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I had something very similar happen. Our power bill went up 30% in March of last year over what it was in February after the power company installed a smart me

I had something very similar happen. Our power bill went up 30% in March of last year over what it was in February after the power company installed a smart meter. This was odd because March was so temperate that we didn't use our HVAC once and we have a gas water heater. I called the power company and we confirmed they were reading the right meter. Trying to evaluate it further went nowhere as they claimed that despite the increase, we were in-line with other homes of our size and suggested maybe our analog meter was wrong. After a few weeks of arguing with them, I ordered and installed a Sense. It absolutely doesn't track at all with what the power company is reading and I shared the differences including my own measurements with an ammeter on the 120 lead legs into my meter which match with what the Sense is reading but the power company won't investigate further. To mitigate the increase in electricity use, I decided to get into the cryptocurrency mining business and have gone from ~$200 to ~$600/month power bills, all of which are easily paid from the mining. Since I was lucky enough to start last year, all the hardware is paid as well (thanks December crypto currency market madness).

uoaei 8y ago
Wow, that sounds really illegal. The electric company's behavior, I mean. I wonder if there is a group that would test your power output independently and help push (through legal enforcement) a reduction in charges.
insensible 8y ago
You might consider documenting all this and going to small claims court.
thinkcontext 8y ago
Contact your public utility commission.
OnMyPhone 8y ago
My story is sort of similar too. Many years ago, I noticed my power bill was around $190 when it should have been closer to $120. I wasn't home for most of that month, and I know I turned off everything I could. I didn't even have the refrigerator running. I talked to my neighbors who had heat and everything on in their apartment and their bill was $110. I called the power company who said there's nothing wrong and that I need to have someone "look at my apartment." I got another bill for $190, while everyone else's were low $100s. This went on for 6 months. My bills were always $190ish. I had a $190 bill near the end of spring when I just had my windows open for air. I looked at the meters and found they replaced one meter, which happened to be mine. I called several times asking if they replaced it, that my bills were ridiculous for what I was doing and to look at it. No word back on anything then my bills went from $190 a month to $15. So instead of saying anything, they just started to cut my bills down for what I overpaid. When I called asking why my bills were lower, they just said because I overpaid my previous months bills. My bills were around $15 a month for close to a year afterwards... So stupid. They ended up discounting me for a few hundred more than I should have been, but I had to cut a few things out of my budget just to pay for something I wasn't using, but needed.

uoaei 8y ago

Wow, that sounds really illegal. The electric company's behavior, I mean. I wonder if there is a group that would test your power output independently and help push (through legal enforcement) a reduction in charges.

insensible 8y ago

You might consider documenting all this and going to small claims court.

thinkcontext 8y ago

Contact your public utility commission.

OnMyPhone 8y ago

My story is sort of similar too. Many years ago, I noticed my power bill was around $190 when it should have been closer to $120. I wasn't home for most of that month, and I know I turned off everything I could. I didn't even have the refrigerator running. I talked to my neighbors who had heat and everything on in their apartment and their bill was $110. I called the power company who said there's nothing wrong and that I need to have someone "look at my apartment." I got another bill for $190, while everyone else's were low $100s. This went on for 6 months. My bills were always $190ish. I had a $190 bill near the end of spring when I just had my windows open for air. I looked at the meters and found they replaced one meter, which happened to be mine. I called several times asking if they replaced it, that my bills were ridiculous for what I was doing and to look at it. No word back on anything then my bills went from $190 a month to $15. So instead of saying anything, they just started to cut my bills down for what I overpaid. When I called asking why my bills were lower, they just said because I overpaid my previous months bills. My bills were around $15 a month for close to a year afterwards... So stupid. They ended up discounting me for a few hundred more than I should have been, but I had to cut a few things out of my budget just to pay for something I wasn't using, but needed.