Today I received my electric bill and couldn't believe what it said. -48.80 do not pay. Every once in a while our electric co. does this does yours?

[sage2021]

I'm not sure why they do it but it's a nice surprise considering I ran the space heater every night all night long, and my air conditioner almost all day long. 🙂

Updates

16 d

This was not from an inaccurate meter reading that had been corrected. The electric company does this every once in a while - maybe every 6 months. They've done this before. I'm not sure why they do this but it's better to have the money in my pocket than in theirs.

[MrOracle]

Likely it's because they were having trouble with your meter in the recent past, so they "estimated" what they thought your bill should be, and their estimate was too high, causing you to overpay, and once they got an actual reading from the meter, they had to correct your bill.

There's a bunch of lawsuits happening now because of this - though usually the billing goes the other way. Anyway, power companies started rolling out "smart meters" about 20 years ago, which contained a lithium-ion rechargeable battery for the radio that communicates meter readings back to headquarters. These batteries have gone past their usable lives, and so the meters stop reporting readings to the company. When this happens, the power company switches to "estimated" usage, and then they eventually send someone out to read the meter manually. A lot of people had their bills UNDER-estimated for a year or more, and then finally got a "true-up" bill that was huge, leading to the lawsuits.

In my area (California), the power company (PG&E - Pacific Gas & Electric) is in the process of changing out 2 million smart meters because of these lawsuits. They were supposed to have been swapping out these meters long ago, but they pushed it off to save money, and now they're being sued as a result.

[sage2021]

@MrOracle
Thank you for taking your time to write my such a long reply.

However, this was not because of an inaccurate meter reading.
Everyone gets a break on their electric bill about every 6 months and that is what this is.

My friend, his caregiver, all of us got a break from the Edison Company 🙂

[MrOracle]

Ok, well, perhaps there was some overcharge or penalty or something that resulted in this adjustment. These things happen.

[Telekinetic-Potato]

My guess is that they do an estimate of what your bill should be based on prior history and some kind of algorithm and then they send someone out manually to check.

Then they just refund whatever the difference is.

I figure that would be way cheaper than switching everyone's meter to an upgraded one or sending people out monthly. I would assume there are other cost savings this way which aren't immediately obvious like their insurance premium covering the field work or the gas/maintaince for their vehicles for example.

There's all sorts of things they could do to protect themselves from undercharging so they probably shy away from sending larger bills. If they got taken to court, I doubt this billing style would hold up against a high level of scrutiny.

[Ez-Bri-Z_v2]

Our old company before we moved used to do that, but that's because we would pay a flat rate for 12 months and then on the next payment if we didn't use as much as we paid we got it as a credit and basically got a month free or significantly discounted.

[Daniela1982]

If you feel a need to pay an electric bill, I'll let you pay mine just to make you happy. 😁😊

[AviatorTom]

If the electric utility can't (or doesn't) read your meter every month, they estimate your usage and often estimate high, so when they finally get around to reading the meter, they realize your usage has been less than estimated, and credit your account.

Are you on a budget billing plan, where you pay the same every month? This can cause a similar thing, since the monthly bill assumes a certain usage level. Every 6 months or year, the electric utility checks what you pay vs what you should have paid (based on usage) and gives you a credit if needed.

[FunkyMonkee]

I had a gas bill like that a few months ago. I opened it and it said I owed $0.00.
What I don't get it why my electric bills are up to nearly $70.00 a month, now! Last year, they were down to about $20 or $30 and I'm not using any more electric now than I was then! Mostly, I just use it for the two computers and a light here next to me and another in the dining room when I'm eating dinner, as well as the kitchen light when I'm cooking or washing dishes, about 20:00 a day and the basement lights when I'm cooking dinner or doing laundry (about 40:00 or 50:00 a week). As I'm always up here except when eating, I never bother turning on the first floor lights when I'm not using them. And, as I know what I'm doing and where I'm going, I tend to walk around in the dark. So, I hardly use any electric, at all.

[jamesgoldman]

Never for electric, I think we've got about a month ahead there

The gas was up to about £900 in credit last year so they sent a cheque for £400 then it got up that way again so they slashed to bill to like £40 a month as opposed to the £130 it had been

[exitseven]

That surely has never happened to me. I budget my home heating oil. I pay a fixed rate every month Soni don't have 3 or 4 big bills in the winter. I try to go easy on the heat so sometimes the oil company tells ne not to pay a bill if I gave too much money on account

[NathanDavis]

never seen that... lol

would be nice though

[Static_In_The_Attic]

There are a few class action lawsuits going on & some people depending on your electric company will receive a credit if a credit is due.

[Likes2drive]

Usually when you over pay on budget billing and then they read the meter finally they make the adjustment and you either pay or they credit you

[worldscolide]

They do this to me, but it's because my home is solar and I put more electricity in than I take out.

[eagle1951]

never