# $1200 electric bill



## gerald77 (Aug 2, 2007)

well now that i have your attention. i didn't know where to put this. so anyhoo our electric coop just slapped us with a $1200 bill because for five months they haven't been able to get an accurate reading. the guy reads the meter every month, i see him, so whose fault is it? sure the bills have been low but we just moved out here so it isn't like i knew there was a problem with the meter. my father says if the meter was broke, and they let it go for five months that it's their fault. any suggestions? 

now the other questions. we've been looking at different ways to get power but solar seems expensive, plus with all the stuff you have to replace. am i just looking in the wrong place. we're new and ignorant to alternate energy. we're a family of six not counting critters so is there an affordable way to get off the grid?


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## RiverPines (Dec 12, 2006)

Here, our electric is often an estimated bill. We watch our bill like a hawk and pay close attention to our usage.
Last month we got an estimated bill for $19.00. We know better. We paid $200.00 because we monitor our usage and that is much closer to what the bill should of read.

Here if the electric co. estimates, even for several months, the customer is responsible for the bill when the meter is finally read.

We partially heat with electric (electric oil filled radiators)but cut cost other ways to help.
We have all energy saving light bulbs.
We dont use a dryer for laundry, we use hanging racks.
We use surge protectors on things like the TV/stereo so we can actually turn the electric off when not using those things as they suck juice when in standby.
We know how many watts everything here uses and always, when replacing something electrical, look for the most energy efficient.

We are kilowatt monitors and penny pinchers!


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## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

gerald77 said:


> ...
> 
> now the other questions. we've been looking at different ways to get power but solar seems expensive, plus with all the stuff you have to replace. am i just looking in the wrong place. we're new and ignorant to alternate energy. we're a family of six not counting critters so is there an affordable way to get off the grid?


Hi,
Solar electricity is expensive. As any of the off-griders here will tell you, you will get much much more bang for the buck though efficiency and conservation measures. Then when you have the usage down, you can think about a much smaller solar electric system to power your needs.

These are the projects we did to cut our electric bill in half (others here have done much better than this): 
http://www.builditsolar.com/References/Half/ProjectsConservation.htm

Think about your other energy uses as well -- heating etc. -- for most people these use quite a bit more energy than electric demands.

Gary


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## nomad7inwi (Nov 30, 2005)

The same thing happened to us when we moved here. We were shocked our electric costs were so low. Boy were we dumb!! We were ready for it this winter. We kept paying what we knew it should be, not what they were estimating.

We are wanting to do a solar water heater and looking into a wind generator. Straight solar is just too much for us. Solar water heaters compared to electric have a very quick payback.


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## susieM (Apr 23, 2006)

Ask if you can pay in several increments.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

gerald77 said:


> well now that i have your attention. i didn't know where to put this. so anyhoo our electric coop just slapped us with a $1200 bill because for five months they haven't been able to get an accurate reading. the guy reads the meter every month, i see him, so whose fault is it? sure the bills have been low but we just moved out here so it isn't like i knew there was a problem with the meter. my father says if the meter was broke, and they let it go for five months that it's their fault. any suggestions?
> 
> now the other questions. we've been looking at different ways to get power but solar seems expensive, plus with all the stuff you have to replace. am i just looking in the wrong place. we're new and ignorant to alternate energy. we're a family of six not counting critters so is there an affordable way to get off the grid?


Did they replace the meter? If not then its either NOT broken or STILL broken .If its not broken then you paying what you should be billed. If it still broken then I would demand it be fixed.

I personally never pay estimated bills with anything more than $1 estimated payment. I know the bill will eventually catch up, but I would prefer that money spend more time in my account collecting interest (how little that is) than in some companies account. 

I know many coop and small companies are only reading meters 2 or 3 times a year and you pay catchup. again I dont see issue with this if you know its comming.


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## gerald77 (Aug 2, 2007)

they said that they have been unable to get an accurate reading. so i guess it just magically started working. plus i am obviously a big dumba** because now that i am looking at the past bills the estimated reading says 0 and previous reading says 0. so i guess everytime the guy came to read the meter it said what? 0. i'm not denying use, i'm not saying we don't owe it. i just think it's strange that all of a sudden they can get a reading when before they never could.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

work out a deal, have them look at the next 3 months and base the past months on that.


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## Rockytopsis (Dec 29, 2007)

Pretty much the same thing happined to us, by any chance are you a VEC user in east Tennessee? 

Anyway they said the man reading the meter "was not doing his job properly in reading the meter that he was just guessing at the reading." Then they said "he could not see the meter." 

I pulled all my bills for the last year and showed them what the average was and that his guess was a lot higher that my average. So then they said they could pull the meter and put a new one in and test the old one. I am thinking why are they testing the old meter because they kept saying the meter reader was at fault. 

Anyway we got a new meter out of it and still had to pay the bill (not quite as high as yours) and in talking to folks around the county we were not the only ones this happined to so we figure we all payed for something other than electricity. Maybe someones new car. LOL


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## blue gecko (Jun 14, 2006)

Turn off and unplug EVERYTHING in your house then go look at the meter. If it's still running there is a short somewhere. If it is not running then start plugging in each major appliance individually (don't forget the furnace and hotwater heater) and read the usage for 1 minute. Now you've got something to work with and evaluate.


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## gerald77 (Aug 2, 2007)

yeah, someones car or in our case a certain ice storm.


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## Sand Flat Bob (Feb 1, 2007)

gerald77 said:


> well now that i have your attention. i didn't know where to put this. so anyhoo our electric coop just slapped us with a $1200 bill because for five months they haven't been able to get an accurate reading. the guy reads the meter every month, i see him, so whose fault is it? sure the bills have been low but we just moved out here so it isn't like i knew there was a problem with the meter. my father says if the meter was broke, and they let it go for five months that it's their fault. any suggestions?
> 
> now the other questions. we've been looking at different ways to get power but solar seems expensive, plus with all the stuff you have to replace. am i just looking in the wrong place. we're new and ignorant to alternate energy. we're a family of six not counting critters so is there an affordable way to get off the grid?


Maybe your cpop is like mine. When I bought a place to add to our existing land, the guy I bought it from hadn't paid his water or electric bill for several months. The coops. said I would have to pay it or they would pull the meters. Would have cost me close to $3,000. I told them to pull the meters as I didn't need electricity or water and if I did I would just run it over from my existing meters. They did pull the meters and threatened me if I ran the utilities over from my other meters, but they never did anything, and it has been 12 years now.

Bob


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

. ."Afordable way to get off the grid" . . .

Well yes . . but not at Kmart prices.

The person above with *bubble wrap* on the windows would be further ahead to spend their first bucks on good windows.
I suggest that you>first< think about *tightening up* your place including efficient appliances . . . . .and then lets talk about a system.


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

I got hit with a 1200 nat gas bill when they were estimating.Never again,I pay 200 month minimum on my gas in winter now.And use a lot less gas too!


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## Blu3duk (Jun 2, 2002)

A few years back our co-op had us read our own meters, and i did, everything was fine and dandy then the meter quit, the reading i took was the same for 3 months, and they came and replaced the meter..... i was not charged for the electric i used though i should have been back billed for a couple months after the new meter was installed..... some REA's are better than others..... though ours went into the propane business cost the members nearly 2 million dollars in equipment, and then they fuggered out the by0laws prohibited them from being in compettition with electric so instead of changing the by-laws they sold the propane business to one of the board members for $200,000.00 yep a 90% loss..... and no lawsuit evoled fron it cause it was all done by the attorney for the co-op ......

anyhow

the OP has the option to bring suit against the co-op for failure to preform on a contract, if the company man read "ZERO" and it was stated upon the bill as "ZERO" useage then you owe nothing for those months, however if the contract originally signed said you have to pay a minimum then such is so, for the privledge of being hooked into the grid, if the bill said it was estimated and you paid a small fee, then you are at the mercy of the co-op for paying on the contract..... it falls under the uniform commercial code and admiralty law which since 1938 in the several states united has replaced common law along with common sense. Like a couple others mentioned try making arragements to pay off the bill $100 at a time or whatever you can do over that....

William


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