Houston customer charged for electricity use despite being without power for days
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- Опубліковано 28 тра 2024
- No lights, no air conditioner, no nothing. If you were one of the 900,000 people who lost electricity for several days this month you might expect your next bill to be slightly lower than normal. However, one man in the Heights called us when he noticed his account showed he used electricity on days when that was impossible.
*So if they’re billing you for days without power, it’s PRETTY LIKELY that they’re OVER BILLING you on “normal” days!*
Padding the bill would be impossible to track without extraordinary effort or a freak occurence .
If you do catch it , they just lie and ignore you .
It certainly feels like something within the realm of posibilities, by malice or incompetence. The meter has the log, the electric company has the log... Do you have the log..? Probably not. You have what they represent the log to be. If they obfuscate the readings, you should have a right to audit / question them. The only solution is to export the meter registers / logs yourself. Get a probe, talk to meter, acquire the data, compare to the raw data export from billing.
There should be only; logs that equal actual consumption, OR, fork the smart meter and go cheap and old school meter and guesstimate until next reading.
👍🏻
Hour by hour stats based on previous usage lol. Pointless scam.
Exactly!
Why is it a crime when an individual steals but not a corporation?
"Corporations are people too my friend." M Romney.
"I'll believe corporations are people when Texas exe utes one"--Bumper sticker
Actually, you can criminally charge a corporation.
Because a lot of times they are in cahoots with the government. They're paying the government, so the government pretends to look the other way.
scotus decided it wasnt good for citizens to sue corporations for much money and no lawyer is free.
Donate to your local criminal, sorry politician and you too can commit fraud
I see how this works. If the customer catches the overcharge, the company will fix the billing. But if the customer doesn’t catch the overcharge, the fraudulent overcharges will continue.
Yep.... just like those "fool-proof" voting machines, eh!
BINGO!!
And next you'll say that we can't trust politicians! You're right!
@@rogerjensen5277 No, politicians are totally trustworthy. They would never lie to us. Except for 100% of the time.
No. Their explanation is likely correct. Customer calling has nothing to do with correcting the numbers. When they miss reports from the meter they pull numbers out of the air to replace the missing data, probably highly biased in their favor. When they eventually get correct reporting, they correct those invented numbers. If the numbers weren't corrected a day after power was restored, that would be another matter. If there is any case for regulation, this should be examined, I see no reason they need to fake numbers for missing data, it is obvious they should report zero usage until valid data indicates otherwise.
What this tells me is that EVERYONE is being overcharged ALL the time.
As a software developer for over 5 decades I can say that software that estimates usage, when there is no usage, should be considered highly illegal!!!
As someone with 25 years in metering I say: "We give them smart meters... and they inexplicably start to dress in clown attire".
There is no point in having smart meters, paying for smart meters if you will keep guesstimating. Only present ACTUAL CONSUMPTION to customers. If you don't know, just state "To Be Decided" or "No Logs Yet". Anything else just sows the seeds of distrust.
It's fine for guesstimating on the input grid, management side of things, but you DON'T FEED THE CUSTOMER made up BS.
My local utility was guesstimating water usage until they installed smart water meters. They made it known it wasn't an actual reading. On occasion, they would send someone out to read the water meter. When they found out that they overestimated the usage, they went back and changed the usage some months to zero, so they could show I had a credit on my account, and not that they overestimated the usage. They are giving someone or something the ability to change the usage data, and if there is no over sight or log to show it was changed and why, then they are relying on a system that is not reliable. Totally agree this should be illegal.
@@Paxmax Exactly. You should never send a bill to a customer based on estimated usage from the past. Billing them according to future use is ok, but it would serve you well to still look at how much was actually used and credit them the difference at the next billing cycle.
@@benwagner5089 Yes, there are a few ways to "pay ahead" of actual cost tallied at end of month. I'm still on an approximal fixed fee basis until end of year when there will be a higher bill or money back.
I just lost my electro-mechanical meter a few months ago. It was replaced with a modern electronic type by local grid operator. Not sure if the new meter has remote reading or not. The display does tell the coded accumulated totals of a few registers, but I haven't probed it yet for all available registers and functions. I just take a visual reading now and then, put the values in an excel spread sheet to look at the trend.
In europe alot is standardised, if you have an optical probe and some simple program you can make a read out of meter. The upshot of probe reading is usually you get a higher amount of decimals.
the software is the tool!
I think these energy companies need to be investigated further.
Absolutely never trust anyone who says “trust me”.
I trust you
Blatant fraud. The company reporting fraudulent charges should have every single account audited.
Yep it at the very least should show "estimate" for those days online, I call this fraud.
He has not been billed. There is no fraud.
@@Look_What_You_Did But he would have been billed normally if he had not raised it, its fraud.
Anyone can read their own meter. Compare what the bill says the meter reading is to what you see on your meter. It won't match exactly because you don't know when they'll read the meter, but it should be close. Within 10 or 20 kw.
RECORD ALL CALLS WHEN SPEAKING WITH A BUSINESS!
That's called fraud!
And how much will they pay the current Attorney General to decide NOT to investigate and potentially prosecute the power company...
What a fraud. Allowing billing of electricity when no electricity was available
My water has been shut off for a year, but the village still charges me for water like it was on.😡😡😡
Interesting. I have a second property that I tore the house down and cut off all utilities and informed both water and electric providers and returned the meters to their offices. Much to my surprise I received a bill for both two months later. I contacted each company and was told they got the usage from the meters. Imagine what I was thinking then. I had to laugh and then told them I informed their companies of the disconnection, removal and return of the meters. The customer service rep sounded flabbergasted and said nothing could be done and would not pass me on to another more senior person. It only got corrected when I contacted the my town's elected representative for the area. So no one can tell me utility companies are not charging customers fraudulently.
How could they charge you when the meters weren't even on the property? I never heard of such a thing - removing meters and turning them in and then STILL GETTING BILLED FOR NON-EXISTENT WATER AND POWER USAGE? Good grief, what next!
The village explained to me that there is a base amount of 160 dollars charged to every property, every 3 months. Whether you use water or not. I am allowed to put a well on my property, but I would still be charged the $160.😒😒😒😡
Well you’re charged the base amount. So many thousands of gallons wether you use them or not. Around where I live, it’s $17 a month.
Where do you get your water then ?
Crooks! A smart meter should NOT be estimating usage prior to usage. It should ONLY be logging ACTUAL usage. This is straight up THEFT from the consumer!!
Isn't it funny that we have a government person to go to check gas pumps for weight and measurements, but somehow the electric companies got skipped for accurate measurements?
Insane right? Transition from a device that can accurately measure the use of energy to one that doesn’t bother and guesses (to the power companies benefit)
exactly right
You are completely ignoring that he NEVER PAID extra at the end of the month once the system corrected itself. In the pre smart meter days, every other month would be estimated and the month that the meter was read, the dill was based on the actual reading. .
@@bobroberts2371 How about we just stick to expecting modern technology to do what we expect it to do ... charge the consumer for actual usage in real time, not estimated usage in the future. When I go to the damn gas station the computer is able to show the EXACT amount of fuel on the digital screen, not an ESTIMATED amount of fuel. Thus, I'm charged for the EXACT amount of fuel usage at that time. I'm not charged for an "estimated" amount of fuel that I might purchase the next day or next week.
This crap is EXACTLY why we didn't want the damn "smart meters" in the first place. It puts us, the consumer at the mercy of a huge corporation with several law firms to represent them.
Let me guess. You work for Centerpoint?
Funny how fast they change their tunes once the media gets involved.....
What Tune? He NEVER PAID on a daily basis, he pays at end of billing month where last month reading and current month is what the bill is.
all estimated billing, caught them this time
@@bobroberts2371Then why did Centerpoint corporate say they would correct the issue? Just a question, if there was no power why would they estimate usage? No usage = 0.
doesn't mean they will do what they say they are going to do.
@@Yooper2024 said " Then why did Centerpoint corporate say they would correct the issue? "
CP said that the daily usage report would self correct to cover the missed readings. The daily report is just so the user has some idea of when they are using electricity and how much.
Does the guy write a check on a daily basis for electricity? NO ! Does he write a check at the end of the monthly billing period bases on reading at start and reading at end YES !
There are WAY too many low IQ tin foil hatted people that willingly victimize themselves by refusing to accept reality.
What a scam! These companies should be held accountable for outright theft!!!
Several people dide because power companies couldn't be bothered to maintain their infrastructure (Actually, it was natural gas price manipulation and price gouging, but hey, at least Austin got their cut, right?) so a little billing fraud is nothing. Wonder if they sent a paper bill too, that'll be good for mail fraud, 5 years per count.
What theft? He pays at the end of the month not on a daily basis as in Reading at start of month / reading at end of month difference = actual usage.
Tell that to Abbot, he is the one taking their lobyist bribes so they can put repair costs on you.
@@bobroberts2371 Nobody in these comments actually watched the video save you, me and about 3 other people.
They need to be able to afford their bribes to Greg Abbott.
Funny how it always malfunctions in favor of the “Man”…
Years ago, switched every lightbulb in my house to efficient ones. The next month, my bill was halved. The following month, it was back to "normal" and stayed up there. It's all a scam, the meters! They just recalibrated the meter to measure usage differently. They didn't care that there was a goid explanation for the low usage month! And that the bill should have stayed lower. Its about money, not measuring electrons!
This is deliberate. The company is scamming
no.
@@VaporheadATC Yes. Back when there were meter readers, they were caught numerous times skipping houses and making up numbers so they could go hide out somewhere most of the day. I got a bill one time that was twice what my house could possibly use without blowing the fuses.
Stealing
Opt out out of smart meters!!
@@bite-sizedshorts9635 No. The customer was never billed for the "estimated" usage, and they gave a very good explanation as to why this occurred. Please rewatch the video and not comment on something that happened 30 years ago.
If the resident/customer is actually billed via the mail, it is a federal crime. Intentional mail fraud. Put them in prison.
Another reason not to use online billing.
He wasn't billed. It was a preliminary estimate until the actual data comes in. This is a fake news story. Power companies did "estimated" billing for alternate months for decades before smart meters came into play.
No because the power companies pad politicians like Ted Cruz pockets to look the other way
Great point!
No its not, because they make the rules
So, who came up with the idea of calling the electronic bandits ‘smart’ meters?
All of these companies scam. We typically use more electricity in the summer, between AC’s and fans. Last summer is was cold and rainy, so we never even took our AC’s out of storage, and we never used out ceiling fans. We also spend two months paining and staining and every tv and computer in our home was disconnected. Our electricity company sent us a bill, telling us that our usage was “up by 18% as compared to this time last year” with a huge bill. I called and of course they don’t care - we literally used almost no electricity for July and August, but was billed for almost twice the amount we’d used prior. This was Eversource in New Hampshire.
I was without power for six whole weeks. It wasn't just that I was charged for electricity that I wasn't getting but I was charged TEN TIMES what I had been using in the previous months. It took five months to get someone out to discover that the meter had been replaced with a new one. I was being billed a "deemed usage" for the meter that no longer existed. Nothing is unusual about what I am hearing here.
Why is it his responsibility to manage and supervise the power company? No power mean NO POWER!!!
Same thing happened to us in Maryland. Said we used more energy than normal on a particular date and we were out of town and had our heat turned way down and even put our water heater on vacation mode. Then it happened again. We were getting bills over $400 when we were gone for three weeks in the billing period. They’re a bunch of criminals. I wrote a letter certified mail to the power company and got no response.
Is this everyone’s first time catching on to this?? I’ve been monitoring my electricity for years with my own meter, and I’ve discovered that these companies have been faking usage for a while now. Same goes for my water. It’s completely disgusting.
Who is not surprised?
We hand them smart meters, the power companies hire even more incompetent staff. That is not how the world works, nor how the world should be worked.
There's a reason it's called The One Star State.
Not me!!!!
I am not surprised
@steve...joe biden most likely isn't surprised!
"estimations" = how much they think they can game people for without being noticed.
This is typical for every municipal government now.
I don’t believe the power company executive. They aren’t concerned with your bank account.
Exactly why nobody wanted the smart meters and in fact protested this same fact against them.
Smart meters are listening 😅😅
It has nothing to do with the meter
@@MrShanester117 Exactly this. This is a feature of the "free" energy grid that Rick Perry and Republicans sold us, not a bug.
@@MrShanester117 actually it does because it’s a “smart” meter anytime it doesn’t actually have power to read it automatically populates the grid as “expected usage” based on previous usage and not actual usage levels like a standard meter so yeah it’s the meter and probably should do some research before defending something you clearly know nothing about🤷♂️
@@MrShanester117 Everything to do with the "smart" meters. They can charge you whatever they wish by claiming you were using too much power during peak times. And there's no way to prove it in my area, as we don't get those daily reports the guy in the video gets.
This just automates what was standard practice back in the days of regular meters. The meter readers were lazy and wouldn't actually read the meters every month. They would make it up, so you might get low bills for a while, but then get an outrageous one that would be hard for you to pay. I have personally seen this at three different homes, from childhood, to being on my own, to being married.
She lying they stealing people money
You English talk good!
Are you kidding me? They didn’t even show a single bill in the report.
@@obits3 But they did show they recorded usage when there was no power to use. You think they would have corrected things if they had not been caught? Be real: why would they set up a system that would guess usage if no usage actually took place (greed?)?
@yolanda.... she is merely reporting what her manager told her to say.... she doesn't control the computer.
@@williamwilson6499 Ok... she forgot the words "is" AND "are". This is why it is a good idea to proofread before hitting the REPLY button.🤔
So they got caught stealing how many millions from their Customers, and of course, nothing will be done TO them for it.
What a surprise.
“estimated usage” that they thought they would get away with!
"Now that the media has this story, we will absolutely fix this."
The estimation algorithm is corrupt.
Sounds like it....I can make a spreadsheet show anything I want....and design an estimation program to do anything it wants using the spreadsheet and a PLC.
...correct...
you think you can fight multi billion dollar companies? i have tried it, lawyers who even took my case eventually told me "good luck".
@@LygerTheCLaw ...I took on an 8 billion dollar a year company within The Federal Government about 30+ years ago, without an attorney...and I "won". They have fought me for all of those years...and have now deprived me of my pension....which I am still fighting for.....sad.
It's interesting that there is an estimation when there is no power then reconciling later, instead of waiting and reconciling later. If there is no power to the meter, a reasonable person would think there is no power to the house and the onus should be on the power company, especially when there are mass reported outages. When there are no alternatives to power and not having power can cause fines, eviction or condemned by your landlord, HOA, or city it's perfectly reasonable assume this is not only fraud but extortion.
One of the arguments they used to justify the implementation of smart meters was that they would improve accuracy and eliminate estimates. Is that statement proving to be as inaccurate as the reporting from the meters? 😒
Most smart meters report using radio signals broadcast at 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz. Both of these are short range (the atmosphere absorbs these frequencies, which makes them ideal for short-range communication since multiple sources are less likely to interfere). So a power company truck needs to drive through the neighborhood collecting this data from the meters it passes. They only send a truck once every few days to few weeks. In between, your power usage is going to be estimated. (Some of the newer meters use the cellular network, so those should be updated much more frequently.)
The "improved accuracy" is because figuring out how much power you used from an AC current is a bit of a voodoo science. If you think of electricity as water, the energy you use isn't how much water flowed through your pipes, it's how much energy you extract from the water sloshing back and forth in the pipes. There's no simple nor obvious way to measure that. The older meters actually weren't that accurate, and could be fooled by placing a magnet near them. The smart meters are more accurate because they use better algorithms to estimate your power usage. They're not more accurate because they're sending usage data back to the power company more frequently (though that's still a perk since the meter can be read via radio instead of a guy having to walk up to the meter and visually read it).
@@solandri69 ...theft...
You Got IT 😂
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” a quote from the Wizard of Oz.
SOME YELLOW BRICK ROAD 😢
We opted out of the “smart meter” scam and are glad we did!!
SOME DIDN'T HAVE A CHANCE 😮
is that even legal? they are charging us for an anticipated usage of the electricity. what the heck.
It has gone for decades. I rented a house almost 40 years ago and they read the meter every other month and estimated the months they didn't read it in. They claimed that if I used less then the estimate it would balance out the next month when they read the meter. The problem is I used less than half of what they estimated so when they read the meter after two months, I still hadn't used what they estimated for one month. By the end of the year they owed me over $300 which was quite a bit 40 years ago.
And some utilities they charge a month ahead.
And also the COH water department has been doing this for 20 years or more.
@@loudidier3891 The water department "estimated" by July usage last summer at 21,000 gallons. I don't have a yard, and it's a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house...a small one. I'm the only one who lives here. There were no leaks found by a plumber and had the reports. My average usage metered is about 1,200 gallons a month. Took them THREE months to correct it. Had I just paid the bill of $800 they would have just kept doing it. But I had to pay it anyway until it was "investigated" or they would shut it off. So they use my money interest free for 3 months, make a return on it, then give it back. We are giving them no-interest loans to invest in their companies.
It’s all the same with stock companies. Always coming up with ways to squeeze as much as they can from consumers!
If it’s not the actual and accurate readings, what’s the point of having these so called smart meters in the first place?
Why I opted out.
So they can hire less people, and turn them off remotely. Extra juice for performing dangerous science experiments in middle of the night going BOOM.
True!
"Populates the system with estimated data" then goes back and corrects it? Why not wait until the real data is available and THEN "populate" it? Why does the consumer bear the burden here?
Amy!
U r AWESOME!
KEEP UP THE FANTASTIC WORK.
HOUSTON NEEDS U!
You tamper with a meter and steal electricity it's a felony. They tamper with the bill and steal from you it's a mistake that they might get around to fixing.
THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION IS NO HELP. You know, I have been contacting state senators and representatives for years over this BS. They need to change the law where the head of the Public Utilities Commission is an elected position, not appointed, and require that you are not allowed to run or hold office if they, currently or in the past, had a vested interest in a public utilities provider or lobbied for them on their behalf. Secondly, create and estblish a law enforcement arm that not only hold people accountable for utility usage rheft but to also hold utility providers accountable for BS like this. Guess what? No one cared. IMAGINE THAT!!
TOO LAZY TO 😴 CARE 😅
They didn't expect people to notice.
If we are forced to pay a late fee? Then Ele Corporations,,should be forced to pay a lying fee!
General public gets taken advantage of.
Capitalism 101: "You don't help the people. You prey on them."
Understatement of the millennium. Everything nowadays is a scam. If it’s being estimated, what keeps them from estimating all of my use? They could be lying about every bill.
@@michaelccopelandsr7120like communism is any better 😂
@@Keaton0801 We don't have communism in the states, though.
You're right.
What we have is a Socialist Republic.
One day you'll say something they don't like and they'll shut your electricity off..... remotely.
Already turning off people's thermostats in California.
😂😂 facts
Source?
@@TheGoldenV-bl9pjwake the efffff up Democrat. I could tell because you said...,source? How about open your eyes to what is going on. they are going to start charging mile per driven in EVs. The insurance companies are hammering solar power users. Those smart fridges last about 3 to 5 years now. They will soon start sending you tickets in the mail because of your driving is all on a computer.
Telling democrats to wake up while companies in a red state is screwing people over... you can't make up that kind of delusion.
I have a friend in Mossyrock, Washington who was charged for water usage even though the city had cut her off.
This is exactly why you NEVER sign up for the "averaged" utility bills. This is the kind of scam utility companies are hoping you will sign up with... Just sayin...
Fraud
That and DEI hires.
Only fraud if the bill didn't reflect actual usage, listen to 220 to 310
@@bobroberts2371yep, this is in the contract he signed with email notifications. That email isn't a bill, just a weekly notification.
@@bubbajones4522
That’s gotta be a really stupid post. You must be a robot.
So when your meter has no power that means your house has no power. Then AI will figure out what they think you should have been using and charge you for it. People should be going to prison !
This is the tip of an iceberg. This is probably happening with utilities all across the Country.
That’s theft on the corporate level! When is enough, enough! I’m really sick of being robbed by corporations and government agencies!!!
During the “freeze” early in the year Just Energy said we used more electricity in three days than we use all month, one day they said our house used 10 kilowatts an hour. Said they’d “look into it” but it’ll take 45 days, never heard back.
Just Energy has slimy customer agents. They made me use my own rewards for the $25 visa card a while back after mistakingly putting us on a wrong electric plan. When I asked for it to be corrected and reimburse for the wrong charges they used my own rewards on the account to pay for it.
Gotta love that lower level of customer support. Or actually, lack of support.
" The system estimates what you would have used and bills you for it." I've heard of similar accounts in different business. This world is messed up.
Why is it that sometimes when you call to have something corrected, things don't get done, but when you contact a news channel the company is willing to get on it right away?
Surprise surprise. The gd electric company is ripping us off. Is anyone else shocked?
I don’t think that pun was intended, but it made me chuckle 😂.
@@Keaton0801 naw. I meant it. And I couldn’t resist
Executives need to be rich. We are here to serve that need.
@@markstevenson6635 is that righ? Really? We!! The men’s room need cleaning out. So y don’t u get right on that?
So not so smart meter then!
Smart meters, clown operators. Somehow, when we handed them smart meters they just went stupid. *sigh*
All these ‘smart things’ are made to control all aspects of our lives. phones, TVs ,appliances, cars etc. we had free TV, under the lie that it freed up frequencies for emergency services. Then replaced our free TV with cable Television. The masses never look deeper. Intellectual Lazy .
So those that don’t know and question it are billed. SCAMMED by big corporations. They need to be fined.
Fraudulent smart meters
I always wondered about that. We get charged when we use power, we should get a discount when we don't.
the water company in houston is doing it too now. i'm getting robbed by both.
I still have a physical water meter, and they don't read it every month. For months in a row, I will get an identical bill. That's solid proof that the meter reader is making up numbers so they can go home during the day and take a long break on our dime. He's a county employee, but doesn't work the whole day.
Read up on that those old lines are not being measured properly.
So, the company is always right and The customer has to do the work for the company?! Welcome to the new America... Where ONLY corporations have actual rights!!!
LAWSUIT AGAINST the power company for millions
Sounds like a total racket. How can you even believe their numbers are accurate at all and I bet the company keeps the change.
They need to fix this immediately!!! They owe this man from doing this the whole time.
The bill is based on total usage for the month not daily, he never overpaid.
Did you not watch the same video as I did, or did you just read the video TITLE and make an ignorant comment?
@@VaporheadATC Bills are based on total usage for a monthly period, the meter never registered any usage on the 2 days because there was not any power. The hourly monitoring app smoothed out the data however it is NOT used in the billing calculation.
@@bobroberts2371On Friday and Saturday the meter and the system showed usage when there was no power. So the meter did record usage in error.
File a class action lawsuit against them .
These reporters are completely ignorant about how smart meters work. If the electric company can’t get a reading on the wireless system that sends the information, it will try to estimate usage. However, as soon as it gets an actual reading from the meter, you will only be charged for any electricity that you’ve used. Think of it this way. If you eat a hamburger a day out of your refrigerator and someone comes by and checks your refrigerator to count how many hamburgers are left every afternoon if they can’t get there for a week, they will assume that you were eating a hamburger a day, however when they visit on that seventh day, if you only ate four hamburgers, they’ll change their estimate to the actual amount that you consumed.
"Estimating" should be a crime. Everything should be actual charges for product used at the price that is quoted when you sign up. Same thing with the water department...they do that crap too.
Estimating done right is OK. For example where I live many people on fixed incomes have signed up for "consistent billing" based on an estimated average bill for the summer, winter, or both. The utility then corrects the monthly average based on actual usage after a number of months. This actually works well and benefits many people.
However, in a case where the smart meters is reporting the use each day... there is no need to estimate. Just record the usage.
Estimating can also be legitimately used when a meter has failed. That happens. In my area the Utility tends to estimate low for electric or gas usage for the period where they believe that the meter was not accurately reading usage.
We get lied from everyone. The government, utilities, banks, insurance companies, stores, phone callers, from TV advertisers, from friends, and even the dog.🤣🤣🤣🤣
They call them smart meters, LOL🤣🤣🤣🤣🚽🚽🚽🚽🚽🚽🚽!
Yup. They FORCED them on us. Wait until the control part of the equation is implemented?! _”Were sorry, but your position on [fill in the blank] is not aligned with ours. Therefore, we will be unable to provide you electricity this week. Please report for re-education.”_
You can get a new dog. Lots of luck with the rest.
My dog don't lie. When he says he gotta go outside, he ain't joking!
@@joshm3342 Good for him!
My dog actually died a year ago after a good long life. I was the one lying on UA-cam... We get lies from everyone including me who rarely lies. 👌😎
Enjoy yourself with your dog!
❤❤USA❤❤
Legalalized highway robbery
Your state government works with public utilities to establish tariffs. Regardless of what you think you can be billed for, you're actually billed based on whatever the tariffs allow. And despite what a reasonable person would believe, it is very possible for you to be billed by a utility company for service they've never delivered.
they did that to me too a few years back, i closed down my business for two months due to me have to leave town. I completely cut the power to the building but was still billed 400$ for that month, they said they averaged out everyones bill for that area. that didnt make any sense to me.
Hoping you DON'T NOTICE ...
Ever notice that when there's an error it's always in the company's favor?
I love when the internet or phone doesn’t work i still have to pay full price
That means they obviously have a program running that makes sure you use the same electricity every day or more.
How about they just show the ACTUAL USAGE THE FIRST TIME?
...and if you don't notice the discrepancy; well the power company just experienced a windfall.
What is going to be done about this? It is a crime to steal.
The price we pay when the utilities own our state regulatory agencies.
and support the party in charge
Makes you wonder if anything they do is accurate.
I am glad my power company still walks the properties of whole city
As a system tech with charter cable i ssaw many cities and villages going smart meters and saw many failures of communication between meter to company monitoring
We're living in a GREEDY messed up world.
Such BS!!! Similar thing happened to me in Albq. I moved into a new complex then a few months later PNM came in and installed new "smart meters" that, get this, controlled the power usage I was allowed. OMG! Now PNM is allowed to tell me how much power I'm allowed to use? It's 110 degrees and they shut down my electricity so I wasn't able to stay cool in my apartment and being disabled, I'm inside all the time. I called. They told me, you can go to a cooling center. What? How an I to get there? I hung up on them. So, I called back and had them change my account and RELEASE it so I could use as much power as I needed to keep my apartment cool and comfortable.
This is a big time scam...that company should be shut down immediately
Bunch of crooks if nobody noticed they would keep charging you
AMEN TO THAT 😮
I left Houston. Been there, done that. Have those smart meters taken out!
900k without electricity for several days? Smh
Repairs take time.
Texas has its own independent power grid that’s not interconnected with the rest of the country. For some reason.
@@smorris281 Interconnected or not repairing downed power lines and blown transformers takes time.
@@spankyssurprise1361, there's no point in trying to explain it to them. I understand why and how an electricity estimate happens and how it's corrected but these people just can't wrap their minds around it. Remember, half of the population has an IQ under 100...
Interesting. Funny how often errors favor the corporations.
Now do people begin to understand WHY certain politicians push people to fight against each other in culture wars rather than fighting against the REAL ENEMIES!!!!
The crooks get caught.
This is why I have an Analog meter on my home. When they came to my house and wanted to put a digital one on I said no. I padlocked the box. I actually have a guy who comes by and reads it about every three months. Until he comes they simply estimate how much I use and I'm billed accordingly. At 1st I was billed a crazy amount and when I called the electric company, the lady said it's because you have an analog so we bill high and adjust from there. I said not a problem, but you don't need to bill double just estimate at what we normally would use. The lady was rude and said that's just the way we do it until you get a digital meter. I said ok, but at one point you guys are going to over bill the point that you'll have to either refund me or I won't have a bill for months. She said well we'll see. Yep I got a zero balance for months because my credit hours were so high lol. I think even a refund check at the end of the year one year. Since then they are a lot better about estimating my power. I also bought and installed a more efficient AC unit too. So far I have had the last laugh. Yes I paid double for about three months, but I got it back on the following 6 months. 😂😂😂
Crooked Point Energy
I'm sure ALL utilities that we have to have are all crooked....my hunch was right. ..this is some proof. I count phone /net as a utility, too.
I want the meter readers back!!!!
We, the people must demand it.
This is Abbott’s electric company! The same company that he said will have no more outages! 😂😅😂😅
this shows you how much the politicians are in bed with these big companies, They will not charge their corporate buddies with a crime or a fine. start with the local DA, political aspirations with getting their funds from these same companies
Electricity in Texas is a rotten racket.
The smart meter is only smart when it cuts you off for not paying the bill without sending someone out. Then when you pay and they turn it back on they charge a large fee. It shouldn’t be estimating usage if the whole point of a smart meter is it is read remotely.
Typical behavior of electrical companies!
Nice… 100% proof that these meters are fraudulent and shouldn’t be legally allowed.