This gives me new insight into our local power company's ads on how
you can save energy.  What a great idea -- encourage your customers to
save energy, then "estimate" their usage so that you can skim some off
the top!

Okay, the local one may not be doing that ... honestly, DH handles the
electricity bill and I have no idea what we pay.

If they estimated the ending reading or misread it, it will  self correct
the next month.  What worries me is that if they misread the beginning
reading.  Or didn't read it at all but are going back to the last (and
possibly wrong) reading for the previous customers.

Also here, we pay for electric in tiers.  a basic bit is cheap, the next
amount is higher and then there is a much higher third rate for anything
over that as it is considered excessive or luxury use.  So if you double
your use, it will at least triple your bill.

Jo

I'd suggest taking them up on THEIR suggestion and go "talk
with the Mayor" - or better yet your local TV news
"investigative reporter".  SOMEONE obviously goofed, or your
present reading wouldn't be so much lower.  (You CAN "fight
City Hall", it just takes determination and getting a few
other people on your side, too.)

Sounds like a lazy utility worker not wanting to bother with it.

1  request a list of usage from the last year and the shut off date of the
last user.  They have to do it  but don't have to provide you the customers
personal info

2  request a supervisor to deal with if none is available  request the name
and phone number of their superior.

3  request a test of the home for drainage this may have to be paid for by
you. it can determine if something is over drawing.  I had an refrigerator
that was costing me $200 extra month due to a faulty compressor

4  the mayor has nothing to do with the utilities unless they are chartered
directly thru the city.  Than a visit to his office is required

5 if I remember right you are in Missouri contact
http://www.missourienergy.org/

It was the manager I spoke with. I've written to the mayor. Here's what I
wrote:

Dear Mr. Harris,

Recently I moved back to Ava after living out in Douglas County for over
six years, and I have just received a big shock. Please hear me out... This
is a serious situation for me, the outcome of which will determine whether I
can continue to occupy the home I just bought here. If not, I will have to
live in my car.

I live alone and am very frugal. Always have been. On my income - about
$800 per month - it's my only choice, but I would do the same if I was rich;
wasting anything is abhorrent to me. That's how I was raised. My parents
lived through the depression.

Anyhow, I moved in about 9 weeks ago. Before buying the house, I had to
examine my budget very closely to be certain I could afford the costs of
home ownership.

I spent 9 years in northern Arizona with no electricity, phone or running
water. I hauled every drop of my water. Extreme conservation became a habit
that I've never entirely broken. To this day, I still shower only once a
week,
and it is a "navy shower", the rest of the time I sponge bathe at sink.

When I brush my teeth, I fill a small glass and use it rather than leave the
faucet on. The toilet gets flushed 2x/day. I have no dishwasher, no
microwave oven, no hair dryer. My only luxuries are a personal computer
that's shut down every night and a blender that I haven't unpacked yet.

I've washed perhaps half a dozen loads of laundry since moving in. My dryer
hasn't been used in this house yet, as the cord isn't attached. My fridge is
not very old and it's small, and I keep it on the lowest setting where ice
cream barely remains solid in the freezer.

The heater is propane and does not use electricity at all. I don't have an
electric space heater. There was an electric stove here when I bought the
place, but I never used it and replaced with propane. The water heater is
electric but less than a year old and one of the most efficient made. I set
the temp. dials on 110, and it hardly ever kicks on.

City Utilities made me upgrade the meter loop before I could get electricity
turned on. It was shut off on about 2/10 when the previous occupants left.
Water was also shut off at that time.

Before buying the house, I spoke with City Utilities to learn the minimum
monthly charges, for budgeting purposes. I had lived in Ava for eight months
starting 8/1/99, so I already had some idea, but I wanted to refresh my
memory and be more sure of the figures.

I knew the electric would be the highest item but was not concerned about
it, since for six years on WRVEC**, my bills had always been under $30 -
even watering the next door neighbor's horses from my well. I had no air
conditioning there and don't plan to have it here. I had a/c when I lived in
Ava before, but as I recall the bills were not over $60 in the two months
when it was used.

Can you imagine how stunned I was when I saw that my first electric bill for
this house was over $100? That may not sound like a lot to you but it's a
deal-killer to me.

According to my bill, I used 1,433KWH from 2/28 through 3/27, and City
Utilities swears by their figures.

I asked 86-year-old Nell Hester, who lives across the street, about her
bill. She has a forced-air furnace, keeps the place pretty warm, uses an
electric stove and electric water heater. Her bill for the same period was
$80.

On my request, Jo Firey checked the number of Kwh she was billed
for last month. Her response was:

"We used 839KWH of electric last month.  There are five of us and we are
power hogs. Water we used about 7000 gallons.  That includes two teenage
boys who shower here at least once a day, tons of laundry and a few leaks."

My water usage, supposedly, was 3,690 gallons in March. That's over 100
gallons a day, but my toilets do not run on, nor do my faucets leak. For
comparison's sake, in Arizona I used an average of five gallons a day, while
caring for three dogs, five cats and a small garden!

On Sunday, I turned off all the breakers here, read the meter and went out
for a few hours. When I got back, the dial had not moved. That reading
showed I had used just over 200KWH since the recent bill. So we're talking
1,433KWH in March vs. 200+ in April.

My next step was to call City Utilities to try and find out what's going on.
Is the meter reading when the previous occupant moved out the same as the
reading when my billing began? Yes, they say, it is.

Then I called Leland Barnes, who installed the new meter loop, and explained
my predicament. His suggestion was "call the mayor". That's you....

I thought Barnes was either joking or being facetious, so instead of calling
you, I visited Ray's Electric and told my story. That store is big and has
lots of lights that are on all day, and their electric bill was also lower
than mine.

I mentioned to Ray the discrepancy between my last month's usage and the
reading Sunday, and that shot down his guess that perhaps there was a bare
wire sticking in the ground under the house and pulling amps.

When I called City Utilities again, they also said "call the mayor." I still
don't feel quite comfortable with the idea of bending your ear to explain my
predicament, hence this letter.

Obviously something is way wrong with either my house or the utility
bills.... there's no way I used 1,433KWH of power during the month of March,
I didn't finish moving until 3/11 and didn't plug in the fridge or turn on
the water heater until then!

I sure hope you'll help get this matter resolved. I am against a wall with
nowhere left to turn.

**WRVEC=White River Valley Electric Cooperative