the cost of electricity

I discovered today the cost of electricity should be added to the Visa list as one of the priceless items. At least that is what "Jessica" at the company that heats and lights our home thinks. Our bill in our little 2 bedroom apartment has run anywhere between $50 and $115 per month since we moved in. The only thing changing this cycle is that we added our energy saver washer and dryer to the mix and since it looks like a spaceship and I have been more than thrilled to have clean energy and water effecient laundry, I've done oh maybe 15 loads in the last month. Anything and everything from socks to towels ect. Now I expected our bill to be slightly higher this month but TRIPLE!?!? I think not. So my super sweet husband who LOVES to pick a bone with people who "done us wrong" volunteered to call and handle the situation since I firmly stated that I was NOT PAYING IT! and that something must be wrong. He called and the man he spoke to told us that it looked as though our meter was going out and they had some magic formula to calculate our usage based on what little information showed up.....basically they are guessing. This means the days they measured were apparently days that I did 8 loads of laundry and kept every light in the house on, because yes I am scared of the dark. Anyshways..... I threw a fit, sorry Taylor and the man told taylor they would replace the meter on monday and discuss our bill this week. We gave them until wednesday and Taylor called again to rediscuss the bill.....i.e. tell the kind people that his mean wife wasn't going to pay it. How fun for him....

We were told the magic formula gave them a number that was too small for december so they would make it up to us and make us pay the difference in January. I THINK NOT. What other job in the world can you just "guess" with a "magic formula" and give people a bill. I think I'll take those people to work and be like ok, here is a tiny super sick baby, if you guess at your job, why don't you just guess at mine too because aparently I missed the memo and this is how the world works now.... example, lets just guess how much medicine to give that baby, or lets just guess how much oxygen we are giving it because the flow meter on the wall is broken. COME ON PEOPLE.

so ill cut the story (and rant) short by saying we now have fixed payments for our energy bill so we pay the same amount every month regardless of our usuage.....their way of shutting us up so we don't bitch to them each month about an astronomical bill that we shouldn't have to pay....they'll just sneak it in over a 12 month span so we don't notice....how professional.


Has anyone else had this happen? or have the set bill option for their electric bill?