Quote:
"The bad thing about the PoCo testing the meter is, as RODALCO says, if they find it to be calibrated OK, they will charge you for the testing. "
This may or may not be true depending where you are. At our Coop in Texas, the member (customer) is entitled to one free meter test every 5 years. It doesn't hurt to check first.
On the other hand, it usually isn't the meter. So even if the test is free, if the POCO comes out and tests it (and they find it slow) they will speed it up.
I'm not saying it's never the meter, it's just rarely the meter.
Better to check for a device that you expect to work automatically that has gone bad. A thermostat (hot water heater, air conditioner) that won't shut off.
Some examples I have seen over the last 30 years (God, I'm getting old).
Water heaters. Saw one with a broken pipe shooting hot water into the creek behind the house. You'd have thought the continuously rising cloud of steam behind the house would have been a clue....but it wasn't. Saw another one where the H2O heater was sitting on the ground outside the trailer ("white trash" is alive and well in Texas). The thermostat had fallen about 4 inches away from the tank, so it didn't work at all. The tank would heat until the pop-off valve blew all the steam out, cold water would come in, and it would re-heat until it did it again.
Water logged water wells.
Air conditioners that work simultaneously with the heat strips.
Heat strips that run because ALL THE WINDOWS IN THE BEDROOM ARE BROKEN.
Having six refridgerators/freezers running in a locked closed garage in 100+ degree weather.
Air conditioners that run continuously because they are low on freon. (Ditto for the fridge).
Short version, in the vast majority of cases I have seen, there is a legitimate reason for the high bill.
On the other hand, all the suggestions above are also very, VERY, valid. Mistakes can be made.
[This message has been edited by WFO (edited 12-31-2005).]
