Have you ever been charged an estimated amount on your bill? At times, the meter reader can't or won't come to actually read the meter and then an estimated bill is drawn up. This usually reflects your past usage, from a year prior. For those of us who are always trying to save, it's probably not very accurate, as our usage becomes lower and lower. It also really depends on the weather as far as things like gas, electric, and sometimes even water, are concerned. I'm not a fan of the estimated bill. They do always adjust it for me later, but I don't like having to pay more up front when it's not correct. What say you?
I submit a meter reading online every month to prevent getting estimates. They really annoy me, you have to spend time phoning the utility company then the new bill takes forever to arrive, during which time, you tend to get a threatening red letter for not having paid the original (incorrect) bill.
I hate estimated bills! Our electric company used to do it a lot, but now, they only do to us every so often. I don't understand why they're allowed to estimate. Is it laziness or what? It's really inconvenient, and my bill is already so high!
Oh yeah we get these "estimated" bills quite often and my mom is really on a lookout in case they over estimate. She's quite cautious of the utility companies trying to charge more then what is actually owed to them just because they don't have the time to get an accurate measurement of how much we've used. It's very unprofessional and really shows that you can't even care about your customers enough to come here for a couple seconds to read a number off a meter... shameful.
I used to get estimated bills, but the house has a smart meter now, so the bills are accurate, and I don't need to worry about the meter readers coming onto the property and tripping or hurting themselves. I'm not a fan of estimated bills or smart meters. I don't like their ability to monitor everything that goes on here remotely, nor their ability to shut it down remotely, but I do like that the bills are accurate, and that providers are auto-notified when a power outage occurs.
Do you not have the facility to subit your own meter readings, either online or by telephone? That's what I do. It saves having to rely on meter eaders who may or may not visit. Also, keeping an eye on the meter readings helps you keep track of your usage.
I've got an estimated bill three times. Each time the estimate was way too high and one time I had to get them to send someone over to actually read the meter because I wouldn't pay the hyper-inflated bill as it was. Prepaid meters will save consumers a lot of money.
I remember when we moved in here in 2001, the electric meter seemed to be out of order because our electric bill was erratic. When the meter was replaced, we were on an observation period of 1 year. We have to report any unusual register of the meter - excessively high or excessively low. And when the reading is excessive, the meter reader would tell us that he did not log in the exact reading but it will be adjusted in the next billing. What can we do?
