that they read it wrong.
posted by kevinbelt at 12:13 PM on March 20, 2018
posted by kevinbelt at 12:13 PM on March 20, 2018
Response by poster: Sorry for the confusing explanation. To clarify:
For 6 years our meter was actually read every month. This is what I am basing our historical average use on.
Then, beginning in July 2017, they stopped reading our meter because the gate was (unbeknownst to me) locked. Our electric meter is a smart meter so I didn't realize our gas bill was being estimated. I know, my fault for not looking clearly at the bill. We were paying estimated charges each month.
They read the meter for the first time in 8 months a few weeks ago. The huge charge is to make up the difference in actual vs. estimated readings. The issue is that the actual usage is impossibly high.
It sounds like my next steps are a) read the meter myself and b) report a possible leak. We've actually done step A already and it does match what the utility company told us on the phone. Our online bills do not report the read itself so I'm going off of what they said on the phone.
A leak seems unlikely because based on the reading from 11 days ago, we have used 21 units of gas, which is about right for 1/3 of a winter month. This adds to our confusion of why the 8 month reading is so high though, because the meter appears to be working correctly NOW and there doesn't appear to be a leak.
Thanks for the advice so far.
posted by raspberrE at 2:12 PM on March 20, 2018
For 6 years our meter was actually read every month. This is what I am basing our historical average use on.
Then, beginning in July 2017, they stopped reading our meter because the gate was (unbeknownst to me) locked. Our electric meter is a smart meter so I didn't realize our gas bill was being estimated. I know, my fault for not looking clearly at the bill. We were paying estimated charges each month.
They read the meter for the first time in 8 months a few weeks ago. The huge charge is to make up the difference in actual vs. estimated readings. The issue is that the actual usage is impossibly high.
It sounds like my next steps are a) read the meter myself and b) report a possible leak. We've actually done step A already and it does match what the utility company told us on the phone. Our online bills do not report the read itself so I'm going off of what they said on the phone.
A leak seems unlikely because based on the reading from 11 days ago, we have used 21 units of gas, which is about right for 1/3 of a winter month. This adds to our confusion of why the 8 month reading is so high though, because the meter appears to be working correctly NOW and there doesn't appear to be a leak.
Thanks for the advice so far.
posted by raspberrE at 2:12 PM on March 20, 2018
Response by poster: JoeZydeco has it. Our meter IS like the one he linked, and it's actually so tricky to read my husband read it incorrectly while speaking with the utility company. We are pretty sure they misread the thousands digit, because the reading they gave us over the phone started with a 3 but our meter clearly shows a 2.
A little embarrassed we didn't figure this out before I posted the question (because we tried!) but for posterity's sake...
posted by raspberrE at 3:48 PM on March 20, 2018 [10 favorites]
A little embarrassed we didn't figure this out before I posted the question (because we tried!) but for posterity's sake...
posted by raspberrE at 3:48 PM on March 20, 2018 [10 favorites]
Huzzah!
Now the next question: can you get the company to correct the reading (either over the phone or via a worker coming back to your home)?
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:57 PM on March 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
Now the next question: can you get the company to correct the reading (either over the phone or via a worker coming back to your home)?
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:57 PM on March 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
I doubt you have a leak. There's a saying that goes something like "you can smell a nickel's worth of gas from 10 ft away." Think about how strong the smell of gas is in a room when something as small as a pilot light is out (and a pilot light uses a negligible dollar amount of gas.) Then think about how large a leak would have to be to impact your reading like this... it doesn't add up. There's nothing wrong with going the abundance of caution route, but don't panic. Speculating about a leak might be a good tactic to make the gas company more responsive, though- they can't accord to blow you off in the event there really is a problem, however unlikely that might be.
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 5:16 PM on March 20, 2018
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 5:16 PM on March 20, 2018
It's worth looking into your state's laws regarding billing.
A while back, the gas company estimated our bills for a good ten months or so, and then we got a massive bill when they finally did a real reading. Turns out, the law allowed them to estimate at most every other month, and so we weren't on the hook for more than the "typical" month that they'd estimated for us.
The bill did go up once they did true readings and accounted for our actual use, but we weren't on the hook for the giant catch-up bill. This was in Massachusetts, btw.
posted by explosion at 1:51 PM on March 21, 2018
A while back, the gas company estimated our bills for a good ten months or so, and then we got a massive bill when they finally did a real reading. Turns out, the law allowed them to estimate at most every other month, and so we weren't on the hook for more than the "typical" month that they'd estimated for us.
The bill did go up once they did true readings and accounted for our actual use, but we weren't on the hook for the giant catch-up bill. This was in Massachusetts, btw.
posted by explosion at 1:51 PM on March 21, 2018
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