April 30, 2012

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It is overcast today so it may be difficult to read my meter photo.

But the reading is 2333.

This is important because I have received my billing statement for March.

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And, once again, I am being charged on the basis of an estimated reading, not the actual reading.

The billing company claims that my meter reading on March 29 was 3750. In fact, my actual meter reading four days later was 1982 — and today's reading is 1417 below the estimate on the bill.

This estimate is based on the assumption that I used a daily average of 30 Kwh — but, as you can see from all the photos I have taken in the last four weeks — and they are all accessible right here on this blog — I have never used 30 Kwh in a single day.

That will certainly change as we move farther into the summer season.

But there is no reason for me to have to pay for summer–like consumption in the late winter and spring.

April 29, 2012

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As I expected, the temperatures yesterday were quite warm — around 90°.

When it gets that warm outside, my second–floor apartment really gets warm so my A/C ran frequently yesterday. Frankly, I was a bit worried about my consumption.

However, my meter this morning reads 2312, which means I consumed 26 Kwh.

What do you know about that?

My A/C ran far more yesterday than my heat did at any time in February — but the utility company claims my daily Kwh consumption in February was 30.

As of tomorrow, I will have been monitoring my meter for four full weeks. I have never used as much as 30 Kwh in any 24–hour period during that time — and you can see the photos I have taken right here on this blog — yet, according to the utility company, I must have used more than 30 Kwh routinely in February because 30 Kwh is only the average. (By definition, there would have had to be days — several of them, in fact — when my use was higher.)

But everyone knows this February was much milder than normal. There were reports from states far to the north of flowers that were blooming weeks, even months, before they normally would. There were also stories of people who were sunbathing at a time of the year when they would normally have been bundled up.

Weather information is easy to confirm.

April 28, 2012

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I was on the Richland College campus all afternoon yesterday, advising the student newspaper staff as I usually do on Fridays during the school year.

The newsroom is partly underground, and the windows there only look out into the hallway. There is no way to see if the sun is shining — and certainly no way to assess the air temperature — from that vantage point.

Consequently, I had no idea what the weather was like.

But I had heard weather forecasts that indicated the temperature would be around 90° so I really expected the A/C in my apartment to kick on fairly regularly in my absence.

However, based on today's meter reading, I used less energy in the last 24 hours than I did in the previous 24 hours. In the 26 days that I have been monitoring my meter, my daily consumption has averaged 11.6 Kwh.

As I have observed before — but now I have nearly four weeks' worth of data to support my conclusion — that is well below the average that the utility company claimed in my last statement.

April 27, 2012

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This morning's meter reading is 2270, which suggests that I used 20 Kwh in the last 24 hours.

That is higher than most of the days I have documented in the last3½ weeks — but it is actually a bit lower than I expected.

We're in the midst of what is regarded in these parts as a heat wave for April — but, in a couple of months, memories of this time will seem like a breath of paradise around here, and people will be lamenting how many more months they must endure the heat before cooler temperatures return.

Yesterday, the temperature got up to around 90°, and I left my thermostat set at around 84°. Since I live on the second floor, I'm sure it got rather warm in here during the afternoon. More of the same is expected today and tomorrow before we start to see temperatures in the low 80s.

Anyway, my usage between Wednesday and Thursday was 23 Kwh, so the fact that my usage between Thursday and Friday was 20 Kwh was a pleasant surprise.

April 26, 2012

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My reading this morning is 2250, which indicates my highest 24–hour Kwh consumption since I started tracking this on April 2.

And that makes sense. As I pointed out yesterday, the weather forecasters have been anticipating a late April heat wave, with daytime highs in the 90s. I was inside much of yesterday, but it seems to have gotten quite warm, and I am sure my A/C ran some during the afternoon.

I know it was running when I returned home around 5:30 and it continued to run, off and on (mostly on) until the sun went down.

I expect more of the same today and, perhaps, tomorrow. But the forecasters say the temperatures will cool down this weekend.

April 25, 2012

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It is a bit overcast this morning, so it may be hard to read, but the meter appears to read 2227 Kwh.

That would mean my usage in the last 24 hours was around 14 Kwh, which seems probable. It got a little warm around here yesterday, and I had to run the A/C some last night to cool the place down so I could get to sleep.

That seems likely to be how things will play out in the next few days. Recent forecasts suggest we will see highs approaching 90° in the next two or three days — but it should cool down to the upper 70s or lower 80s by Sunday and Monday.

April 24, 2012

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Yesterday's reading was 2205 Kwh. Today's reading appears to be between 2212 and 2213.

Giving the utility company the benefit of the doubt and using 2213 as today's reading, that makes my average daily consumption for the last 22 days 10.5 Kwh.

Or, as I have pointed out almost every day, about one–third the consumption rate the billing company claimed in my last billing statement.

It's getting close to the time for my next bill to come in. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of fiction they have written this month.

By the way, my landlord told me last week that she would contact the billing representative and get back to me with a revised bill.

Well, she may have contacted the billing representative, but, to date, she has not contacted me with my revised bill.

April 23, 2012

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Here is today's meter picture.

The reading this morning is 2205 Kwh. That equals 8 Kwh used since about this time yesterday.

Consistent.

I started doing this three weeks ago today. My total Kwh usage in the last 21 days is 223 Kwh — or an average of 10.6 per day. That is about one–third the amount the billing company claims I used in February — which, as I have repeatedly established, was much milder than usual this year.

April 22, 2012

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In the last 24 hours, I have used 9 Kwh.

It's simple math, really. Today's reading is 2197. Yesterday's reading was 2188.

When I called the billing company, it was suggested to me that the reason my meter reading was below the figure that their own bill claimed was an estimate could have been because I had used so much electricity that the numbers had rolled over and gone back to all zeroes within a month's time.

But there are five digits on my meter. That means I would have had to use 100,000 Kwh. But, as the photos in this blog clearly indicate, my daily consumption is about 10 Kwh.

At that rate, it would take me more than 27 years to consume 100,000 Kwh.

Even at the rate that they claimed I was consuming energy in February — 30 Kwh/day — it would take me about a decade to consume 100,000 Kwh.

April 21, 2012

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My reading today is 2188 Kwh.

Therefore, I used 8 Kwh in the last 24 hours. Not surprising at all, really. It was a gray, overcast day, and I doubt the temperature rose above the mid–70s — if it got that high — yesterday.

I have been doing this for nearly three weeks, and my daily consumption has averaged right around 10 Kwh.

Attention, utility company. I plan to keep an eye on my electric consumption and post photos of my meter each day.

April 20, 2012

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Once again, I must apologize for the quality of the photo.

It was very overcast when I took the picture (it is raining now) so it might be difficult to read.

But today's reading is 2180 — that is an increase of 12 Kwh since yesterday.

Sometime today, the meter will read 2182, which will be exactly 200 Kwh since I started monitoring this 18 days ago. Based on the average daily Kwh consumption reported in my latest utility bill, I should have racked up 200 Kwh in less than a week.

April 19, 2012

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Today's reading is 2168 Kwh.

The reading was 1982 when I started this on April 2.

That means my consumption in the last 17 days has been 186 Kwh — a daily average of less than 11 Kwh.

Quite a difference from the 30 Kwh daily average my last utility bill claimed.

April 18, 2012

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Today's meter reading is 2159, which means my Kwh consumption in the last 24 hours was below 10.

That is consistent with my typical daily consumption so far this month, as you can see from the previous pictures I have posted.

April 17, 2012

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Today's reading is between 2150 Kwh and 2151 Kwh.

You may not be able to read it very clearly in the photo. As I have mentioned before, photography is not exactly my thing.

But, clear or not, this is photographic evidence that my daily Kwh consumption is far below what the billing company has claimed.

As I have mentioned frequently, my billing company says I averaged 30 Kwh a day in February — which, as I have also mentioned frequently, was much milder than usual this year.

I've been monitoring my usage daily for the last 15 days, and I have never used 20 Kwh or more in a 24–hour period. Many days, my average has been below 10.

And the weather this month has been comparable to the weather we had in February.

April 16, 2012

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I didn't run my air conditioning at all yesterday because the temperature remained in the 70s, and my consumption reflects that.

Today's reading is 2141 Kwh — about 7 Kwh used since I took the photo of my meter yesterday.

The evidence continues to accumulate. My daily average in the last two weeks is about 11.3 Kwh

April 15, 2012

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It has been overcast all day, and I have been waiting for a sunny moment or two to read my meter, but it doesn't look like we're going to get much, if any, sun today.

It may be a little hard to read my photo, but it appears to be at 2134. That would mean I have consumed 19 Kwh since my last reading yesterday morning. That doesn't really surprise me. Yesterday was warm and humid, and it was necessary to run the air conditioning to cool off the place, but, in nearly two weeks of monitoring my meter, my consumption still has not come close to the average the billing company claimed.

April 14, 2012

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Once again, I apologize for the quality of the photo. It is rather overcast this morning, and I can only conclude that has an effect on the quality of my pictures.

Of course, as I mentioned before, I am not much of a photographer, anyway.

Yesterday, I spent several hours advising the student newspaper staff in the Richland College newsroom — as I often do during the school year. I adjusted my air conditioning the night before to run when I went to bed so the air would be circulating and I would fall asleep quickly.

Temperatures dropped into the 60s overnight, and the air conditioning didn't come on all morning. I forgot to readjust it before I left for the campus.

Well, I was away from home until nearly 7 o'clock last night. I discovered upon my return that I had neglected to adjust the A/C before I left so I have no idea how much it ran while I was away — but, apparently, it did run a bit.

This morning, my meter reading is 2113, which means I used 18 Kwh since yesterday morning. That is still far short of the 30 Kwh/day average the billing company claims I consumed two months ago.

April 13, 2012

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This morning's meter reading serves to confirm a trend that has been established in the last week and a half.

My Kwh usage in the last 24 hours was 11. Today's picture is a little hard to read, due primarily to the overcast conditions this morning, but the reading appears to be 2095. Yesterday's reading was 2084.

I live in a second–floor apartment, and we've had a few days since April 2 that got into the mid–80s. Since hot air rises, it's gotten fairly warm in here, and I have had to run the air conditioning to cool the place down. But not once has my daily usage even been half of what the utility company claims my average for February was.

April 12, 2012

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In the last 24 hours, my Kwh usage was about 12.

Going back to Monday of last week, which was 10 days ago, my consumption has been 102 Kwh in that time. That's a daily average of 10.2 Kwh. The billing company claims I used an average of 30 Kwh two months ago — and, if that is an average (which it is, based on the total Kwh for which I am being charged divided by the number of days in the billing period), that would mean that there were days when I used more.

But February was unseasonably mild, and I know I hardly used my heat at all, certainly much less than I have run my air conditioning in the last 10 days. I kept a pretty close eye on my consumption because I am on a very limited budget, and I was extremely pleased that my consumption was so low. I was expecting a much lower bill than I received. Yet the billing company says I was using more than three times as much electricity on some days in February than I have used at any time in the last week and a half.

I have always played by the rules, and I expect my utility company to do the same. I deserved far better than an estimated utility bill.

April 11, 2012

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This morning's reading appears to be between 2071 and 2072.

Since the reading was 1982 when I started doing this nine days ago, I have to conclude that my daily Kwh usage is roughly 10.

That is one–third what the utility company claims my average daily consumption was in February — although, as I have said here before, this February was extremely mild and I don't see that much difference between my daily use in February and my daily use now.

Not even modest fluctuations in the rate charged would account for it.

Besides, I have looked at some of my previous statements, and they all indicated that my meter reading was the actual reading, not an estimate. My most recent statement, however, clearly states that it is an estimate.

April 10, 2012

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Let me apologize for the quality of today's photo. It was quite overcast when I went out to take the picture earlier this morning so it may be difficult to read.

But it appears to be around 2060, which would make my consumption for the last 24 hours about 10 Kwh — consistent with the previous seven days, which averaged around 9.7 Kwh.

April 9, 2012

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Easter Sunday was cool and overcast around here. We even had some rain in my neighborhood in the afternoon.

I didn't run the air conditioning at all yesterday.

My best guess is that the temperature didn't get above 75° or 76° — which accounts for my Kwh usage. It was back in single digits, as you can clearly see if you compare today's photo with yesterday's.

I started doing all this around noon last Monday so it has been just about one week now — and my average daily consumption is about 9.7 Kwh per day. It goes up if I use my air conditioning, as I observed yesterday, but this last week has been comparable, in terms of electricity usage, to just about any week in February. Yet, somehow, the billing company shows my daily consumption rate for that month to be triple what it has been in the last week.

In the past, I might have been willing to accept that. But not this year.

April 8, 2012

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It got a little warm in my apartment yesterday so I ran my air conditioning for awhile.

That led to a higher electricity consumption level — but not that much higher.

This morning's reading, as you can see, was 2042, which is a consumption level that is slightly more than twice what I have been averaging — but I still think it is rather low — 17 Kwh. That is a little more than half of what the utility provider's billing company says I averaged during the February billing cycle.

And I would not be inclined to challenge that — except for the fact that February was unseasonably mild this year, and I know that my heat was hardly used during that billing period. Everything else on my utility bill is constant — water, gas, sewer. Only electricity varies.

To claim that I used more electricity in February than I did in any month since last summer is preposterous.

April 7, 2012

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It's Saturday, and I overslept a bit so I am a little later about posting this than I would have preferred.

Nevertheless, today's meter reading confirms my daily usage of roughly 8 Kwh per day.

Yesterday's reading was somewhere between 2017 and 2018. Today's reading is 2025.

Actually, that is a little lower than I expected. My apartment got kind of warm last night so I switched on the air conditioning. But I don't think it made much difference — I suspect that it isn't functioning as it should — and I switched it off after about an hour.

Because of that, I expected my meter reading to be higher than it is. But you can see the evidence for yourself.

April 6, 2012

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Well, it's been about 25 hours since my last meter reading.

But, as you can see, my consumption since my last meter reading (yesterday) has only increased 7–8 Kwh. This morning's reading is between 2017 and 2018. Yesterday's reading was 2010.

That means that — at the most — I have consumed 36 Kwh in the last four days. According to the billing company, I should have used 120 Kwh by this time.

I believe the numbers speak for themselves. And they don't lie.

But some body is.

April 5, 2012

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Today's picture turned out much better than the last two. I think I'm getting the hang of this.

And this morning's meter reading shows the same level of consumption as yesterday — 8 Kwh.

That means that I have used 28 Kwh in the last three days. My most recent utility bill suggests that I averaged 30 Kwh per day in February.

That is absurd.

April 4, 2012

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Well, here is the latest.

A little more than 24 hours since the last time I checked it, my meter reading has risen 8 Kwh.

It may be a little hard to read in the photo I just took, but the reading for today is 2002.

Just to remind you ...

On my February statement, the billing company asserted that the reading at the end of January was 1800 and that the reading 34 days later, at the end of February, was 2820. As I mentioned before, that translates to exactly 30 Kwh used per day.

But, based on my daily meter readings, I am averaging 10 Kwh per day since Monday.

And this is not an estimate, as the bill indicated. These are the actual numbers from my meter.

Since there are five digits on my meter, I would have use about 100,000 Kwh before it started over again at 0, the way a car's odometer does.

I'm getting shafted by somebody.

April 3, 2012

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Now, let's see ...

According to my latest statement, my February meter reading was an estimate. But the collection company insists it was an actual reading.

I was billed for 1020 Kwh over a 34–day period. Remarkably, that calculates to precisely 30 Kwh per day. No fractions.

Seems to me that an actual reading wouldn't be likely to produce an exact daily average — that there would be a fraction in there somewhere. But do the math yourself. Divide 1020 by 34. You'll come up with 30.

On the nose.

Sounds like an estimate to me.

But, to be fair, I suppose anything is possible. Wait about four weeks until my next statement comes in, and we'll see if it is an exact number again. That would seem, to me, very unlikely — if the meter really is being read.

I think there is considerable reason to doubt that it is.

Anyway, to test this out, I checked my meter this morning. It was about three hours short of 24 hours since the last time I photographed my meter.

And, since 30 divided by 24 (for 24 hours in a day) equals 1.25 Kwh per hour, I figure that my usage actually should be about 26.25 Kwh since yesterday morning.

I don't think I'm using more electricity than I did in February so the average should be about the same, maybe a little less.

But I'll give the electric provider the benefit of the doubt and round it down to 26. That means that this morning's reading should be 2008.

I think that's more than fair, don't you? I think it is quite generous, actually.

Too generous, it turns out. See, my actual reading, 21 hours later, is 1994.

That is probably difficult to see in the attached photo, and I do apologize for that. I'm not much of a photographer, and it is rather overcast today.

But that is what it says — 1994. That is 12 Kwh used since yesterday morning. Far below that daily average of 30 that the statement from February suggested.

In fact, it is less than half of what I estimated it should be for a 21–hour period, based on my February "usage." I think it is a valid comparison because this February was so mild.

I don't believe my electricity consumption in the last 21 hours varied dramatically from my usual consumption. Consequently, I must conclude that I am being overcharged — considerably.

My apartment management has had signs all over the complex for months boasting of how it cares about its tenants. Now would be a dandy time to prove it.

Oh, and one more thing. Yesterday, when I spoke to the billing company's customer service rep, Patricia, she took my home phone number and assured me that her supervisor would call me back before the day was over.

Guess what didn't happen? (First two guesses don't count.)

April 2, 2012

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I have had an ongoing dialogue about my utility bill with the apartment office and the billing company for the last few days.

This has been prompted by my latest utility bill.

My bill is actually for the period from 1/24/2012 to 2/27/2012. If you live in Dallas, you know that February 2012 was much milder than usual — as it was, actually, in many places. I probably did not run my heat half the time; the other half of the time, my thermostat was set so low that it seldom kicked on.

I was expecting a much lower bill — but, much to my surprise, my bill was approximately 15% HIGHER than it was for January's billing period.

I went to the apartment office on Saturday, but the manager was not there, and I had to speak with the assistant manager. She told me I would need to call the billing company, which acts as the go–between for the actual electricity provider and the apartment manager.

It is the apartment manager who collects my utility payment every month, but the assistant manager could do nothing except recommend that I try to contact the customer service number for the collection company.

I haven't had any luck with that number in the past — I usually get a recording or some kind of automated response, even when I press the number that allegedly will take me to a real person. I wasn't too encouraged by this, but I decided to try it this morning.

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Lo and behold, I did reach someone, and I pointed out to her that the meter readings on my bill were accompanied by an E, which the bill indicates means an "Estimated Read."

She put me on hold for a couple of minutes, presumably while she consulted with her superior, then returned to tell me that the reading was the actual reading, not an estimate.

So I returned to the apartment manager's office, stopping at my meter to see what the current reading is. You can see the reading for yourself at the top of this post.

As you can see from the image of the portion of my bill that is devoted to my electrical consumption, the utility company says my reading at the end of January was 1800 Kwh, and my reading at the end of February was 2820 Kwh.

But as you can also see, the reading on my meter today — April 2 — is 1982 Kwh.

I intend to post regular electricity consumption numbers on this blog, along with the digital pictures I take of my meter. We'll see how the numbers compare to what the billing company says.

Stay tuned.