How is it that utilities are allowed to get away with billing for "estimated usage" for times when THEIR equipment wasn't functioning properly? I have friends who were met with that response once they began investigating their usage vs. their bill and exposed ongoing discrepancies. The discrepancies were NEVER in the constomer's favor, btw. These occurred with water and natural gas. I suspect that if you push back on billing for "estimated usage," you have legal standing. Also, they're banking on you just giving in for fear of being shut off with the threat of an exorbitant deposit to restart svc, late fees, impact on your credit report, or because you're worn down by the stress and ongoing frustration of trying to get them to stop raping you.
What Steve didn't mention is that the neighbor was probably paying his bill this entire time. Unless both apartments were connected to the same meter, which is extremely unlikely give how they are connected.
PG&E has records of who was billed what and has the ability to determine exactly what he should have been billed as opposed to what he was actually billed. The corporation should credit him for the difference and eat the cost of THEIR mistake!
@@johnbriggs3916 If is the key word here. Maybe 600 is fair. Maybe 6000, or maybe 30,000. Issue is the only party that could know with certainty will not likely share that information unless ordered by a court
I lived in a top floor unit for 5 years and when I was moving I found out that the management had the first floor hallway and east stairwell lights billed to my meter. It was covered up due to the equal billing system for residents. The whole of the common areas of the building was divided up amongst the tenants. We sued and I got $7K credit and will not have to pay an electricity bill until 2027.
There's a water heater for the 4 units next to me in my unit. I was very suspicious it was under my electric so I turned it all off, it still came on. And then to be sure I went to the meter it was weird to read since it was a digital one but they confirmed I didn't have any usage over the course of a few days when I turned off the breaker when I left. So I'm glad I avoided this.
Most utility companies are regulated, depending on the states - they can't charge whatever they want. There are some semi-unregulated markets where you have more than one utility company servicing the same population.
@@mrm7309 It's California. Unless you were able to prove malicious intent (like someone "vampire tapped" your feeders), then a statute of limitations would apply. This is why consulting an attorney with knowledge of this area of law is a must. I'm not an attorney, but I've done my share of electrical work in my day. I've seen some really questionable stuff in apartment buildings, including the one where I currently live. A good step would be to get a certified electrician to inspect your wiring before entering into any settlement with the utility.
If you can keep the lawyers out of it , it would be benificial to both of you . But notice , STEVE said the man thinking he was being cheated , could PROVE it . The problem is what the publicity would bring . Once a company brings a court into the disagreement , the news goes everywhere . No company wants a bad reputation . And the way our legal system works , is everyone is getting into fights for years .
Not so much. This is an extremely rare occurrence. Either the electrician who ran the feeder lines mislabeled years ago, or a PG&E tech took numbers off the wrong meter at a change of occupancy. Neighbors were probably paying his bill (which for a careful, single individual might have been substantially lower).
That's what my electricity company said when I asked if they could check to make sure I wasn't being billed extra because my bill was just excessively high. I had no access to my own meter due to how my apartment complex was laid out.
We're talking about $30k-$50k. It is a lot of money, but it is nothing for PG&E. Steve is 100% spot on: they should pay him and use it to get a message out to its customers. Also, $600 was probably the max a customer service rep could refund without intervention from higher up.
I wouldn't be surprised if the situation made it to one of the executive meetings and someone brought up the idea of paying him everything - then the entire table exploded into laughter all at once.
The law specifies the IRS has 10 years to collect back taxes unless fraud is involved (i.e., the taxpayer filed a fraudulent return). That 10 year period commences when the tax was due (generally April 15 of the year after the income was earned or realized), or when the tax return was actually filed, whichever is later.
I have 2 water meters. One for domestic use and the other for lawn irrigation, which is billed at a lower rate. They transmit the readings via company wifi. Last summer, I was billed for domestic, but not irrigation. This went on for 3 months. The meter dials were registering but it wasn’t transmitting. Fearing a huge end of summer bill, I called the water dept. The lady said they will replace the meter and I would not be charged for their faulty equipment. They stepped up, but I was prepared to pay what I owed. I was pleasantly surprised. My neighbor told me, I was a fool to report it. I am a believer in Karma. I didn’t have to debate myself on whether to call or not. I like to sleep at night.
@@jimtrue1465 "The law specifies the IRS has 10 years to collect back taxes" That's always bugged me. The IRS only gives you 3 years to amend your taxes or file a return if you didn't and have a refund due. Seems to me if they give themselves 10 years to collect unpaid taxes, we should also get 10 years to recoup overpaid taxes.
The neighbor was paying his bill. The neighbor also didn't have any reason to suspect his bill was wrong. Most likely a single person had been living there, meaning the bills were similar, then a family moved in causing his bill to suddnely go up.
If I were paying for the power for two apartments for 18 years, pretty sure I wouldn't be satisfied until I was told my electric bill was free of charge for the next 18 years.
@@johnbriggs3916 Agreed. Steve wasn't as clear on this as he should have been. Depending on how much power the neighbor was using, $600 may not be as unreasonable as Steve indicated. That said, having lived in CA for 20+ years, I was paying over 3 times for power than I am today in Florida so the guy might be due a pretty good refund. As others pointed up, it would be easy for PG&E to compare the two accounts and see how much he was overcharged. As to when it started, my guess would be when PG&E changed out all the meters to electronic meters that communicate over the power lines so they don't have to send meter readers out. I was on SDG&E, not PG&E, so I am not sure when they did the switchover.
Utility companies don't have to worry about their public image. They have a legal monopoly in most, if not all, states. I have worked on a Georgia Power nuclear plant shutdown. They waste SO MUCH MONEY that it's criminal. They then turn around and go in front of the state legislators every year asking for a raise in rates.
I had bought a building on Main Street in a Small Texas town. It remained vacant for years. But I was still getting water bills for over 10,000 gallons a month. An elderly woman lived next to my property and she was on the same meter. They SAID that they subtracted her usage from mine to get my bill. But I would routinely ask the clerk at the Municipal building next door, "How often do you see me here?!? Once a month?!?" All I did was flush my toilet two times a month. Eight gallons. Then stand there and make sure it turned off. after two years, I finally got so frustrated, I invoked a 'remodel" ordinance and turned my vacant building completely off. Then filled an ice chest with a garden hose, and filled the toilets with a bucket from that. When the local woman's middle aged son became hostile and verbally abusive about my "initiated" remodel , I proved to my own satisfaction, at least, that the out of towner city guy (me!) was being "played" for the advantage of a local resident.
10,000 gallons of water a month is ridiculous. Would have gotten the utility company to find the problem for a vacant building asap. And to install a separate meter for the building.
Similar situation happened to me during the fallout from the 2008 crash/recession wherein I was renting a one bedroom apt (end unit of 3 ttl) beachside in Palm Beach County FL, and was billed for electricity by FPL. There was a Studio apt next to me that the Landlord advertised and rented WITH UTILITIES INCLUDED. My electric bill was exorbitant from day 1. I investigated. There was only 2 electric meters for the 3 units. I reported it to the power company first asking about who pays for the studio apt in the middle, they didn't know. Come to find out the Landlord knew all along. They made me move out.
@@steventomas420 If you look up the original news article, the apartments were swapped, he was paying the other apartments, and the other apartment was paying his. `
When I rented a new townhome my gas bill was outrageous. Even tho I had it turned all the way down. (Neighbors kept their heat so high, my unit was always hot.) I repeatedly called the gas company to inform them something is wrong. I thought my neighbor’s unit and mine were mixed up. For 3 years. Finally they figured out that the units WERE mixed up. They then sent my neighbor a THANK YOU for bringing it to their attention.🤦♀️ Nothing surprises me anymore.
i think we also learned from the houston power outage that, even when your power is off, you're still going to get billed some amount, perhaps an average... even when you can't use the service you're being billed for, they will still bill you... there ought to be a law.
There is basically a minimum amount you're billed even if you use no electricity. My friend has a cabin that has power but nobody is there 98% of the time it's around 10 bucks these days.
That was totally different - the way I understood it was that a separate entity other than the power supplier was the one that the customers paid to keep their power on - meaning the company should have possibly ran out generators to the customers that were paying - or some such - to ensure continuous or minimal power downtime - yet the company "liberal"ly got complacent/complicit and figured that the power company would take care of the outage problems - toot sweet - basically an insurance scam
@@michaelmartin8337 "toot sweet"? Don't use that phrase. We went over words earlier today and I asked you knew what it meant and how to spell it and you said 'no'.
I feel like another layer is the fact the electricity was being used just not by him. It raises the question about the neighbors because they too were paying the wrong bill... If his neighbors had not paid and got his meter shut off he would have found this out sooner but I wonder if they were benefiting from paying such a low bill for so many years and if they also got anything for all this trouble?
Something similar happened to me when I was a dirt poor student. My roommate and I found out that we were paying the power bill for a family of five (or more) living in the separate apartment (in an old house) above us. When we confronted the landlord about this he called us "cheapskates." We weren't cheapskates, we were poor! It was fundamentally unjust.
I had a friend in Zillah Washington who had this happen with her water. She was an older lady and her consumption went off of the charts even a vrea house was built. She made multiple complaints to them and they just rolled their eyes at her when she complained. Finally, after some time, she insisted that her water be cut off at the meter. The city reluctantly complied and soon enough the neighbor came complaining. His home cut off when her water was cut off. While they fixed the issue, she was offered nothing in spite of years of complaining. Imagine that.
Many years ago at a small apartment complex, we thought our electric bill was higher than our old apartment. I shut down our electrical box and all of the interior and exterior security light went out. I offered the owner a deal for free rent till the extra charges balanced out. He accepted.
@@johnbriggs3916 Yeah. That makes sense. If this is the case then there are 3 parties involved here ; The two neighbors and PG&E. One neighbor paid too much while the other saved money. PG&E may be responsible but they did not benefit from the error. The two neighbors could sue each other but they may very well end up being having to reimburse the other party. Also their power consumption may very well be similar (same apartment complex) so the layer costs may very well be higher than what they can expect to gain.
Many years ago I lived in an apartment building and I was suspicious because my first couple of bills seemed out of line. When I looked at the meter bank at the back of the building I realized that the meters were labeled backwards from what they should have been. I notified l the landlord and, after the correction, my bill became what I expected.
my son had a unit in a three unit complex, we caught the owners putting empty units on to the occupied ones. He paid the power on the empty units for two years. Power company said nothing was amiss, but there was. He got the hell out of there asap.
I’d be willing to bet if you answered it, they’d want to put money into your account after they send you an email link. Then, they’ll ‘accidentally’ put too much in. They’ll freak out and say they’ll get fired if it’s not remedied right away, and ask you to but gift cards to make up the difference.
A couple of years ago we discovered that the way the hot water tanks were rigged at our condo property in such a way that 1 unit was paying for the electricity for 2 units for decades. Luckily it was only the hot water tank and not the entire unit.
People seem to be missing that he wasn’t paying for both apartments. The meter numbers had been swapped. So his neighbor was paying his bill, meaning he really is only entitled to the difference between the two bills which may not have been that much.
Steve didn't say that, not exactly. He said "it looks as if they had these things switched" but did not specify the neighbor. It could have been switched with anybody else's apartment or even the streetlights outside.
It's a little obscure in both this video and print articles about it, but you are absolutely correct. The only thing he is owed is the difference between his and his neighbor's total bill, which could very well be as little as $600 over 18 years for two probably identical apartments.
My brother tied my new dishwasher into the wall. When I sold the condo I discovered it was tied into the upstairs condo. I owned both units and the upstairs tenant left me with a huge mess so no harm no foul.
It all depends on what the difference was between his real bill and the neighbour's bill he was paying. It sounds like they've been comparable for a while and only noticed a difference recently (maybe a larger family moved in or something), he may not have been over charged by that much in the grand scheme of things
@@michaelk151 SSM is pretty awesome. BB just seems a little bitter sometimes. SSM is not MGTOW he just wants you to do your homework and for you to watch for red flags.
We had a utility pole with a streetlight in our parking lot. I went there to work with the gas company (unrelated problem) and observed that my streetlight was missing. My neighbor, the telephone company, advised me that THEY had the pole and light removed because THEY didn't need it any longer. I argued with them that it was not theirs to have removed as it was on my property. After an investigation, it turned out that the telephone company was indeed pay for the light, as was I. The PA Public Utility Commission would only allow us to go back three years even though I had all the billd for the last 20 years. They did order West Penn Power to reimburse me (and the telephone company) half of the payments for the last three years.
This has happened to me. My first apartment, the landlords came to me to tell me that my immediate neighbor had moved out without paying his rent, left the place trashed, didn't take any of the furnishings he left behind, but during their cleanup discovered that the neighbor had been stealing my cable service by tapping into the line some how, and he had been stealing my electricity by connecting his breaker box to mine. Our breaker boxes were back-to-back on the same wall. I have no idea how he accomplished that. Since it was my first apartment and first utilities, the bill I got each month was just the normal amount I thought. Turned out I was paying double or more. I was working a job where I was gone 16 to 20 hours a day 6 days per week. Years later I had another neighbor, different apartment try to steal my electricity but caught that immediately. There are wiley opportunits everywhere!
I understand the statute of limitations concept but what I'm still confused about is how that is applied to this situation. Like, if this happened on his bill once or twice 10 years ago, then yes, I'd say that is covered by the statute of limitations. But this has been a continuous occurrence, not an isolated issue from years ago. I don't understand why a statute of limitations would apply here.
At the first apartment where the parents of The Werefrog lived, their air conditioner was hooked up to the meter for one of the other units. They were amazed at how little it cost to keep the unit cool in the summer (over 100 F with AC set to low 70s). After a few months, they looked and realized their ac was hooked into the neighbor's unit. They contacted the landlord, and they said they needed to get it corrected to go to the right meter, and they also needed to figure out how much they owed that neighbor. The landlord said they were half right. The landlord said they owed nothing from this because it was his (landlord's) fault, so that's who would owe back to the other neighbors. Rare good landlord.
And if P G & E gave him all his money back couldn't that be considered unjust enrichemnt? This guy might also find out the neighbor used less electricity than he did some months.
I have always wondered. HOW can a statute, voted on and passed by the LEGISLATURE affect the judicial branch which is a separate department of government?? Statutes of limitations affective undo the the constitutional purpose of the judicial branch. It is against the separation of powers clauses. Can the judicial order the legislature to stop passing laws??? More BS from government is what it is.
You are right Steve. PG&E has had terrible PR over the last 15 years or so. They had a gas pipeline explode in San Bruno in 2010. They were implicated in several wild land fires do to high winds and electrical tower failures. Because of the fires they started to black out areas of CA to keep the electrical lines from starting fires. These electrical outages were in the summertime when it is incredibly hot in North Central CA. They could defiantly use some good PR. But, they are basically the sole provider of natural gas and electricity to a large section of Northern CA and do not have any competition. Ergo, they don't care.
And let’s not forget the groundwater contamination in Hinkley CA. There’s even a movie about that one (Erin Brockovich.). Yep, they truly do not care, and are immoral in their actions. Plus, their rates are excessively high. I live in a Northern California city, and am so grateful to have a non-profit, municipal option for electricity. Still have PG&E for gas, but so far, we’ve gotten one appliance (water heater) off gas. Eventual goal is to go electric with home heating and cooking, as well.
This happened once on Okinawa many years ago. The local landlord had routed all the power of his tenants through the one apartment he rented to Americans. It was discovered because she went back to the US on vacation and flipped off all her circuit breakers before leaving. She received an emergency call while back home seeking permission to enter the apartment to turn the power back on.
He was paying his neighbors bill and the neighbor was paying his. In an apartment, the difference wouldn't be much. Maybe $25 a month tops. They paid him for 3 years which is about $16 a month.
@@fornhunkleright I mean the neighbor probably didn’t have a clue his neighbor was getting stuck with their bill. They Would assume the power company had fucked up, not many people are gonna say “hey I didn’t do anything wrong so take my money please”
Exactly the same thing happened to a friend of mine although it was not PG&E, it was the local city run utility. When they figured out the problem, they had my mother, who was a lawyer, contact the city. The city immediately paid an amount that probably exceeded the actual cost, but constituted reasonable compensation for the interest on the overpaid utility bills. The insidious thing about this type of problem is that the 2 meters were reversed so my friends family was setting the thermostat lower and doing everything they could to use less power, but their bill kept going higher because the downstairs neighbor had no incentive to economize because their bill kept going down no matter what they did.
I can see them making a big production refunding the guy that has made for his neighbor for all the years, then turn around and charge the neighbor. They don't want to lose ANY money. Good PR gone bad.
I worked for a water utility one time when shut off the water to a house we got a complaint of no water from a house 1/2 a block away on the other side of the street. When we looked through old records it was found that both houses were part of farm before the area was subdivided and use to be on the same well. The two houses were rentals still owned by the same family so billing wasn't a problem. This happened in 2005 the area water system was put in 1949.
I used to have a Neiber across the street that accused me of steeling her electricity, I asked her how much her bill was and then explained to her that my bill was bigger then asked her if she was steeling my electricity.
Give the guy a minimum of $10/ month reimbursement. That's just $2,160. It's a ridiculously small amount of money for the corporation. But a significant amount of goodwill to the gentleman.
I was charged for land line phone service for a # I discontinued 2 years earlier. The # was connected to a property 20 miles from billing address. Took 8 months to get it straight.
Unfortunately, yes. That’s why their lawyers fight to never take responsibility for anything because if they do, they’ll be 1000 more people demanding money.
I was in my new house for 4 years and I had a smaller house than my neighbor. His electric bill was smaller than mine. My bill was high enough I put in a gas hot water heater. I had no savings. I found out that when the electric meters were installed, the installer mixed up our meter numbers. The electric company only keeps two years of billing info. Based on the two years of errors, they extrapolated the error over 4 years and refunded me the difference. They hit him up for only two years. As far as the statute of limitations, doesn’t it run from the date of discovery and not from error date?
Once, many years ago, companies were fair, people used to help each other, companies worked hard to get a good reputation. It's sad that those days are long gone.
I recently found your channel, and part of why I love it is because you are from Michigan! My husband is a Michigander, so Michigan is like our second home state (we live in NY). Things like: you are wearing a Cherry Republic t-shirt (we love that place!), and you mentioned how your mother got her license in the U.P. (most people don't even know what that is!). I enjoy your stories and explanations...
I lived in an old building where the entire 3rd floor had been converted to apartments. During some minor re-wiring, it was discovered that one outlet in my bedroom was not running off my meter. Further, it was found that outlet was on a "common area" circuit (other side of that wall was an interior fire escape /normally unused stairwa) running off a meter billed to the landlord. For fire safety reasons, that outlet was where I had to plug in my electric space heater in the winter. I am SERIOUS about fire safety!!!
PG&E to customer "Don't worry we fired the person who made this mistake back in 2010. We fired them for something else but you just proved we were right."
I lived in an apartment where as the apartment below me had tapped into the lines going through his apartment. That tenants electricity was shut off 5 yesrs earlier. He also added a pipe between my gas water heater to his. His gas was shut off 3 years ealier. Police were called and complaint was filed. Guy was evicted and left the area. Didnt show up for court. Thanks to the 2020 sniffels. He was protected by law and didnt pay his rent the whole time.
my neighbor's gas meter number was swapped with the condo on the far side. Only found out when the gas company came out and shut off her gas when that far condo fell behind on their bill. The gas company only looked back a year to correct the bill and tried to bill for the emergency reconnection. Like Steve said check you meter numbers.
I have a family member that moved into a two apartment building about a year ago as did the current renters of the other apartment. 8 months ago it was discovered both the electric and gas meter billing has been reversed since the building was built. PG&E admits the billing is reversed and will correct it. 8 months later it’s still not corrected, PG&E says is a complicated issue, what could be simpler, take apt A billing and subtract it from apt B billing and that’s how much has been overpaid by one and underpaid by the other apt. The billing itself still has not been reversed to this day, PG&E is terrible to deal with!!
If you move into a new Multi Dwelling Unit (MDU) and when you sign up for service you should always ask for a meter audit to make sure the meter is only connected to your unit, and ask the company to provide an average of what a month of service cost for the last year so you can compare your invoices to see if they are in the same range.
Yeah, one of the first things I do when I move into a new place is to shut off all the breakers to make sure "my" meter stops and none of the exterior/common area lighting goes out. It's quick and I've heard way too many stories like this one to not do it.
It's not always the company fault, some times the property owners change on a multi unit complex and they decide to change some addresses around without properly notifying or the last tenant may have been shady character and went ahead and switched the meters, no one would ever know until years down the road.
I called to complain about my electric bill once. I found out I was being charged commercial rates for about 5 years. The power company made it right with me. I didn't get a bill for over a year, and when they did start coming again, they were a lot cheaper. That mistake was on them, but if I had done my due diligence, I should've caught it much sooner.
I'm going to compare the meter number on the bill vs. the meter number on the meter, for both the electric power and the water usage. Thanks for enlightening us.💜💜💜
Bet if he owed 18yrs of incorrect billing, they'd bill him or shut it off.
they can probably onlyget the last 3 or 6 as he said. And if that is payed they have a legal obligation to turn power on again.
@@torgeirtheodorsen1301 You can get... Is different from what they can get.
funny how that works
They'd shut off the power, usually at 3 months, and definitely by 6 months, past due.
If they had been billing and he paid the bills, even if incorrect, then no. If he was illegally connected then maybe.
The biggest problem, is the laws only protect the ones with the most lawyers.
How is it that utilities are allowed to get away with billing for "estimated usage" for times when THEIR equipment wasn't functioning properly?
I have friends who were met with that response once they began investigating their usage vs. their bill and exposed ongoing discrepancies. The discrepancies were NEVER in the constomer's favor, btw. These occurred with water and natural gas.
I suspect that if you push back on billing for "estimated usage," you have legal standing. Also, they're banking on you just giving in for fear of being shut off with the threat of an exorbitant deposit to restart svc, late fees, impact on your credit report, or because you're worn down by the stress and ongoing frustration of trying to get them to stop raping you.
Survival of the richest
I bet the neighbor was unjustifiably enriched, and loved in every minute of it
It's an apartment. They probably didn't realize it either and just thought they had great appliances.
Hell PG&E probably billed them as well.
What Steve didn't mention is that the neighbor was probably paying his bill this entire time. Unless both apartments were connected to the same meter, which is extremely unlikely give how they are connected.
@BastiatC they don't understand how to be accountable
Might be that the neighbour's meter was daisy-chained off this guy's meter so that the power company was double charging the neighbour's power bill.
PG&E has records of who was billed what and has the ability to determine exactly what he should have been billed as opposed to what he was actually billed. The corporation should credit him for the difference and eat the cost of THEIR mistake!
I would say at least the last 10 years worth
If the interchanged households were comparable, the bills could have evened out over the years.
@@johnbriggs3916, what are the chances of the other household also consisting of a single person?
@@johnbriggs3916
If is the key word here.
Maybe 600 is fair. Maybe 6000, or maybe 30,000.
Issue is the only party that could know with certainty will not likely share that information unless ordered by a court
Companies are in the business of collecting money, not giving it away. That's never gonna happen.
I lived in a top floor unit for 5 years and when I was moving I found out that the management had the first floor hallway and east stairwell lights billed to my meter. It was covered up due to the equal billing system for residents. The whole of the common areas of the building was divided up amongst the tenants.
We sued and I got $7K credit and will not have to pay an electricity bill until 2027.
I love a feel good story. Good for you.😊
There's a water heater for the 4 units next to me in my unit. I was very suspicious it was under my electric so I turned it all off, it still came on. And then to be sure I went to the meter it was weird to read since it was a digital one but they confirmed I didn't have any usage over the course of a few days when I turned off the breaker when I left. So I'm glad I avoided this.
That should have been fully disclosed in your lease agreement, and it sounds like it was not. Good for you folks suing.
@@loganlopez1617 Always good to check your electric and water meters, since you usually have no idea how much you are using.
That's the problem with monopolies they don't have to play fair.
Most utility companies are regulated, depending on the states - they can't charge whatever they want. There are some semi-unregulated markets where you have more than one utility company servicing the same population.
Well, you know that extra few hundred dollars might cut into their 100 billion dollar profit.
I looked at the article and he was paid back for 3 years. On another note this occurred about 15 miles from my house.
I'd sue for a lot more than 3 years!
@@mrm7309 It's California. Unless you were able to prove malicious intent (like someone "vampire tapped" your feeders), then a statute of limitations would apply. This is why consulting an attorney with knowledge of this area of law is a must. I'm not an attorney, but I've done my share of electrical work in my day. I've seen some really questionable stuff in apartment buildings, including the one where I currently live. A good step would be to get a certified electrician to inspect your wiring before entering into any settlement with the utility.
That would make it $16 a month. No one is paying $16 a month for electricity. Maybe $600 for a year at minimum.
The solution you suggested would open PGE up to years of dealing with claims. No way they’re going to do that.
If you can keep the lawyers out of it , it would be benificial to both of you . But notice , STEVE said the man thinking he was being cheated , could PROVE it . The problem is what the publicity would bring . Once a company brings a court into the disagreement , the news goes everywhere . No company wants a bad reputation . And the way our legal system works , is everyone is getting into fights for years .
but wait all the wrongly collected monies plus interest can easely be paid from "Executive Remuneration"....!
Not so much. This is an extremely rare occurrence. Either the electrician who ran the feeder lines mislabeled years ago, or a PG&E tech took numbers off the wrong meter at a change of occupancy. Neighbors were probably paying his bill (which for a careful, single individual might have been substantially lower).
I was fully expecting you to say PG&E came out to him said "no, your suspicious are UNFOUNDED"
You got me, Steve!
That's what my electricity company said when I asked if they could check to make sure I wasn't being billed extra because my bill was just excessively high. I had no access to my own meter due to how my apartment complex was laid out.
I bet the people next door is probably complaining that they're now getting an electric bill
Or higher one
Patti Poppe PG&E CEO used to be in charge of Consumers energy in Michigan, the only thing she did was increase rates and decrease grid reliability.
We're talking about $30k-$50k. It is a lot of money, but it is nothing for PG&E. Steve is 100% spot on: they should pay him and use it to get a message out to its customers.
Also, $600 was probably the max a customer service rep could refund without intervention from higher up.
I wouldn't be surprised if the situation made it to one of the executive meetings and someone brought up the idea of paying him everything - then the entire table exploded into laughter all at once.
IRS been going after people owing taxes many years ago. If they can do it, why shouldn't we?
The law specifies the IRS has 10 years to collect back taxes unless fraud is involved (i.e., the taxpayer filed a fraudulent return). That 10 year period commences when the tax was due (generally April 15 of the year after the income was earned or realized), or when the tax return was actually filed, whichever is later.
The same IRS where if they take you to court, you are GUILTY unless you can PROVE YOUR INNOCENCE.
I have 2 water meters. One for domestic use and the other for lawn irrigation, which is billed at a lower rate. They transmit the readings via company wifi. Last summer, I was billed for domestic, but not irrigation. This went on for 3 months. The meter dials were registering but it wasn’t transmitting. Fearing a huge end of summer bill, I called the water dept. The lady said they will replace the meter and I would not be charged for their faulty equipment. They stepped up, but I was prepared to pay what I owed. I was pleasantly surprised. My neighbor told me, I was a fool to report it. I am a believer in Karma. I didn’t have to debate myself on whether to call or not. I like to sleep at night.
P@@jimtrue1465
@@jimtrue1465 "The law specifies the IRS has 10 years to collect back taxes"
That's always bugged me. The IRS only gives you 3 years to amend your taxes or file a return if you didn't and have a refund due. Seems to me if they give themselves 10 years to collect unpaid taxes, we should also get 10 years to recoup overpaid taxes.
If the neighbor meter had changed customers since 2006, then they would have been aware of the "oversight" and were negligent in resolving the issue.
The neighbor was paying his bill. The neighbor also didn't have any reason to suspect his bill was wrong. Most likely a single person had been living there, meaning the bills were similar, then a family moved in causing his bill to suddnely go up.
Theft by deception is theft by deception....nuff said.
If I were paying for the power for two apartments for 18 years, pretty sure I wouldn't be satisfied until I was told my electric bill was free of charge for the next 18 years.
No, the bills were interchanged.
@@johnbriggs3916 Yes I agree with your logic in this case.
Pretty sure I'd simply take what's mine. In today's economy, you just can't afford not to.
He was paying the neighbors , and the neighboring one bedroom was paying his. So, the actual difference in monthly bills probably wasn't that much .
@@johnbriggs3916 Agreed. Steve wasn't as clear on this as he should have been. Depending on how much power the neighbor was using, $600 may not be as unreasonable as Steve indicated. That said, having lived in CA for 20+ years, I was paying over 3 times for power than I am today in Florida so the guy might be due a pretty good refund. As others pointed up, it would be easy for PG&E to compare the two accounts and see how much he was overcharged. As to when it started, my guess would be when PG&E changed out all the meters to electronic meters that communicate over the power lines so they don't have to send meter readers out. I was on SDG&E, not PG&E, so I am not sure when they did the switchover.
The company should give him a credit for all the years, it would save any court costs and save having to give him any money.
Utility companies don't have to worry about their public image. They have a legal monopoly in most, if not all, states. I have worked on a Georgia Power nuclear plant shutdown. They waste SO MUCH MONEY that it's criminal. They then turn around and go in front of the state legislators every year asking for a raise in rates.
WOT? Monopoly? Here in the free world I can change my supplier in 30 minutes and have a choice of at least 12
That's why utilities tend to be strictly regulated. Like they have to get approval from the government before they can raise prices.
@@tallthinkev You should watch Adam Ruins Everything's segment on the EyeGlass industry... I feel like it's the same principle
@@shadowninja6689 did you not read my comment or just not understand it? I was pointing out the hypocritical nature of what they do.
@@teddychu1177 I've seen it. It's been a while, but I vaguely remember it. I like those shows.
I had bought a building on Main Street in a Small Texas town. It remained vacant for years. But I was still getting water bills for over 10,000 gallons a month. An elderly woman lived next to my property and she was on the same meter. They SAID that they subtracted her usage from mine to get my bill. But I would routinely ask the clerk at the Municipal building next door, "How often do you see me here?!? Once a month?!?" All I did was flush my toilet two times a month. Eight gallons. Then stand there and make sure it turned off. after two years, I finally got so frustrated, I invoked a 'remodel" ordinance and turned my vacant building completely off. Then filled an ice chest with a garden hose, and filled the toilets with a bucket from that. When the local woman's middle aged son became hostile and verbally abusive about my "initiated" remodel , I proved to my own satisfaction, at least, that the out of towner city guy (me!) was being "played" for the advantage of a local resident.
10,000 gallons of water a month is ridiculous. Would have gotten the utility company to find the problem for a vacant building asap. And to install a separate meter for the building.
Finally, free power has been discovered!
PG&E would not want it to go to trial, because a Jury may decide to award the guy a lot more than the 18 years of overpayments in his power bill.
Similar situation happened to me during the fallout from the 2008 crash/recession wherein I was renting a one bedroom apt (end unit of 3 ttl) beachside in Palm Beach County FL, and was billed for electricity by FPL. There was a Studio apt next to me that the Landlord advertised and rented WITH UTILITIES INCLUDED. My electric bill was exorbitant from day 1. I investigated. There was only 2 electric meters for the 3 units. I reported it to the power company first asking about who pays for the studio apt in the middle, they didn't know.
Come to find out the Landlord knew all along.
They made me move out.
Did anybody ask the beneficiary of this (the one whose bill was being paid), if he didn’t think it odd to never have an electric bill?
The neighboring apartment was paying this man's bill
Apt. A was paying the bill for Apt. B.
Apt. B was paying the bill for Apt. A.
The meters weren't registered to the right apartments, the neighbour paid his bill and he paid the neighbour's bill
I think Steve said he was paying both bills i have to go over the video again
@@steventomas420 If you look up the original news article, the apartments were swapped, he was paying the other apartments, and the other apartment was paying his. `
When I rented a new townhome my gas bill was outrageous. Even tho I had it turned all the way down. (Neighbors kept their heat so high, my unit was always hot.) I repeatedly called the gas company to inform them something is wrong. I thought my neighbor’s unit and mine were mixed up. For 3 years. Finally they figured out that the units WERE mixed up. They then sent my neighbor a THANK YOU for bringing it to their attention.🤦♀️ Nothing surprises me anymore.
No, the gas company did NOT correct the problem. My neighbor and I were friends and He made it right.😊
They're going to rectify the situation? Don't do that -- the customer is supposed to get AC!
It sounds like the situation was inverted to start, so maybe just run it through a transformer
Someone needs to investigate and get to the root (means square) of the problem!😆
When I look at my bill it Hz.
@@JimS-m1e Probably makes you hesitant to *sine* the check! After being shocked by the bill, you felt powerless to do anything about it!
🤣You beat me to the punch! I was going to ask if they were going to fully rectify it, or just a half-wave rectification!
The "Court of Public Opinion" has no problem finding PG&E guilty. Historically, they are always guilty.
i think we also learned from the houston power outage that, even when your power is off, you're still going to get billed some amount, perhaps an average... even when you can't use the service you're being billed for, they will still bill you... there ought to be a law.
In Texas ? logic does not apply in Texas.
There is basically a minimum amount you're billed even if you use no electricity. My friend has a cabin that has power but nobody is there 98% of the time it's around 10 bucks these days.
That was totally different - the way I understood it was that a separate entity other than the power supplier was the one that the customers paid to keep their power on - meaning the company should have possibly ran out generators to the customers that were paying - or some such - to ensure continuous or minimal power downtime - yet the company "liberal"ly got complacent/complicit and figured that the power company would take care of the outage problems - toot sweet - basically an insurance scam
If you are in californa and the power goes out you get charged double for not using power. 😅😅😅
@@michaelmartin8337 "toot sweet"? Don't use that phrase. We went over words earlier today and I asked you knew what it meant and how to spell it and you said 'no'.
I feel like another layer is the fact the electricity was being used just not by him. It raises the question about the neighbors because they too were paying the wrong bill... If his neighbors had not paid and got his meter shut off he would have found this out sooner but I wonder if they were benefiting from paying such a low bill for so many years and if they also got anything for all this trouble?
Statue of limitations = it's not illegal *if you get away with it for a certain amount of time.*
hmm the statue of limitations should really only start ticking in cases like this after the crime stops being committed.
Just, according to Steve, there’s no crime here.
There WAS NO crime!
Agree, I thought statute of limitations starts counting down from the discovery of the incident. Maybe that's only for criminal not civil law.
there is no crime.
@@QG1168bro, quit spamming, we don't have a tick box for D or R Power Company 😒 work on your bot keywords
I logged into youtube and this was what immediately popped up! Lol
Guess it's time to walk my dog 😂..
Yeah , well it’s a question . What would you do ? But I understand , you don’t want poop on your rug either . 😂
Something similar happened to me when I was a dirt poor student. My roommate and I found out that we were paying the power bill for a family of five (or more) living in the separate apartment (in an old house) above us. When we confronted the landlord about this he called us "cheapskates." We weren't cheapskates, we were poor! It was fundamentally unjust.
If I would get hit with fraud for a mistake but a company doesn't get that same punishment is not setup equally.
Unequal Protection under the law, violation of the constitution.
I live in CA and have PG&E. I didn't even need to watch first to know it was about them. Worst power company I've ever dealt with.
Unless you claim you were touched by someone. Then you can wait 20+ years and demand money without any evidence.
Except of course, statutes of limitations can be temporarily suspended to punish a political adversary.
I had a friend in Zillah Washington who had this happen with her water. She was an older lady and her consumption went off of the charts even a vrea house was built. She made multiple complaints to them and they just rolled their eyes at her when she complained. Finally, after some time, she insisted that her water be cut off at the meter. The city reluctantly complied and soon enough the neighbor came complaining. His home cut off when her water was cut off. While they fixed the issue, she was offered nothing in spite of years of complaining. Imagine that.
Many years ago at a small apartment complex, we thought our electric bill was higher than our old apartment. I shut down our electrical box and all of the interior and exterior security light went out. I offered the owner a deal for free rent till the extra charges balanced out. He accepted.
Bot. Spam.
Was he paying the neighbors meter but not his own meter? Or was he paying for both?
They were paying each other's bills.
@@johnbriggs3916NOWHERE was THAT EVER stated!!!!
@@Tryp-j9d YES, it was.
@@johnbriggs3916 Yeah. That makes sense. If this is the case then there are 3 parties involved here ; The two neighbors and PG&E. One neighbor paid too much while the other saved money. PG&E may be responsible but they did not benefit from the error. The two neighbors could sue each other but they may very well end up being having to reimburse the other party. Also their power consumption may very well be similar (same apartment complex) so the layer costs may very well be higher than what they can expect to gain.
@@Tryp-j9d That’s why they said to compare the meter number on your bill to your meter, to verify you are paying the correct bill.
Many years ago I lived in an apartment building and I was suspicious because my first couple of bills seemed out of line. When I looked at the meter bank at the back of the building I realized that the meters were labeled backwards from what they should have been. I notified l the landlord and, after the correction, my bill became what I expected.
Ben is ticking out the top of the KAARME tag
Hard to miss him sometimes
my son had a unit in a three unit complex, we caught the owners putting empty units on to the occupied ones. He paid the power on the empty units for two years. Power company said nothing was amiss, but there was. He got the hell out of there asap.
I received six telephone calls just yesterday from “my electric company” trying to reimburse me!
Sounds like a possible scam.
@@shockcoach
Haha yes of course! :)
I’d be willing to bet if you answered it, they’d want to put money into your account after they send you an email link. Then, they’ll ‘accidentally’ put too much in. They’ll freak out and say they’ll get fired if it’s not remedied right away, and ask you to but gift cards to make up the difference.
When that happens to me I always say “That’s great! Credit my account.” And then I hang up.
A couple of years ago we discovered that the way the hot water tanks were rigged at our condo property in such a way that 1 unit was paying for the electricity for 2 units for decades. Luckily it was only the hot water tank and not the entire unit.
People seem to be missing that he wasn’t paying for both apartments. The meter numbers had been swapped. So his neighbor was paying his bill, meaning he really is only entitled to the difference between the two bills which may not have been that much.
Steve didn't say that, not exactly. He said "it looks as if they had these things switched" but did not specify the neighbor. It could have been switched with anybody else's apartment or even the streetlights outside.
It's a little obscure in both this video and print articles about it, but you are absolutely correct. The only thing he is owed is the difference between his and his neighbor's total bill, which could very well be as little as $600 over 18 years for two probably identical apartments.
@xsleep1 He was paid for 3 years which was about $16 a month.
Did his neighbor not have an electric bill for 18 years? Or has this company been fraudulently charging two people for the same bill/usage???
Credited 600 dollars? Lol. My PGE bill for just last month was $850.
Also, in 2019, PG&E went through bankruptcy. The debts before that have been discharged.
$600? Bro. With inflation and interest this dude can retire
What does the utility do with your MONEY ? Because they don’t just collect it .
@@jamesbeemer7855He has been paying an extra electric bill for almost 2 decades. They owe him big time. They have been stealing from him.
FACTS!
The neighbor who benefitted should go to jail....they had to know that something was wrong.
Ben at 12 O'Clock high behind the KAARME NUMBER PLATE.
Caps Lock error. 😀
@@idristaylor5093 I’m so AR, I always edit. 😂
My brother tied my new dishwasher into the wall. When I sold the condo I discovered it was tied into the upstairs condo. I owned both units and the upstairs tenant left me with a huge mess so no harm no foul.
Checking the meter number on the bill would not have helped this gentleman.
Exactly!
$600? That's not even one year of compensation! I live alone in an apartment and my bill is more than $50 a month. They lowballed him hard!
It all depends on what the difference was between his real bill and the neighbour's bill he was paying. It sounds like they've been comparable for a while and only noticed a difference recently (maybe a larger family moved in or something), he may not have been over charged by that much in the grand scheme of things
They should give this guy 20 years of no bill due!
He's lived alone in an apartment complex since 2006...
Poor bastard 🙁
Maybe he escaped a marriage with a bitter wife... lucky guy.
@@roberteltze4850 Yes, the guy probably follows "SSM" or "Better Bachelor," or the MGTOW movement. LOL.
I’ve lived alone ne in my house for 20 years. That doesn’t mean I can’t have friends over.
@@emilyfeagin2673 That's right! A different friend each weekend, or maybe every couple of months or so... all depending on miscellaneous factors.
@@michaelk151 SSM is pretty awesome. BB just seems a little bitter sometimes. SSM is not MGTOW he just wants you to do your homework and for you to watch for red flags.
We had a utility pole with a streetlight in our parking lot. I went there to work with the gas company (unrelated problem) and observed that my streetlight was missing. My neighbor, the telephone company, advised me that THEY had the pole and light removed because THEY didn't need it any longer.
I argued with them that it was not theirs to have removed as it was on my property. After an investigation, it turned out that the telephone company was indeed pay for the light, as was I. The PA Public Utility Commission would only allow us to go back three years even though I had all the billd for the last 20 years. They did order West Penn Power to reimburse me (and the telephone company) half of the payments for the last three years.
Aww crap, my gig is up. Been getting free electricity from my neighbor. Now I gotta pay my electric bills. 😒
This has happened to me. My first apartment, the landlords came to me to tell me that my immediate neighbor had moved out without paying his rent, left the place trashed, didn't take any of the furnishings he left behind, but during their cleanup discovered that the neighbor had been stealing my cable service by tapping into the line some how, and he had been stealing my electricity by connecting his breaker box to mine. Our breaker boxes were back-to-back on the same wall. I have no idea how he accomplished that. Since it was my first apartment and first utilities, the bill I got each month was just the normal amount I thought. Turned out I was paying double or more. I was working a job where I was gone 16 to 20 hours a day 6 days per week.
Years later I had another neighbor, different apartment try to steal my electricity but caught that immediately.
There are wiley opportunits everywhere!
I understand the statute of limitations concept but what I'm still confused about is how that is applied to this situation. Like, if this happened on his bill once or twice 10 years ago, then yes, I'd say that is covered by the statute of limitations. But this has been a continuous occurrence, not an isolated issue from years ago. I don't understand why a statute of limitations would apply here.
Basically every bill (month) is a new incident and so the statute of limitations applies to each one individually.
At the first apartment where the parents of The Werefrog lived, their air conditioner was hooked up to the meter for one of the other units. They were amazed at how little it cost to keep the unit cool in the summer (over 100 F with AC set to low 70s). After a few months, they looked and realized their ac was hooked into the neighbor's unit. They contacted the landlord, and they said they needed to get it corrected to go to the right meter, and they also needed to figure out how much they owed that neighbor.
The landlord said they were half right. The landlord said they owed nothing from this because it was his (landlord's) fault, so that's who would owe back to the other neighbors. Rare good landlord.
And if P G & E gave him all his money back couldn't that be considered unjust enrichemnt? This guy might also find out the neighbor used less electricity than he did some months.
There was a household where they found out their meter was also connected to, and powering, the local traffic signals outside the house.
Statute of limitations shouldn’t start til discovery.
Exactly!
I have always wondered. HOW can a statute, voted on and passed by the LEGISLATURE affect the judicial branch which is a separate department of government?? Statutes of limitations affective undo the the constitutional purpose of the judicial branch. It is against the separation of powers clauses. Can the judicial order the legislature to stop passing laws??? More BS from government is what it is.
You are right Steve. PG&E has had terrible PR over the last 15 years or so. They had a gas pipeline explode in San Bruno in 2010. They were implicated in several wild land fires do to high winds and electrical tower failures. Because of the fires they started to black out areas of CA to keep the electrical lines from starting fires. These electrical outages were in the summertime when it is incredibly hot in North Central CA. They could defiantly use some good PR. But, they are basically the sole provider of natural gas and electricity to a large section of Northern CA and do not have any competition. Ergo, they don't care.
And let’s not forget the groundwater contamination in Hinkley CA. There’s even a movie about that one (Erin Brockovich.). Yep, they truly do not care, and are immoral in their actions. Plus, their rates are excessively high. I live in a Northern California city, and am so grateful to have a non-profit, municipal option for electricity. Still have PG&E for gas, but so far, we’ve gotten one appliance (water heater) off gas. Eventual goal is to go electric with home heating and cooking, as well.
Ben’s resting on KAARME.
Bad idea sleeping on a Viper...
Mornin' Bill
This happened once on Okinawa many years ago. The local landlord had routed all the power of his tenants through the one apartment he rented to Americans. It was discovered because she went back to the US on vacation and flipped off all her circuit breakers before leaving. She received an emergency call while back home seeking permission to enter the apartment to turn the power back on.
$600?
For _eighteen years_ of bills?
That is just _insulting._
I believe he is only due the difference between the meter he was billed for and his true meter.
He was paying his neighbors bill and the neighbor was paying his. In an apartment, the difference wouldn't be much. Maybe $25 a month tops. They paid him for 3 years which is about $16 a month.
Nice Steve Lehto thank you for sharing 🤗
Thanks!
Thank you!
My internet company screwed me out of thousands because of their mistake that I didn’t catch for 4 years. They said they only go back 6 months. 🤦🏼♀️
How bad is the utility company? And how does the neighbor NEVER say anything? Unreal
I mean... Its free power. Dont rock the boat
@@fornhunkleright I mean the neighbor probably didn’t have a clue his neighbor was getting stuck with their bill. They Would assume the power company had fucked up, not many people are gonna say “hey I didn’t do anything wrong so take my money please”
Wait until they get a bill for 18 years.
@@Hillbillywelder the electric company is most likely going to stick the neighbor with a huge bill to recoup 18 years of profit
@@D-B-Cooper invoice them.
Exactly the same thing happened to a friend of mine although it was not PG&E, it was the local city run utility. When they figured out the problem, they had my mother, who was a lawyer, contact the city. The city immediately paid an amount that probably exceeded the actual cost, but constituted reasonable compensation for the interest on the overpaid utility bills. The insidious thing about this type of problem is that the 2 meters were reversed so my friends family was setting the thermostat lower and doing everything they could to use less power, but their bill kept going higher because the downstairs neighbor had no incentive to economize because their bill kept going down no matter what they did.
Ben looking over the KAARME plate, Steve's LHS
Watch out for the snake!
G’nite Bob.
I can see them making a big production refunding the guy that has made for his neighbor for all the years, then turn around and charge the neighbor. They don't want to lose ANY money. Good PR gone bad.
California,,figures
Okay so where is your great state?
California has its issues but this is all about PG&E. Too bad PG&E won’t be broken up & sold off as localized power companies.
Any other state but Comifornia is the state to live!
@@user-no1cares Amen
@@garykilgore6718 Abortion is legal, we don't ban books.
I worked for a water utility one time when shut off the water to a house we got a complaint of no water from a house 1/2 a block away on the other side of the street. When we looked through old records it was found that both houses were part of farm before the area was subdivided and use to be on the same well. The two houses were rentals still owned by the same family so billing wasn't a problem. This happened in 2005 the area water system was put in 1949.
Take them to small claims court and get as much as he can.. and notify the local media before the hearing
I used to have a Neiber across the street that accused me of steeling her electricity, I asked her how much her bill was and then explained to her that my bill was bigger then asked her if she was steeling my electricity.
Give the guy a minimum of $10/ month reimbursement. That's just $2,160.
It's a ridiculously small amount of money for the corporation. But a significant amount of goodwill to the gentleman.
I was charged for land line phone service for a # I discontinued 2 years earlier. The # was connected to a property 20 miles from billing address. Took 8 months to get it straight.
If PSEG was forced to pay the wronged customer, PSEG wouldn't eat the cost. They'd go after every tenant of the nearby apartment for 18 years.
I agree with the power company, you set precedent like this, and every wacko out there will want money back for something that occurred 20 years ago.
Unfortunately, yes. That’s why their lawyers fight to never take responsibility for anything because if they do, they’ll be 1000 more people demanding money.
I was in my new house for 4 years and I had a smaller house than my neighbor. His electric bill was smaller than mine. My bill was high enough I put in a gas hot water heater. I had no savings. I found out that when the electric meters were installed, the installer mixed up our meter numbers. The electric company only keeps two years of billing info. Based on the two years of errors, they extrapolated the error over 4 years and refunded me the difference. They hit him up for only two years.
As far as the statute of limitations, doesn’t it run from the date of discovery and not from error date?
Didn't the neighbour wonder why he wasn't being billed? Maybe he should pay money back to this man. 🤔
I was wondering if he was getting billed as well.
By the way steve said it their bills were swapped so the neighbor as getting the bill of who was talked about in this episode
Once, many years ago, companies were fair, people used to help each other, companies worked hard to get a good reputation.
It's sad that those days are long gone.
I find it hard to believe that the neighbor didn’t know something was wrong after 18 years with never paying an electric bill.
He should get 18 years of free power. 600 what an insult.
I recently found your channel, and part of why I love it is because you are from Michigan! My husband is a Michigander, so Michigan is like our second home state (we live in NY). Things like: you are wearing a Cherry Republic t-shirt (we love that place!), and you mentioned how your mother got her license in the U.P. (most people don't even know what that is!). I enjoy your stories and explanations...
Corporations actually caring about their customers??? 😂😂😂😂 Good luck!!!! 🤬
I lived in an old building where the entire 3rd floor had been converted to apartments. During some minor re-wiring, it was discovered that one outlet in my bedroom was not running off my meter. Further, it was found that outlet was on a "common area" circuit (other side of that wall was an interior fire escape /normally unused stairwa) running off a meter billed to the landlord. For fire safety reasons, that outlet was where I had to plug in my electric space heater in the winter. I am SERIOUS about fire safety!!!
PG&E to customer "Don't worry we fired the person who made this mistake back in 2010. We fired them for something else but you just proved we were right."
I lived in an apartment where as the apartment below me had tapped into the lines going through his apartment. That tenants electricity was shut off 5 yesrs earlier.
He also added a pipe between my gas water heater to his. His gas was shut off 3 years ealier.
Police were called and complaint was filed.
Guy was evicted and left the area.
Didnt show up for court.
Thanks to the 2020 sniffels. He was protected by law and didnt pay his rent the whole time.
my neighbor's gas meter number was swapped with the condo on the far side. Only found out when the gas company came out and shut off her gas when that far condo fell behind on their bill. The gas company only looked back a year to correct the bill and tried to bill for the emergency reconnection. Like Steve said check you meter numbers.
I have a family member that moved into a two apartment building about a year ago as did the current renters of the other apartment. 8 months ago it was discovered both the electric and gas meter billing has been reversed since the building was built. PG&E admits the billing is reversed and will correct it. 8 months later it’s still not corrected, PG&E says is a complicated issue, what could be simpler, take apt A billing and subtract it from apt B billing and that’s how much has been overpaid by one and underpaid by the other apt. The billing itself still has not been reversed to this day, PG&E is terrible to deal with!!
They want people tp bring cases timely, and then your can argue before a judge and jury after 4 years. What a system. But then it made me laugh.
If you move into a new Multi Dwelling Unit (MDU) and when you sign up for service you should always ask for a meter audit to make sure the meter is only connected to your unit, and ask the company to provide an average of what a month of service cost for the last year so you can compare your invoices to see if they are in the same range.
Yeah, one of the first things I do when I move into a new place is to shut off all the breakers to make sure "my" meter stops and none of the exterior/common area lighting goes out. It's quick and I've heard way too many stories like this one to not do it.
It's not always the company fault, some times the property owners change on a multi unit complex and they decide to change some addresses around without properly notifying or the last tenant may have been shady character and went ahead and switched the meters, no one would ever know until years down the road.
PG&E was absolutely negligent. If the guy didn't pay his bill they would have figured that out in minutes.
I called to complain about my electric bill once. I found out I was being charged commercial rates for about 5 years. The power company made it right with me. I didn't get a bill for over a year, and when they did start coming again, they were a lot cheaper. That mistake was on them, but if I had done my due diligence, I should've caught it much sooner.
I'm going to compare the meter number on the bill vs. the meter number on the meter, for both the electric power and the water usage. Thanks for enlightening us.💜💜💜