66 replies to this topic

[jwf21403]

I have often heard that BGE does not turn off electricity in the winter. I think it was November -April.

With the exorbitant bills they have been pumping out this winter, I wonder what they will do. I bet they have a lot of turn off candidates.

The PSC accepted their "it's colder" excuse; but now they are encouraging BGE to work with people that are behind and offer a payment plan.

Any bets on how willing BGE will be to work with someone? Greedy bastards!

[discojamal]

the 'it's colder' excuse is pure BS

[Saticon3]

anybody run stats on temperatures this winter? Seems to me, outside of a few short cold snaps, it hasn't been all that cold.

[bmore_ken]

anybody run stats on temperatures this winter? Seems to me, outside of a few short cold snaps, it hasn't been all that cold.

I was thinking the same thing

[Costanza]

http://www.baltimore...0,5694557.story

[krj9999]

anybody run stats on temperatures this winter? Seems to me, outside of a few short cold snaps, it hasn't been all that cold.

For Baltimore (using data from BWI), total heating degree days were:

772 in February 2009 (compared to 764 in 2008 with one extra day)
1099 in January 2009 (compared to 911 in 2008)
817 in December 2008 (compared to 841 in 2007)
587 in November 2008 (compared to 562 in 2007)

So this winter has been significantly colder than last year.

[Sedu]

I can understand why people are upset about their high energy bills, but it is no conspiracy. My electric bill has doubled since the rate increase but it is easy to track my usage by reading my meter so I know the bill is correct. I am using the same average daily electric as last year, about 525kw in a 30 day month. So there is no mystery here---the rates have skyrocketed not my usage.

[ybnormal]

From the Washington Post:

"Of particular concern are tens of thousands of Pepco, Washington Gas and BGE customers who could lose service April 1, when a winter restriction on shut-offs ends.

Maryland utility officials told the Public Service Commission that they are stepping up efforts to reach vulnerable customers and to offer them payment plans that can spread out their debt. "Our goal is to assist customers in any way possible," said Jeannette Mills, BGE's senior vice president of customer relations and account services. But 70 percent of customers on payment plans default, officials said."

http://www.washingto...2603735_pf.html

[Wizard777]

anybody run stats on temperatures this winter? Seems to me, outside of a few short cold snaps, it hasn't been all that cold.

Ah Hell! I can remember when Winter started in November and could last until March. Winter used to be a season that lasted months. Not weeks as it currently does.

[aliensquirl]

Those people with overdue utility bills don't have anything to worry about. All they have to do is let Obama know and he'll pay it for them. This will be another excuse for him to spend (read 'waste') the government money.

[baltimoreron]

The PSC accepted their "it's colder" excuse; but now they are encouraging BGE to work with people that are behind and offer a payment plan.

The raises for O'Malley's PSC seem to be well-deserved. No way Ehrlich's PSC comes up with a brilliant plan like that.

BGomallEy

[jwf21403]

Agreed that the energy usage is consistent (if not down a bit due to conservation from the 74% rate hike), but it is still a tough nut to swallow!

[aliensquirl]

I have often heard that BGE does not turn off electricity in the winter. I think it was November -April.

With the exorbitant bills they have been pumping out this winter, I wonder what they will do. I bet they have a lot of turn off candidates.

The PSC accepted their "it's colder" excuse; but now they are encouraging BGE to work with people that are behind and offer a payment plan.

Any bets on how willing BGE will be to work with someone? Greedy bastards!

All of your questions and wonderings are included in the article at http://www.baltimore...0,5694557.story .

[baftab]

My experience with my January usage bill is a bit different from most. I mostly agree with everyone, and think there are 2 issues here. The first is about shear cost of energy being very high and too much for a "normal" user to easily afford. The 2nd issue is BGE billing practices. Personally, I think BGE should be forced to buy electricity in the short term to lower costs for users. I don't see why we have to pay for their poor timing of the energy markets. Here's my experience with a crazy January bill.
I successfully challenged the electricity usage quoted in my bill for January. I contacted BGE and after almost 4 weeks, finally got to talk to someone who had a brain, knew what numbers were, and could do something to correct an obvious error on BGE's part. My bill covered a 34 day billing period. BGE, for some unknown reason, took 2 meter readings covering the last 28 days of the period. They then "estimated" the usage for the 6 days on the front end of the period. This is what I found...
The meter readings indicated that my usage was 39 kWh/day for the last 28 days in the cycle, during the coldest temperatures of the month (Avg. ~30 degrees). Then they estimated that for the 6 days on the front end of the billing period I used 106 kWh/day when the avg. temperature was 44 degrees. Estimating in this fashion is not correctable by nature. They tried to slip one by me and got caught. They also proceeded to make it ever so frustrating to correct the obvious error and sent me numerous responses by mail and by phone indicating that my problem was with mother nature's cold temperature. In the end a person from thier investigation department, who concluded in a letter that she "found no irregularities" finally admitted to the obvious error when I called her asking her to qualify her findings with the meter reading and temperature data. In the end, they lopped off the 40% increase in my usage/bill and apologized. I say they should rot in hell. I suggest that if you can do some simple math, call BGE, ask for a supervisor, get the meter read/estimation data for the ENTIRE billing period and see if you can uncover a similar abuse of estimated charges. Estimating on the front end of a bill IS NOT corrected by later meter reads!!!!

[ybnormal]

What would happen if everyone in the state banned together and boycotted BGE by not paying their bills? Would BGE shutoff everyone's electricity? Hmmmmm.

[jwf21403]

What would happen if everyone in the state banned together and boycotted BGE by not paying their bills? Would BGE shutoff everyone's electricity? Hmmmmm.

Interesting....

You can also turn your meter upside down and it will run backwards (think turning back an odometer). But then the seal is broken and you committed a felony I believe.

I have heard that for some reason if you put a sand bag on top of the meter, liike a sock filled with playground sand, that the meter will run slower. Maybe something to do with the iron in the sand.

[ybnormal]

Wouldn't a strong magnet stop the thing entirely? The rotating disk seems to be made of metal.

[aliensquirl]

Clip the wires. You'll be in the dark, but at least you won't have to worry about that damned disk going round and round and round and ...

[pepper]

Wouldn't a strong magnet stop the thing entirely? The rotating disk seems to be made of metal.

The powers that be might notice that all of the sudden, you're not consuming electricity.

They're really concerned that any continuation of the directive to not turn of the power, simply works as an incentive for folks to not even try to pay. And that makes sense, but I was a little surprised to see the Sun include that in the story.

[George-WNEC]

Interesting. I just got a notice that they plan to lower my rates by 25% if I do nothing, but I can lock in my rate for one year at .99...

Anyone else get this and, should we gamble or not? (yes I have already made my decision,,)