My gas company is stealing from me!

The BBQ Pit
1

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.
2

There’s usually some sort of Public Utilities Comm where you can file complaints. However, a location of Aethelmearc does not give me much clue as to what state you are in.

3

Yep. Get the government involved. It’s clear that directly dealing with the company has failed. I did this when I had a problem with a phone company fradulently billing me.

4

I am actually in Ohio, and yes they do. I now see that PUCO has an online complaint form.

 This helps. Thanks
5

When I bought my house a few months back and transferred the service, the utility company did an explicit check to see what the water meter read. On my first bill they charged me something like 8 or 9 times what my actual water usage was due to estimating, but I got a big credit back on the next bill, and nobody seems to care.

I agree that you need to get the government involved, especially since the gas company has a monopoly on your service. When I worked for a company providing services on behalf of the provincial government here in Alberta, a letter to the minister involved got asses moving big time.

(I really couldn’t do anything more for him when my boss came to ask me than when he called in the first time, but from the time he threatened to write a letter to the minister to the time it filtered down and my boss walked in and personally asked me to explain why we couldn’t do anything about his situation was less than 2 weeks).

6

Hope you wrote down those numbers when you looked at the meter. When we had a similar problem, we used the digital camera to get shots of the meter reading at proof of our usage. Even held the day’s newspaper up against it for the date.

7

For the last year, we’ve been paying say $100 a month in utilities. That’s not our actual usage, just an estimate of the usage.

Anyway, they called us a few weeks ago and said, “you have a $300 credit. You didn’t use as much as you figured.”

A week after that, they send us a bill for $40. It looks like the credit disappeared.

We called them up, and they explained that $40 was the new estimated monthly bill after figuring in our usage, and applying the credit over the course of the year.

It’s possible that happened to you, and the person you talked to on the phone was a dummy.

8 
 If so, then I talked to four seperate dummies (not outside the realm of possibility, considering the conversations that I had).

Bogette: I did write down the numbers when I looked, but in a notebook, so I there is no context. I was doing it for personal reference, and didn't expect that the gas company was going to try to rip me off (which I now realize was quite naive).
9

For all you guys who are getting estimates, I have to ask…doesn’t your utility bill have a spot on it where you can write down the actual reading for them to use next time? Mine does, though I have an outside meter so they can read it anytime they want anyhow, so I don’t need to use it.

Anyone tried doing this? If I were getting super-high estimates every month, I sure would try this.

10

I understand. I did it because I’d been burned before myself. I keep extensive records of any calls and issues I have. I always get the name (first and last, although last is like pulling teeth sometimes), write the date, the reason I called, what I was told, etc. And any confirmation numbers that might be involved. It’s all in my files so at any later date, I can produce this.

Perhaps it’s a bit late in your instance (although if I were you, I’d fight this tooth and nail. I’ve won against NJ auto insurance companies. Took some time, and a million phone calls, but it can be done!) but maybe not for someone else who sees your plight.

Keep us posted, please.

11

I dunno about the rest of you, but when my utility companies tried to “help” me “save money” by “averaging” my monthly bills according to some nebulous “estimate” of what I “might” have historically used–said estimate derived by some arcane divinatory sacrificial rite performed by leprechauns riding unicorns in midsummer, I less than politely told them to stuff the concept up their nethers. I’m perfectly comfortable with paying a tiny gas bill in summer with my higher electricity bill, then paying the higher gas bill in winter with the lower electric bill. I know how much I should be using, and I don’t trust them to figure out anything more complicated than reading a meter, and then just barely.

Unfortunately I don’t have a choice with the water/sewer bill, so I just curse mightily every month and once a quarter I call them up and curse them out in person to make them fix the bill–sure wish I could do without that quarterly hassle, but they’re from the government and are here to help me, so I guess it’s necessary… :rolleyes:

12

We recently had a problem with our furnace. Hubby went down there to try and figure it out and guessed that there was no gas being fed in. He then asked me to see if the hot water heater was working, it was but I told him it was electric (he always thought it was gas- we actually lease the sucker and he never thought to check). Anyways, this means that NOTHING in our house runs from gas. So, hubby calls the gas company and asks them if they, for some reaosn, turned off the gas (we had a 20 dollar credit).

At this time, Hubby realizes that we had a 50 dollar credit running into the summer. He then goes back and sees that each month, they charged us 6.50, for no gas.

So, I ask on the CS line. I am told it is a “line maintenance” fee. Oh, you mean those lines that exist in the ground and you do nothing to maintain around my home and that would go unpaid if this house was unoccupied and the gas was shutoff? Yes.

Man, I think this sucks. We pay over 75.00 a year to pay for pipes that were put in 70 years ago and have never been MAINTAINED. I can’t wait until I have a line problem and they try to charge me for any service or labor. The way I see it, if I have been paying a line maintenance fee, the company will come out and dig up lawn, replace any problematic pipes, cover it back up and replace the landscaping… right? RIGHT?!

NOT.

This is just a way to keep revenue streams flowing in the off season. I mean how many of you with gas powered hot water heaters, or stoves, have ever noticed that a nominal surcharge has been taken out for every month. It makes me want to shut the gas off in April and turn it back on in September.

As for the furnace, if any of you are curious, a safety switch had been thrown because of a bad heat exchanger. But it was under warranty and we were told by the handy asshole that showed up we needed a new furnace. What he forgot to tell us was the sucker was under warranty. But that is another story.

Have you ever got the feeling that everyone is a crook? I mean every time I look into something, there is someone trying to make a buck. It almost seems as if the “standard” is to try and rip someone off unless your caught. If you can get away with it, buyer beware, HA HA. Does anyone else here feel the default should be give a good deal?

13

Lissa: I do energy conservation consulting. Every utility rate schedule I’ve seen always has a “basic facilities fee” that they charge every month, whether you use the utility or not. It’s the fee you pay for doing business with them — it pays for them maintaining a meter at your location, piping (or wiring, for electricity) up to your meter base, and for billing you. It’s typically on the order of 5 - 10 per month.

With gas services, some utilities offer a separate rate schedule for their heating-only customers. (That is, you won’t use any gas during the summer months, since your cooking and domestic hot water is electric.) In most cases I’ve seen, you still pay your facilities fee during the summer. Of course, you have the option of disconnecting service at the end of winter, and then reconnecting at the beginning of winter to save paying the monthly facilities fee. But then you face the re-connection fees next winter, that are typically on the order of $30-$50 or so. It’s not such a good deal, when the monthly facilities fees you’d be saving are ususally between $5 - $10 per month.

Of course, if you’re not even using gas in your furnace, it’s nuts to be doing business with the gas company at all. Have them disconnect service. (Just to verify: you’re not using it for heating, domestic hot water, cooking, or a clothes dryer?)

Sweetums, have you kept your bills? If not, can you get them from your utility? Many utilities now have online services that will allow you to have access to at least the last 12 months of billing history. If you can’t get it online yourself, you should ask them to send you copies of the information.

Were ALL of your bills during the time before your reader was replaced based on estimates? Even places that estimate bills typically take actual readings at least quarterly or so to true up their billings with the readings. If there’s even just one or two actual readings during the past year, that will help prove your actual rate of energy consumption.

The really tough part here is that it’s going to be difficult to prove anything since there was a meter changeout. If there had been no changeout, it’s easy to just compare the current readings to the old ones, but since you’ve gone to a new meter, the old information is essentially erased.

If any “guys in the lab” analyzed your meter, there should be some type of analysis report on this. Tell them to cough it up. My bet is that the meter got thrown away; it’s probably an older meter, and most utiliities are moving to ones they can read automatically. You don’t test meters you’re going to throw away.

If they claim it is a misread, ask them to provide the basis on which they decided it was a misread. A utility staffer doing the closeout on a meter will do a more careful job of double-checking the final reading than a meter-reader grunt who knows any mistakes he makes will get caught the following month when that reading is made. The fact that the guy doing the removal an replacement commented that your usage was signficantly lower than the estimated usage suggests that he would have double-checked his readings at the time. Actually, I find it interesting that he came out on the site knowing roughly what he expected your reading to be. I wouldn’t have expected him to know that. Since he did, it sounds as if the utility was expecting him to do a “reality check” on the reading at the time he made it. If that is their procedure, there seems to be even less reason for them to assume that their staff person made an error in the meter reading.

As others mentioned, I’d look up the number at your state Utilities Commission. Call them to get a name to name drop, and possibly a state statute to cite, and then try calling back to your utility again.

14

Oh, I know why, and that, they are doing it. What I am saying is that on my bill, there is no list for it. They just do it. And, what I am saying, if I get a heat pump, run by electricity, how will those poor gas company guys maintain that meter on my property. Oh, they will come and take it back… NOT.

It is is bullcrap. Just because it is “common” does not make it right. It is a simple revenue stream that some regulation schmuck let them draw. They don’t maintain or monitor donkey. They send a dude by about twice a year to take measurements and base billing on an estimate. From what I know, most companies ABSORB their collection and billing costs. For these guys, they want their 6.50 a month. Fuck em. If I am using your gas, and you are wlling to fix ANYTHING wrong on my property with the gas line, I will likely agree to the charge. But you and I both know, they will never , and I say NEVER, pay for any maintenance of my pipes. So don’t call it a fucking line maintenance fee. Call it the “we can fuck you if we want to fee”, because no one else will bring you gas because we own the pipes.

15

If you do get a heat pump, you send them a letter saying “I wish to discontinue service,” and they will close your account and cease charging you for service. They will very likely NOT remove the meter, particularly if you are not the property owner. If they do remove the meter at your request, they will likely charge you for capping off the line, which they would have to do in order to remove the meter base. It’s cheaper for everyone involved to just leave the meter in place.

And the gas company owns and is responsible for the gas lines going from their line up to the meter base. They installed those lines, and they are responsible for those lines. If there is a problem with them, they do come out and repair them free of charge to you. Their service lines are their property.

All gas lines on the house side of the meter base are the property of and the responsibility of the homeowner. They were installed by the homebuilder, not the gas company. Those lines are not installed or maintained at the same level that the state utilities commission will require of the utility.

I’ll agree it doesn’t cost them $6.50 a month just to bill you, just like it doesn’t cost “$7.95 shipping and handling” to have an 8 ounce package mailed to you. Basically, that $6.50 a month is the cost to be able to have gas immediately delivered to your appliance at the instant you want it. That’s not a bad deal, IMO. Incidentally, it’s not their decision. The rates schedules are decided by state utilities commissions. And if utilities didn’t charge a separate facilities fee that everyone paid, they’d just make it up in the per-therm cost of gas used. It’s more equitable to charge a base charge to everyone.

16

Just to update. I got a call from the gas company saying that they had decided to refund me part of the money, that perhaps thier estimate was a bit high (ya think?).

Then I get another bill from them saying that they are refunding me the full amount. I wonder what is going on.  This morning I get a call from the utilities commission.

It seems that despite the guys at the gas companies claims that "the guys in the lab" had looked at my old meter, when pressed by the guys at the utilities commission, the admitted that they had not. The best the guy from the UC cold figure is that someone at the gas company saw that they had replace my old meter, and decided that it was defective and decided to adjust the bill accordingly. However since my old meter was not defective it didn't get sent to the lab, and thus when pressed by the utilities commission they had to go with the origional reading.

So this one ended well.

17

What do mean by this? Public utilities almost universally are allowed to recover collection and biling costs. And certainly private companies don’t make a practice of absorbing any costs.

18

Good for you for following this up with the utilities commission. I’m glad they did their job, and didn’t let the gas company BS them and get away with fraud.

19

It depends on what kind of collection and billing costs you are talking about.

Frequently, utility companies, medical facilities and the like turn over bills to third-party collection agencies. The collection agencies charge a fee of anywhere from 18-40% to collect these bills. Sometimes, the companies are allowed to add that on as a fee when they turn it over, but some of the companies have to eat the cost as the price of collecting even a portion of the monies owed. I think it has something to do with what kind of services the person received and what the contract they signed, if any, states the company may do if the bill is not paid.

20

When I spoke to them, I asked when they had started adding this charge. The trep tol me they’d been doing it for about four years. (And yeah, I’m a bonehead for never noticing it until now.)