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My electric meter is a liar, retired detective says

Posted on August 7th, 2008 – 10:33 AM
By James Shiffer

Reading my colleague H.J. Cummins’ report on Xcel Energy’s effort to recover their money from hundreds of malfunctioning gas meters, it seems timely to tell the tale of a man and his electric meter, which he says had the opposite problem: it claimed he was using all kinds of juice at his condo over the winter, when he and his wife weren’t even living there.

Earl Weckman, 74, is a retired Hopkins police officer. That doesn’t mean he has forgotten how to build a case.

Weckman lives with his wife Marilyn in a condo in Rogers. When winter comes, the couple departs for four months in Arizona. They get their bills forwarded to their place in Mesa, and this past winter, Weckman noticed something strange in his Xcel Energy bills. They were about double what they were the year before (in January 2008, $82.17 versus $39.50 in 2007).

Was someone hijacking their outlets to run their electric dryer or home theater system? Weckman sent his son to investigate. Nobody was there in the condo, and there were no signs of electrical larceny. The only thing using juice was the furnace motor, as usual.

Weckman’s conclusion: the electric meter had gone “bananas.”

Xcel Energy came to the condo with a replacement meter and took the suspect device, serial number 000053177418, to its laboratory. The forensic examination offered no clues.

“We brought it back to the shop and tested it,” said Patti Nystuen, an Xcel Energy spokeswoman. “The meter is working properly.”

Weckman is dubious. His bills went back to normal as soon as the new meter was installed. He figures he overpaid about a hundred bucks.

So how can he prove he isn’t just trying to get some of his money back after a bunch of electric-sucking squatters occupied his home for four months?

“We’ve got witnesses galore,” he said.

I asked Weckman for the names of some of them. He did more than that. Earlier this week, an envelope arrived bearing two affidavit-like signed statements from neighbors (Mark Rupar, who lives next door; Char Matson, who lives across the way) affirming that nobody was living in the unit for more than four months.

For circumstantial evidence, Weckman provided the stubs from two city of Rogers semi-monthly water bills. The water charge for the period starting Jan. 1 through April 30? Zip.

“All I want is a little consideration, if nothing else,” Weckman said. “They just act like I’m a damned liar.”

Nystuen said someone from Xcel’s “billing group” would be in touch with Weckman.

“We definitely want to work with him,” she said. “If there’s some other issue there, our folks are going to be investigating.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 10:33 am and is filed under Complaint sagas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

6 Responses to “My electric meter is a liar, retired detective says”

  1. Lee Says:
    August 9th, 2008 at 9:59 pm

    I had a class at the U from the man who did the stastical ananlysis creation for the PUC and worked with the Gas Company.

    Every meter installed has a serial number the batch that it was purchased from. The rules are that a representative sample from groups of meters are pulled every year and checked. If that sample group is within specifications of variance, there is no further reason to investigate.

    The probabilities of meter error are well within the 5-6 Sigma range, meaning that your error should be less than 0.5% all year around.

    This person may want to watch the price of Natural Gas from the Henry Hub. Until last year, it was at $5-6/mCF, but last year it jumped to $10-13. Also, the number of heating units for the entire winter (about 7000 on a normal year) was at a normal level, unlike the previous year at 5800 units. A unit is a 24 hour period with the temperature 1 degree below 65.

    So, Mr. Detective, you have not completed your investigation.

    You probably need to do more research.

    Lee

  2. Lane Wilson Says:
    August 10th, 2008 at 1:53 pm

    The electric meter was 100% accurate. A very misleading title for the article. Very poor journalism.

  3. Gary Campbell Says:
    August 10th, 2008 at 2:50 pm

    I have the same issue as Earl Weckman. Same period of time, same fluuff from Xcel and the meter was not swapped out until 90 days after we reported the problem.

    WE have contacted PUC and will continue to pursue. Usage double the average rate of use with no one living in the house.

  4. tstark Says:
    August 14th, 2008 at 12:54 pm

    I knew of a guy who had high gas bills. So every year he did something to reduce his gas consumption. But every year his bill just went up. He contacted the gas company and every time they told him nothing was wrong and there wasn’t a problem.

    This guy spend winter months with the thermostat set to 55 degree, walking around the house with his coat on, washed his clothes in cold water, etc. This went on for 10 years.

    Finally one winter he turned his furnance off completely and heated his home with a wood stove. His gas bill was higher than ever.

    He again contacted the gas company and insisted they come out and take a look at the meter. Guess what? The meter numbers between his house and the neighbors house (with 4 kids) were switched. He was getting billed for his neighbors consumption and they were getting his bills.

    The gas company would only go back one year in restitution, even though he had complained for years.

  5. Ryan Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 3:03 pm

    A few years ago, Xcel came to my house and replaced the battery on the gas meter that is inside my house. My next bill showed the billing 100 units higher than what the meter showed, and this continued for another year. I complained every month, and they would reset the readings, but the next month, it was 100 units higher on my bill.

    They changed out the meter, and the meter reset to zero and corresponded with my bill. However, they charged me for what the previous meter reported electronically, not what it said on its face.

    I complained to the public utilities commission, and Xcel had to verify the reading from the face of the old meter. Sure enough, it was 100 units lower than the electronic system had reported; the technician had not calibrated it correctly when he replaced the battery initially. At last, I got a refund.

    -Ryan

  6. Sue Says:
    September 27th, 2008 at 2:46 am

    I am in the middle of a dispute with my electric company in Michigan, DTE. They have been over charging us for over 14 years and we now have a back balance of over $3000 though we’ve paid every bill we ever got!

    I began watching our meter and comparing it to two of our neihbors. We live in a mobile home so our meter is outside. I believe that our meter is broken due to a lightning strike about 14 yrs ago. DTE refuses to replace it unless I sign a statment that I will still pay the back balance even if the new meter shows that the old one is broken!
    I am working with the public service commission, but they are mostly in DTEs corner. We will probably end up going through the whole hearing process.

    I believe that the power company deliberately charges more by rigging the meters. The reason I do is that I stood right there and saw my meter speed up and go so fast it was amazing. It did that for several seconds and nothing was on! Then a day later I saw my neighbor’s do the same thing!

    Ever noticed that your meter is going fast at the time of day that most people use more electricity like morning or evening but you only have on one light in the entire house.

    There is SOMETHING wrong and I am not paying a bill like that until I get to the bottom of it.
    Sue

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