PUC

[iluvchristian]

Has anyone noticed their PUC bills have gone up drastically for January and February? For the life of me, I can't figure out why my bills have increased by $100+ The only new things to come in the house, have been energy saver things to replace outdated electronics. We even installed automatic light sensors that turn on when you walk into the room and turn out within 5-15 minutes! And all the new things didn't come in until the bill that just came out.

[Evil Monkey]

Mine has been consistent. It is always within $5 to $10 of the previous month.

[lynys]

I know someone who has been complaining of a higher bill since the smart meter has been installed.

[Soundbear]

Hmmm. Interesting.

And those new fangled bulbs don't save as much as you think. The heat from the older ones is lost. Net savings maybe 15 to 17 percent, from what I read.

[SSMP]

Mine went down about $25 since last year.

[blueeyedgirl]

Mine went up about that much the last two months only because i have electric heat. New smart meter is installed here and bills are still consistant with what i paid last year actually lower because this winter has been pretty mild.

[iluvchristian]

Well, I haven't got the smart meter as of yet. I have gas heat. I've been here for years, and have always paid roughly the same amount. It went up about 2 years ago, and when I called, they couldn't tell me anything. Blamed it on the rates, delivery charges, etc. so I'm not too hopeful they can tell me anything of use! I guess I'll call and see what line they try to feed me this time, LOL!

[7UP]

Don't you just love those EXTRA charges on gas bills and puc bills? GAS...delivery to you..for gods sake no truck pulls up to deleiver gas, it comes thru a pipe. The gas itself is reasonable...its all those extra charges they manage to find

[iluvchristian]

I agree!
I cslled and they sending someone out. So we shall see!

[b&aMom]

Our PUC bill is consistent with last year as well. Maybe a bit less since the furnace hasn't been running as much. We have the new meter, as well.

[goodasgold]

I called PUC, since we are moving next month and they said the rates for the smart meters won't come into affect until 2011 now. I'm a bit thankful for that since the new place is all electric, so we'll have time to try out some infrared heating before winter comes again.

[TheManInBlack]

My wife and I arent home during the "peak price times" no my bill is actually smaller than last year

[Cruel_Intentions]

Man in Black: it doesn't matter what time you use the electricity as of right now. That will come into effect when the city switches over to Time Of Use billing sometime in 2011, so what time you and your wife are home have no effect on your bill.
Christian: Call the PUC and ask them if you are signed up with a retailer. Just because you said no when they were at your door doesn't mean you didn't get signed up. It will take you 2 minuites to call and find out for sure.

[iluvchristian]

Christian: Call the PUC and ask them if you are signed up with a retailer. Just because you said no when they were at your door doesn't mean you didn't get signed up. It will take you 2 minuites to call and find out for sure.

Wouldn't there be an extra line on my bill?
It show's the same as it always had, and the rates are consistent with what's being charged for this time of year. 0.058 for 1st 1000 kWh and 0.067 for additional usage.

[dragonlady]

Urgh, I had had a PUC nightmare like that...my bill kept going up until it was 350/mo and i kept having them out and hearing a bunch of bull crap about lights and fridges and washers etc.., yet nothing had changed to account for it. After two years of fighting with them I got someone who admitted my bill jumped up over 1000 kw without explanation and they refunded me for two months (conveniently ignored that it had been for two years) and my bill has been fine since.

[Kabby]

The girls at PUC explained to me that over the winter months, they guestimate my bill to what it was the year previous, come February (my last reading) they do an actual reading and then charge the difference.

ie. Last year my Dec/Jan bill was $100 each. This year they were $150 each, but charged me $100, come february they did the reading and charged me the extra $50 for dec and january Making february higher.

(Dollar amounts were only used for example).

[Tutones]

Yeah they estimated my bill this month... over double my usual usage rate. Don't know where they pulled that 'estimate' from but it sure wasn't from MY usage history! It can't be that difficult to read a remote meter in the winter...

[Super Gram]

Mine seems to be about the same.I don't think they read them much in the winter. Mostly estim.

[iluvchristian]

Yeah they estimated my bill this month... over double my usual usage rate. Don't know where they pulled that 'estimate' from but it sure wasn't from MY usage history! It can't be that difficult to read a remote meter in the winter...

When my husband went down to pay the bill, that's what they told him, they estimated. Almost 1000 kW more then what we've ever used. The girl on the hone said they actually came out on Feb 8th, but the bill was even higher then last months. And they gave me the same line about fridges, washers, etc. I told her NO, we have all the same things. The only difference is we replaced an older tv with an energy star. We shall see. It should be interesting to see what the guy says when he comes out tomorrow!

[Cruel_Intentions]

Christian: Easiest thing to do is to read you meter the same time that the PUC does. If the reading you took and the reading on the bill are the same, there is nothing that the PUC can do about it since it is actually energy that you've used.
If you don't like estimates: Shovel a path to your meter, it takes like what, 5 minuites to do?

PS: Has anyone ever thought about how much lower our bills might be if the PUC wasn't sending people around to the same houses every month during the day and then paying them overtime to get the important work done?