Need help winning a dispute against natural gas company.

[Chief Roundup]

Any one ever have trouble with a utility company and won their argument?
Evidently the natural gas meter broke back in November. The month right after we got our deposit back and was applied to our bill. By our bills it showed actual changes in the meter that slowly was removing money from the deposit reimbursement. Now they have sent us an adjusted bill to cover the usage for those months. They estimated the bill using 95% of last years bills for those months. It is no where near accurate with the warmer winter versus last year. The number of teenagers living in the home has changed etc.
I have mixed feelings. We shouldn't be punished because they let this go for so long when they come and physically read the meter, so if they can't prove an accurate amount I don't think it is going to be fair. I also feel that we owe them some money and I don't mind paying it but I want it to be fair to favoring us not them.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Tombstone RJ]

Originally Posted by Chief Roundup

I take it you didn't read the OP well. So the difference is that this winter has been much warmer than last winter, causing a difference in the monthly bills. My household is now 3 teenagers smaller than it was last winter which also would cause a difference between last winter and this winter. Since they estimated our monthly bills at 95% of last winter usage the numbers that they came up with are not correct by a good amount.

Sounds like you're screwed. I do think the gas company should average the bill based on the previous 3 years and not just the last year. That's way more fair IMHO.

[Chief Roundup]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

You realize teenagers leaving doesn't count.

You can provide all the temperature differences you want but you're only going to get and expect what BHP provides lower gas usage was on average based on total gas delivered.

Delivered to who? They have no idea how much was "delivered" to my house.
My family size change made a difference. It is not my fault that their meter broke and it is not getting reflected on my monthly bills from them.

[SAUTO]

You should have started out with " damn lucky for you guys I was out of town all those months. Dumb luck I guess..."

[Chief Roundup]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

You should have started out with " damn lucky for you guys I was out of town all those months. Dumb luck I guess..."

Sent from my SM-S906L using Tapatalk

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Chief Roundup

This is kind of what I am afraid of happening. I have thought about getting an attorney involved but only if I can make them pay for those fees as well.

You will never get them to pay attorneys' fees. That's a full stop, won't happen, thing.

[Amnorix]

Are there alternatives? If you wanted to switch to something else, is that remotely an option? If so, you have more leverage than if not (obviously).

I would just make an offer -- "Look, my household has three fewer teenagers than last year, which means 1/2 the people it had last year. Instead of people being home all day around, the house was empty during working hours. We have a digital thermostat which is set to lower the temperature during those hours."

Plus, I spoke with three of my neighbors. Because the weather was so much warmer, they told me that their total heating costs were 20%, 22% and 26% less than last year.

So I will pay you 80% of last year's bill. If not, then you will have to sue me, and I will get all my neighbors to testify to this stuff, AND I will report you to the better business bureau."

(note -- be certain they can't charge YOU for attorneys fees if you fail to pay. Unlikely but if it's in your contract with them somewhere...)


Oh, and check to see if you have a Consumer Protection Law of some kind. Alot of states do. This is very unlikely to rise to that level (it usually has to be fraud or SERIOUS wrongdoing), but it's worth looking into as it will give you leverage.

[BlackHelicopters]

You are screwed.

[BlackHelicopters]

Call your states utility regulation agency and file a complaint. Also, file a complaint with your states AG office. Possibly try BBB. Try everything.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by Chief Roundup

If I understand that correctly we were 16% to 18.9% warmer in 2017 than in 2016. That should be more than a 5% off of last years bills alone not to mention the differences in the house itself.

the amount of the bill means nothing, the usage is what matters.

[Ming the Merciless]

Originally Posted by Chief Roundup

Any one ever have trouble with a utility company and won their argument?
Evidently the natural gas meter broke back in November. The month right after we got our deposit back and was applied to our bill. By our bills it showed actual changes in the meter that slowly was removing money from the deposit reimbursement. Now they have sent us an adjusted bill to cover the usage for those months. They estimated the bill using 95% of last years bills for those months. It is no where near accurate with the warmer winter versus last year. The number of teenagers living in the home has changed etc.
I have mixed feelings. We shouldn't be punished because they let this go for so long when they come and physically read the meter, so if they can't prove an accurate amount I don't think it is going to be fair. I also feel that we owe them some money and I don't mind paying it but I want it to be fair to favoring us not them.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Small claims court for the max ought to shut them up

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by Pawnmower

Small claims court for the max ought to shut them up

on what grounds?

[Amnorix]

One more point -- what is the price of gas this year compared to last? If usage is down 20% but the cost is up 25% per cubic foot (or however they charge for natural gas), then guess what?

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

One more point -- what is the price of gas this year compared to last? If usage is down 20% but the cost is up 25% per cubic foot (or however they charge for natural gas), then guess what?

exactly, as I posted previously, usage is all that matters. You can use less gas and pay more.

[oldman]

It's been awhile since we used natural gas, but I think it's cheaper than last year because propane was. Yes, having 3 less bodies in the house does lessen the cost just because your hot water heater isn't working overtime. On the flip side, I notice when we have grandkids here, we have to turn down the heat simply because mare people are in the house.
If your neighbor will let you use his bills to prove his consumption was lower as well, that might help you make your case. You should document that and any conversations you've had with the gas company and make a call to your local PUC. Chances are they aren't going to help much, but that seems to be your only hope at this time.

[ScareCrowe]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Are there alternatives? If you wanted to switch to something else, is that remotely an option? If so, you have more leverage than if not (obviously)

Yes that's always an option, the problem is it would be way cheaper to just pay up. You could possibly switch to propane, which would require at minimum paying someone to convert every appliance that runs on gas. And that's assuming conversion kits are available for the appliances in question, if not you would have to buy new appliances.

You could also switch to electric, but this will definitely require you to replace all your gas appliances, run bigger wiring to the new appliances, probably replace your electric panel and in some cases even replace the wiring all the way to the pole.

We had a guy a month or so ago who was going to save himself some money by replacing his gas furnace with electric. He was going to replace the panel & run the new wiring himself until he called his electric company & they told him he would also have to pay to upgrade their transformer on the pole. He decided to stay with gas.