I logged onto my utilities account to see how much we would owe for the past month (since I hadn’t received the paper statement in the mail yet but knew it had already been posted).  To my surprise, I saw a “final bill” for about $250 from the old apartment.  Since that account has been closed since July 29, I couldn’t access the bill online.  So, I waited until I got the paper statement in the mail before trying to figure out what the heck is going on.

The paper statement arrived two days ago.  It shows meter readings for May through June and June through July.  Keep in mind, I have never ever defaulted on my utility bill (well, on any bills actually).  I distinctly remember paying and verified that the funds came from my account.  Note that this bill is NOT for my current apartment that I have been in since July 15; this bill is ONLY for my old apartment.

So I call the utility company, and a very nice lady started to explain what the problem was, but upon looking into it further basically had no idea what was going on.  She promised me that she would look into it and return my call the next day (yesterday) when she knew exactly what was going on.

I heard nothing.  After class today, I got back on the phone with the utility company.  This time, a fairly unpleasant woman spoke with me.  She told me that originally, the meter was misread, so they issued me a check for X amount (true, and I deposited it).  But, when they “went back and looked at their records,” the amount was actually correct.  So the $250 charge on a closed account was for an error on an error in their meter reading.

Sounds shady, right?  I think it does.  The meter reading that they first thought was incorrect caused them to send us a bill for about $250 – the highest we EVER paid in the two years we lived in that apartment was $171 and some change, so this was NOT correct.  I’m also wondering how they realized that they made a mistake.  The meter reading wouldn’t have changed, so what information are they going by that caused them to change their mind on the credit to my account?

I got off the phone with the rude woman and called my mom to explain the situation to her and get some feedback.  Plus, I wanted to see what Tom said and thought about the situation, too.  Tomorrow I’m going to call and speak with a supervisor and ask for copies of statements from the past year (since I can’t get them from my online account because it’s CLOSED … how ironic!) as well as the exact meter readings for those twelve months.  I wouldn’t really care if it was just a few extra dollars, but paying around $500 between the old bill and new bill, something just seems funny.  I’m fighting this tooth and nail!