Condo Owner Paying Neighbors’ Electric Bill For Over 15 Years/ Refused Refund

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha
You would think that the electrical company would be smarter than this. With social media being what it is, they can get a crap load of bad publicity for what 4-5 grand. Penny wise dollar foolish

a reply to: seasonal

It's not like they loose the customers from bad press. One doesn't really have a choice of who to by power from. Besides everyone generally complains about rates and service from power utilities already and it hasn't affected their monopolies.

a reply to: jappee

good points.

originally posted by: ignorant_ape
a reply to: seasonal

the very first energy use audit - SHOULD have instantly spotted the problem

Absolutely. A competent electrician would have been able to see the difference in household energy use versus the meter numbers - energy efficiency and appliances.

His neighbour must have known and the power company ought to pay back every dime that wasn't theirs. They also should pay him for financial loss. Has his family missed out on anything due to the power company's long-term errors and incompetence?

Sue the electric company for sure. Then if he wins, use the money to set up his own generating system, perhaps solar or wind generation. Then, if he is required to sell the excess power to the company, get creative and use it up somehow. Screw the power company and their forced monopoly.

a reply to: seasonal

The utility company likely had nothing to do with who originally wired the building. The electrical contractor installed all the wiring, set the meter bases, etc., when the structure was built. They must have labeled them wrong when they installed them. The utility only provides the meter once everything else is in place and the COO has been issued by the relevant permitting/inspections agency. A good electrician could have traced the wiring years ago and found the issue. Too bad he's out of pocket but the utility really isn't at fault.

a reply to: hunamongyou

That's true too, I just had a meter upgrade done on a income property. There is an inspection done, but I'm not sure if they look at where the electric is going. In other words does the inspection look to make sure the wire 1 is going to condo 1?

He should get the overcharge AND reimbursement for upgrades.

a reply to: hunamongyou

I would say when he complained and they told him it was his own inefficiency it became their fault.

hmm - digging back to as best a primary source as i can find :

source

the situation becomes - to put it bluntly - farcical

the " victim " - i use the < term because i now opine that IPL [ the util;ity server ] `s culpability in this mess has drastucally decreased

all accounts put mr renforth as having lived at the same address for 15 years - nd been plauged with hi nills for his entire tenure

now read :

Ron Renforth said he’s lived in the same home for over 15 years. He put 18 inches of insulation in his attic and installed a new furnace and air conditioner and still saw no change in his electric bill.

So he finally contacted IPL to investigate. A representative came out to his home on October 13 to check if his meter was working or if his electricity was being siphoned, but what he found left Renforth speechless.

get that ?

IPL - only sent a real person to check matters 6 weeks ago

mr renforth has been dicking about for 15 years - and i now suspect that the " advice " from IPL that " hom,e inefficiency " was to blame - was the level one fobbing off letter that all utilities use when people complain that thier bill is too high

sources i can google dont specify WHEN he changed his firnace and affed upgraded roof insulation - but the fact that they made no diffeence should have been a big clue

though a " furnace " - denotes to me natural gas // propane // heating oil fired - and they use absolutly tiny electrical power - all the electric does is power the control system [ computerised and solenoids ] and the pump - thats tiny - your electric use for sush a system is in my experience 1% of the fosil fuel nill

so my position has shifted - mr renforth is a fooking dummbass - and other parties SHOULD have allreted the proble - IPL had nothing to do with it for 14 years - and corrected the problem within an hour of them sending a real person