It wasn't an estimate. It was an actual reading read on aug 17th. The very next day, aug 18th, I received my bill via email. So I called, she said they did not estimate on this reading and rarely estimate in my part of town (whatever that means). But when they read the meters, they don't actually get out of the vehicle and walk to the meter and read it. They use some sort of radio controlled device and point from house to house based on what I have read. Since I live in a subdivision where houses are very close to each other, I suspect I received someone else's meter reading.

Another thing to consider, the person who told you that the meters are being read every month may not have known the facts. There are a lot of people who don't want to spend the time to do their jobs the way they're supposed to and unless someone complains there would be no way for their boss to know they were just sitting in their car making up numbers.

ON my Kentucky Utilities bill it says "actual reading" August 17th....I don't know how to tell based on bill if they estimated. Maybe they did. I know in June for 32 days my bill was 90 dollars.....In July for 35 days it was 160......In August for 27 days it was 194....which got corrected to 120

I had even thought about getting a little camera set up in the crawl space with a light so I didn't have to crawl in there! But now that's moot.

It's not easy for them to just "make up numbers" and enter. I'm sure when people got bills for $25,000 or more or a credit in that amount, they'd catch on quickly! There's definitely a cost savings by using the technology. No it's not perfect but people make mistakes too. Have you dealt with the Post Office lately??? :)

This is why I am so glad that I've made the conservation efforts and such. I can estimate my bill and get a good idea if it's way off. If it is, I'll check the meter but my bill seldom varies too much. I did have a high electric bill when my refrigerator was dying and ran continually. Higher than I expected it to run but I knew the issue. Same thing when the toilet was running nonstop and I got a surprisingly high water bill!

My husband is currently a bill collector for the utility company--but he spent years as a meter reader.

Reading your own meter--it's NOT as easy as it's portrayed. Our newspaper once published the 'instructions' on how to do it yourself. Customers kept telling DH he was doing it 'wrong'--he offered to put their readings down, but warned their bills would be hundreds, if not thousands of $$$ higher. It takes weeks for a meter reader to be trained to properly read a meter--you don't just go out and read the dials, as many think.

Just because the reading is down as an 'actual reading' doesn't mean your meter was read. There are always a few rogue readers who 'curb'. That means they don't read the meter, but just fill in anything as their guess. It's not as easy to do that now (in our area) as it used to be, because the readers don't have your past usage sitting before them on a paper page. Sometimes, companies don't distinguish between actual and estimated readings. And yes, alternate month readings are becoming the norm in the industry.

Problem readings--you always have the right to call the company and request that they send someone out to reread the meter if you feel it wasn't read correctly. ALSO, older meters sometimes don't register correctly--if your meter is old, you can request that they test it. However, be aware that often older meters register a little low--so if you have it tested, repaired or replaced, you MAY end up getting higher bills, anyway. Sometimes, in that case, it's best to say nothing.

Remote reading? Not less expensive (it's supposed to be, of course)--the equipment is expensive to buy and install. And more importantly, the streets in DH's company that have been converted--the systems don't work well, or correctly, so it's ending up costing more in man hours and customer dissatisfaction. And a lot of them have had to be reconverted BACK to regular meters.

Incorrect high bills? If your meter is estimated high, or incorrectly read, I don't worry about paying a little ahead. They'll get it right in a month or two, and in the meantime, you've paid ahead--which probably means you're saving $$$, since utility costs usually go up, rather than down (I'd rather pay a large estimated bill, BEFORE the price goes up, so I get the product at the lower price--makign sense?)

If you have serious, ongoing, unresolvable problems with your power company, don't hesitate to contact your Board of Pubic Utilities (might be a different name in your state, but there IS a regulatory agency that oversees all utility companies--electric, gas, cable, telephone, etc)

But don't think the utility company is the only one causing you problems. There are a LOT of people out there who are stealing power--the company adds the cost of that lost revenue to your bill. And there are a lot who simply choose not to pay their bills (I'm not talking about the person who occasinoally hits hard times, but the complete deadbeats who don't pay month after month, who try to scam the company for free power). The utility company then has to hire collectors (like my husband) whose fulltime job is to visit these deadbeats, harangue them for money or turn off their power. This is a good-paying job--if I told you how much my husband will be earning this year (he's just salaried, he doens't get a commission on what he collects), you'd probably fall off your computer chair. That cost is added to your bill. You're also probably charged a portion of your bill for 'societal benefits'--that's extra money you're charged that the company uses to help pay the bills of the indigent. In some cases, the charge is noted, in some, it's hidden so you don't realize you're paying it--but it's there. Your power costs would be a LOT less if people were actually paying for the power they use.

I can't dispute any of the points you made above as I know you are much more knowledgeable about the inner workings of utility meter reading than I. But, in answer to your question in paragraph 6 (making sense?) I don't see where a previous months overpayment would not be applied to my current months bill at the new increased rate thereby reducing the credit by a larger amount than it would have had there not been a rate increase.

Either way, you still have a future bill paid or partially paid so that months bills will be less out of pocket than it would be otherwise. I guess it all depends on how tight your budget is and if an overpayment this month creates a hardship.

Lets see if I can do this with (fake) numbers to make it make sense.

The meter is like an odometer--it just keeps going and going--they don't set it back to zero when they read it. They just subtract the old reading from the new to get your usage. So on October 20th, your meter is read and it reads 100. You get your bill. On November 20th, the meter reader--we'll say accidentally--reads your meter at 150 units when it really read 140. You get a bill for 50 (the difference between october's reading and November's). You pay for 50 KWHs. In December, your meter reads 190. You actually used 50 KWHs, (difference between 190 and 140), BUT you've already paid for 10 of those--your bill would only be for 40 KWHs. Now, if the cost per KWH went up in Dec, you've bought those 10 KWHs at the lower price. Does that make any sense at all?

Now, on the other hand, the company usually knows well in advance when a rate hike is going to happen--and they do often estimate LOW before one--to shift your old usage into the newer, higher price period. So if you know a rate hike has been approved, be extra careful to get accurate readings for the months leading up to it.