WE Energies Automated Electric Meters - Better Check your bills!

I'm sure that most of you here in this area of Wisconsin have gotten the 'upgrade' from WE energies in the form of the new Landis+Gyr automated meters.  We have two.  One for our Natural Gas and one for our Electricity.  I have not really noticed a huge difference in our utility bills the past 18 months or so since their installation, but I did find out today that I've taken the operation of them for granted.

When they installed our meters, we were given the opportunity to 'save a tree' and get our WE Energy bills online via our email.  When you sign up for this, your paper bills via the U.S. mail stop.  I pay most of our bills online and figured that this would work out just fine.  Here's where I goofed.

When you get your online bill, the message is how much the bill is and when it is due.  There is also a link in the message for you to go to your bill if you wish to see it.  I don't look at the bill.  I just pay the amount and make sure that it's on time. 

This morning, we had a WE energies truck pull into our driveway and a very nice gentleman arrive on our doorstep.  He said that there were quite a few meters in our area that had a problem.  Upon further questioning, he surmised that it must have something to do with the storms that rolled through over the weekend.  He was here to replace our electrical meter. 

I showed him where it was on the outside of the house and we both noticed that the display screen was blank.  So, I asked him if that meant that we were getting free electricity.  That's when my morning got more interesting.  He said that I should call WE energies and they should be able to answer my questions.

Based on the long time that I spent on hold, I'm assuming that I was not the only one with an automated meter question.  When I finally got a 'live' person, we went over the latest bill and I asked when they noticed that our meter had something wrong with it.  They put me on hold and a few minutes later, came back to inform me that my meter had been operating improperly since FEBRUARY 2010.  That's 7 MONTHS!

I immediately thought of Dorns' Supper Club and how they were 'back billed' over $17,000 this year due to an improper install by the utility company of their electric meter.  For those of you not familiar with that one, here's the link:  http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20100801/APC0101/8010374/Back-billing-rule-leaves-some-electrical-customers-with-large-bills

While we don't use near as much electricity as they do, I'm wondering what the verdict for us is going to be.  I looked online to see what the past utility bills were from Feb. - Sept. 2009, but unfortunately the WE Energies website only goes back 16 months.  While I was on there, I also cancelled our online bill payment option.  I want the paper bill back since the WE Energies Customer Service Rep. told me that there was a message on the bills that were linked to my email saying that the electrical charge was an estimated reading.  I went back in and yes, it's there.  All of the way at the bottom of the page via the link for the actual bill. 

So, for those of you that have opted to 'save a tree', make sure that you look at the entire bill that is sent to your email.  When asked why it took 7 months for WE Energies to notice that our meter was not sending a signal (they send a signal every 2 minutes of every day), they could not give me an answer.  I also asked if the only way for me to know if it was not working was to see that the display was not displaying anything.  It isn't.  Even if your display is working, there could still be a problem with the data that is being sent.  If you get a bill 2 months in a row that says the charge was based on an 'estimated reading', that's your clue that something is wrong. 

Our old meter is now being sent to the 'meter garage' and will be looked at to see if it really did collect any data for the last 7 months.  Hopefully, it did.  If it didn't, we are at the mercy of WE Energies to decide how much we owe based on past usage for up to 2 years.  I told them that our family size in the house has decreased with some of the kids moving on after college.  They said that they would 'consider that' when coming up with a dollar amount.  Of course, the manufacturer of the meters is in Mexico.  Figures.   Happy Friday!

Have a great week!