enmax underestimating usage

[moncton golden flames]

i recieved a bill from enmax recently, that explains they have been under-estimating my electrical bill for the past 8 months, worth almost $700.

i called enmax to have them explain the situation to me, and they told me that their 'courtesy' is to read meters on a monthly basis, and that by law they had to meter read at least twice a year. so i asked how often they have read mine; aug of 06, feb of 07 and march of 08. they have not even provided me with the minimum legal meter reads, but still want their money.

do i have a leg to stand on since they have not provided me with the minimum legal meter reads? do i have any other measure i can take to avoid paying this bill? under-estimating for close to a year at a time seems very slack, and i am really pissed.

please, great puckers, help me bring the man down, or at least save me close to $700 in bull charges.

[ken0042]

I think what they "owe" you is time to pay, but at the end of the day you did use the electricity.

However on this subject I would suggest people have a look at their meters. My bill came in last week and it seemed quite low. Turns out their "actual" meter reading was off by 1100 KW/h. And the gas readin was also off by quite a bit. So I know a huge bill is on its way at some point.

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I think what they "owe" you is time to pay, but at the end of the day you did use the electricity.

However on this subject I would suggest people have a look at their meters. My bill came in last week and it seemed quite low. Turns out their "actual" meter reading was off by 1100 KW/h. And the gas readin was also off by quite a bit. So I know a huge bill is on its way at some point.

i know i used the electricity, but if they don't provide minimum readings by law, and i legally obliged to pay?

i also fear the same thing with atco, cause they've requested meter 'maintenance'.

[JustAnotherGuy]

Phone the company and ask what your options are.

A couple of years ago I was on a budgeted billing schedule kind of thing. So I would have the no surprises in the deep of winter. Well that didn't work out very well because I got a surprise at the end of the fiscal year (in June) when they added $600.00 to cover the amount that I had really used.

I phoned the company and asked what happened. He explained it. I said, okay I used the services what are my options. We came up with a system where I could take 3 months to pay off the amount. Which helped a little. I no longer do the budgeted thing. Although I do not look at my meter. I should.

I guess, as the one fellow mentioned, we need to keep better track of what is really happening. Not assume that somebody else is doing it for us.

[ken0042]

I guess what I was getting at was that by them failing to provide timely meter readings, I have a feeling that the only compensation you would receive is the time to pay.

Over the years I have fought with different utility companies. One apartment I lived in my first bill came and it was huge. I complained, next month they did an "actual" reading and it turned out they now owed me. Next month another huge bill, followed by them reading and it being lower for 2 months of usage than what they charged for 1 month. Then they accused me of tampering with the meter.

Then last summer I had Atco/ Direct Energy send a bill for an actual reading, then the following month decide that I had used more gas in July/August (when it was $12/gg) than I used in August/September when it was $6/gg. I also explained that I was on vacation at the end of July, not using much gas, and that in the end of August begining of Sept I had started to use the furnace.

I just gave up and paid it. Because I had to put a price on what my aggravation was worth.

[Ford Prefect]

If the usage is accurate you'll have to pay.

The only way around their underestimating your usage is to do an actual metre reading yourself each month and phone it in to them. I've had months where they hugely overestimated my usage and they allowed me to do an actual reading reading and phone that in to determine my actual bill. I guess they grant me the benefit of the doubt about being honest with my reading as eventually they'll do their own actual reading and if I lied it would get corrected at that point.

[moncton golden flames]

so, what i'm getting from you guys is that they have not lived up to their legal obligation, but i have to?

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

i know i used the electricity, but if they don't provide minimum readings by law, and i legally obliged to pay?

See bolded text for answer




Best you can hope for is some extra time to pay

[ken0042]

I think you are looking different degrees of legal obligation. If somebody doesn't let me merge into traffic at a designated merge, they have broken the law. That doesn't entitle me to then pull out a gun and shoot out their tires.

They broke their legal obligation, so the penalty for them would be to allow you to pay over time instead of all at once.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Yeah, I'd say your best bet is to ask them for a schedule of when they think you used the gas, and what price you are beind chared for those months.
Probalby the best you'll be able to do is to argue that you didn't use as much durring the higher cost periods.

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

Yeah, I'd say your best bet is to ask them for a schedule of when they think you used the gas, and what price you are beind chared for those months.
Probalby the best you'll be able to do is to argue that you didn't use as much durring the higher cost periods.

great point! now looking at my bill, they charged me the whole 8 months at december rates, which conveniently happen to be the highest all year.

for anybody else in this situation, here is the website which outlines historic rates for both electricyt and natural gas in alberta. http://www.ucahelps.gov.ab.ca/186.html

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

great point! now looking at my bill, they charged me the whole 8 months at december rates, which conveniently happen to be the highest all year.

for anybody else in this situation, here is the website which outlines historic rates for both electricyt and natural gas in alberta. http://www.ucahelps.gov.ab.ca/186.html

See, now you're thinking logically and actually have a leg to stand on. Call them up, perhaps argue for a lower rate as you are indeed being screwed due to their fault.

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

great point! now looking at my bill, they charged me the whole 8 months at december rates, which conveniently happen to be the highest all year.

for anybody else in this situation, here is the website which outlines historic rates for both electricyt and natural gas in alberta. http://www.ucahelps.gov.ab.ca/186.html

[EDIT] Fotze's is more direct...

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by Ducay

See, now you're thinking logically and actually have a leg to stand on. Call them up, perhaps argue for a lower rate as you are indeed being screwed due to their fault.

it's not that was illogical about it before, i was simply trying to avoid having to pay anything, due to their negligence.

step one; try to pay nothing.
step two if step one fails; pay as little as possible.

i moved thru step one and am now at step two. volunteering to just pay whatever they ask for is just lazy imo. i'm doing what i believe what everyone elsle would do....their homework and pay as little as possible.

[onetwo_threefour]

I think his point was that step one wasn't logical. You used the service/product, how is it reasonable in any way to pay nothing?

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by onetwo_threefour

I think his pi pint wass that step one wasn't logical. You used the service/product, how is it reasonable in any way to pay nothing?

i was working on the lawful vs unlawful angle. where unlawful typical tends to be wrong and/or illegal. i'm just trying all my options.

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I think you are looking different degrees of legal obligation. If somebody doesn't let me merge into traffic at a designated merge, they have broken the law. That doesn't entitle me to then pull out a gun and shoot a hobo.

They broke their legal obligation, so the penalty for them would be to allow you to pay over time instead of all at once.

FYP....

[shane_c]

During my call centre days, years ago, I took billing/collection calls for a natural gas company in Ontario. If the meter was inside or not accessible then it would be estimated based on past usage at the property. I believe the company I worked for only needed 1 reading a year, but went out every second month (estimated months in between). But anyway, we would always recommend customers with these inside or hard to get to meters to call their reading in to us once in a while so that we could ensure they were being billed properly. We would also allow for a payment plan for the high bill after several months of underestimation.

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by shane_c

During my call centre days, years ago, I took billing/collection calls for a natural gas company in Ontario. If the meter was inside or not accessible then it would be estimated based on past usage at the property. I believe the company I worked for only needed 1 reading a year, but went out every second month (estimated months in between). But anyway, we would always recommend customers with these inside or hard to get to meters to call their reading in to us once in a while so that we could ensure they were being billed properly. We would also allow for a payment plan for the high bill after several months of underestimation.

from all this, i will be meter reading myself on a monthly basis. i have the deadline dates from them, so on my shoulders it goes.

[Gundo]

Fortis does my power out here in Chestermere and I call them once a month and tell them to come do a reading otherwise they do its once every two or three months.