Home Improvement → Texas woman hit with $1.3 million-plus hydro bill

Thought this was a funny read, lol:

We all dread opening an electric bill, especially when air-conditioning drives up costs and maxes out a family budget.

But Kristin Harriger's recent electric bill was beyond shocking. Rather than a bill for $100 or so that the single mom from Abilene, Texas, was expecting, she was billed for $1,381,783.92, according to the Business Insider.

"I opened it. I read it. Then just went, 'Oh, my gosh. That's a lot of money," Harriger told the Abilene Reporter News.

She thought it was a joke at first, and even shared photos of the bill with her friends.

After contacting her utility company, Potentia Energy, she discovered it wasn't a joke, but a computing error. Rather than charging her the normal 9 cents per-kilowatt-hour rate, the utility charged her $1,000 per kilowatt hour.

The $1,000 per-kilowatt-hour rate is far above the best offer available to her. The Public Utility Commission of Texas website PowerToChoose.org shows that Abilene residents can get 8.2 to 12.1 cents per kilowatt hour, notes the Abilene newspaper.

"I'm glad I didn't have autopayments," Harriger told the Business Insider.

The utility company acknowledged the mistake and has told Harriger that a corrected bill would be sent to her.

In the meantime, she has set aside $150 to pay the bill when it comes.

"I work on a budget," she told the Business Insider. "I'm a single mom with an autistic child who tries to make ends meet. … I get my bills and I pay them."

Just not ones for over $1.3 million.

That story could have been worded abit better

quote:

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far above the best offer available

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It'd have been better if it was

far above the worst offer available

btw as the story is related to US it'd be more proper to use the correct term for it rather than the slang term.

quote:

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I'm glad I didn't have autopayments

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As if they could actually withdraw $1.4 million from her bank account.

On a related note, they sent out an energy conservation notice at work. We're having temperatures around 100 degrees -

quote:

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High temperatures are forecast for both Wednesday and Thursday.

Our electricity supplier is projecting the electrical grid will see demand high enough to place these days in the 2012 "top 5". Industrial users of electricity are charged a premium for the electricity being consumed when the grid records its highest consumption. These charges are tacked on to each monthly bill for the succeeding 12 months, and can be as much as $20K each month.

If we can lower our usage, particularly between the historical peak hours of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., we may save >$5K/month for the next 12-months. Please turn off all idle test, office and computer equipment as well as all convenience lighting (task lights, desk lamps, etc.)

The grid usage is measured every 15 minutes. If we can reduce electricity consumption at the point when the grid is recording its highest levels, our yearly savings will be significant.

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Of course, the IT department forbids us from turning off our computers. They are required to be on 24/7.

The well-managed utilities that have been proactive and effective in keeping up with their present and projected demand will have no problems. The others well, be prepared for the worst...... Third world performance.

Considering her very mild reaction considering the situation...Maybe she did have a couple of million of dollars in her account ready to clear the automatic payment

If I had a 1000$ electric bill, I'd react the same way, because 1,000$ is a lot of money for electricity.

$1,381,783.92 is more along the lines of "....the f***", unless you're a rich spoiled wife of a texan oil tycoon

I wonder if she had an indoor botanical garden.. For medicinal plants

We do this also - it's actually for patching purposes. What we have told everyone (multiple times) is that we ALSO shutdown and wake (WOL) the PC's as needed. Shutting down just means we have to turn it back on shortly after.

I'm confused. Was it a hydro bill or an electric bill?

Electric.. We call it "Hydro" because so much of ours is generated by hydroelectric plants.

I think I'd have a heart attack if I opened a bill like that.

A bill like that would be so obviously a mistake that my first reaction would be one of amusement.

I'd have laughed. I'd know there'd been some mistake so I'd likely want to just frame it.

20k big deal.

where I worked at before they got monthly bills of over 200K (on a slow month) a 20k bump would be nothing but a blip to them.

Thus my early post

Most here think water bill when you say hydro, because hydro means water.

You get power from hydroelectric plants but your paying for power not for water.

It's not called hydro because they get electricity from water, it's because the *utility* has Hydro in the name. It would be like us talking about an Edison bill.

im from abilene, love that place but apparently the cost of living is going (way) up

I bet she gets a late fee on her next bill.

Yes, just like we call ours the "Gas bill" or the "coal bill".....

"UPDATE: Sehr Charania, Potentia Energy's senior manager for external affairs, said Wednesday that the super-size bill had been caught by internal auditors, and was flagged to be held. The bill was mistakenly sent by a third-party billing vendor. A new bill reflecting the proper charges should have been sent out already, Charania said, which Harriger should receive this week."

»www.reporternews.com/new ··· oo_feeds

Maybe they should look into auditing the auditors.

And do we call it an edison (or more properly Tesela) bill? no because that'd be silly.

And I am sure the POCO would have a below the line charge for the extra toner required to print all those extra digits

Why do you think a lot of power companies have hydro in their name?

Your logic is that we say "gas bill" because our gas company has gas in the name.

Or that we say "bank account" because the corporation we use for our account has "bank" in its name

u guys don't call it hydro in the states? didn't know that? don't u also get electricity from um Niagra Falls as well?

Yes, Texas gets most of their electricity from Niagara Falls.

nice.

Texas is on a separate grid from the rest of the USA. We generate and consume our own electricity. We also use more than any other state, and produce it by and large with home-grown resources. Our rates are low too, I pay about 9-10 cents/kwh, and we pay less than that at work.

My city has two electric power plants I think, a small one and a larger one.

No.No.

40% Nuclear
35% Coal
17% Gas
3% Oil
3% Solid Waste
1% Wind

So Nuclear, Coal, and Gas amounts to 91%. And down in the noise, we have:

0.13% Wood/Biomass
0.07% Large Hydro (that's 0.07%, NOT 7%)
0.05% Small Hydro
0.05% Solar

Source - »www.firstenergycorp.com/ ··· 1111.pdf