Not really, because it will cost you a few hundred by the time you are reconnected. They make sure they don’t lose out on that deal.
If SweetHomeColorado was on a budget style plan then I’m guessing the $120 bill wouldn’t have been unexpected… 'cos it’d be $120 every month.
The term “prorated” is most commonly used when the customer’s price / rate / tariff (depending on local terminology) changes during the billing period. For example the reading dates are 15th May to 15th June, but the Summer rates begin on 1st June. Simple pro-ration tends to split the usage by the days in each part-period (in that example about 1/2 and 1/2), but more complex methods of pro-rating use weather station data to estimate extra usage from heating and/or cooling (heating degree days, etc).
Using estimated readings every 2nd read (or even more frequently) is common practice throughout the electricity industry as a cost-saving measure – costs which would otherwise be passed on to the consumer. There are also cases where the meter may be inaccessible for part of the year (due to heavy snows for instance – one client i have dealt with in Canada needed their system altered to allow for up to 6 consecutive estimated reads due to weather conditions). Another client, with far-flung rural customer in Australia, has to use helicopters to get their meter readers around and only actually reads the meters every 3 to 6 months.
If customers dispute an estimation utility companies will generally have means / policy of accepting phoned in actual reads, or sending out a reader for a special reading, and adjusting the bill. In any case the next actual read will true up the account.
All of that said, if the bill in the OP is not an estimate (which should result in a balancing bill next cycle) then it could be worth getting the wiring checked. One of our (gas company) clients had a case some years ago where all of the meters in a 12 apartment complex turned out to be assigned to the wrong apartment numbers. :smack:
Let’s just say your post to which I replied is irrelevant to the discussion at hand since nobody has mentioned anything about a meter being inaccesible.
I am still not seeing how an estimated read is a “courtesy” to me. It’s a courtesy to the utility, who doesn’t have to pay someone to come to my meter and read it.
It wouldn’t. You know how they disconnect you? They come and pull the meter head–takes all of ten seconds.
Yes, a cost saving measure… and also used when (for some reason) a reading cannot be obtained and the meter reader returns a “no reading” for the site on their handheld.
It would not however normally be fraud as the utility’s terms and conditions should cover this and the bill should show that the reading was estimated. On the other hand, there have been cases of meter readers deciding to retire to a coffee shop and then making up reading numbers for their route. (That may well be unlawful in addition to getting them fired).
Again, it would be easier for them to come and read the meter instead. Not sure where this confusion is coming from. Why would it be assumed it is better for the utility to come and disconnect service, instead of taking actual readings; when either are compared to estimating usage? I’m also pretty sure the drive out, actual removal, and ensuing paperwork take much longer than ten seconds.
This seems a bit more reasonable. On my bill there is no indication that the usage is estimated. Given there is a clear field stating “meter reading”, it implies that is what the meter said.
The joke in the family is that they lowball the estimates until the annual rate increase takes hold, then go out and take actual readings.
How do you figure? In order to read the meter they have to, you know, get to the meter. And once they’re there, it’s just as easy to pull the meter as read it. Believe me, I know–I’ve done both.
Because I figure that it is easier for a utility to come and read my meter than it is for them to say that because an estimate could not be made my meter should be pulled and my service disconnected.
But, they don’t say that. They only disconnect when you don’t eventually pay the bill. Whether the billing information is from an actual reading or an estimate is immaterial.
My power and natural gas is from the same utility company.
They send out a bill every month, but they only read the meters every other month. The bills rotate between estimated and actual readings.
If I wanted to, I could read the meters myself during the non utility reading months and submit the actual reading via internet. They tell me a 2 or 3 day window during which the reading must be taken. Otherwise, they’re happy sending an estimated bill. Any overage or shortage is made up when they take an actual reading the next month.
For the first year or so that I was living in the house I would dutifully take the actual reading and send it in. Then I stopped doing that and paid based on the estimated reading.
Included in the bill is a graph showing monthly use during the past 24 month period.
It all evens out every other month.
It will depend on your supplier and their policies. I don’t know who your supplier is; based on the LA location I had a quick look at the sites for PG&E and SCE – the latter does estimates, the former I can’t find info on their site, but both are covered by the same PUC.
As an aside, there was a power company here in Auckland that were advertising “No Estimations” as part of their service… but some of us knew that it was because they couldn’t get the estimations to work in their fancy new expensive SAP system. 
I’d hope not… but… Yeah, if you don’t think the estimates are reasonable I’d expect you can phone in an actual read. I find that unless my power usage changes dramatically then the estimations are usually OK. It’ll depend on the mechanism the supplier is using – same period last year is quite common, but if the weather is significantly different that can result in variation.
In my state, the electrical companies and rates are regulated by the state public services commission. All of the tariff rules are available online, and they do indicate every detail about how and when estimated readings are done, how to phone in or intertube in a reading, how prorating works, etc.
Also, it is much tougher for the utility to pull your meter than to take the meter reading. Meter readers are low-paid, unskilled labor. The best they can do is write down the numbers and report broken meter tags. These aren’t the people that will pull out your meter; they’ll schedule a qualified electrician for that.
My utility is now kicking off a multi-year plan to replace all of our readers with radio-transponder versions. My new HVAC meter already is equipped with one, but they still have to manually read my main current meter. Water is already recorded this way, and natural gas is still manual.