So. I am really pissed and have to rant!
A year ago I bought this house. It needed some work, so I didn't move in until recently (July).
While I was having the house worked on, and while I wasn't living in it, I had turned on the gas, but had the thermostat turned down to 55 degrees, basicly to keep the pipes from freezing, and so that I and the contractors could work in the house. One of the first things that I did was to have the old, single pane aluminium windows replace with new double pane, vinyl frame, ones. Add to that that we had a rather mild winter and you might figure that my gas usage would be rather low.
During this time the gas company is billing me by making estimates baised on the usage of the previous occupants. A family of four, who I assume kept the thermostat at comfort level, and no doubt used more fuel than I did while I wasn't even living there. Of course the estimate seemed to assume that I had the heat cranked up to 95, kept the windows open, and was using the gas stove to roast oxen on a weekly basis.
So now that I am moved in, I have a guy come in and read the meter, and install one that can be read from outside the house (they charge extra for this). He looks at the meter an tells me that my gas usage for the past year is much lower than the estimate. No shit! I checked the gas meter several times during the time I was working on the house and it was whirring away, but the reading was always much lower than their estimates.
So last month I get credit on my accunt for over $400.00, not that big a supprise. However this month, all that credit is gone, with no explaination. I give tha gas company a call and they tell me (depending on who I talk to, I am getting slightly different stories) that either the tech misread my meter, or that the "guys in the lab" analyzed the old meter and it was faulty. Either way, despite the new windows, low thermostat, mild winter, and lack of occupancy, I used EXACTLY THE SAME AMOUNT of fuel as the guy before.
I have now talked to two cuctomer service reps, and two supervisors, and what it seems like is that somone decided that they didn't want to credit me that much money, and are now lying to cover their tracks.
They are charging me for fuel that I didn't use, how is that not stealing?
Oh, I almost forgot I was in the pit, so fuck, fornicate, frack and frell.