Can I take Con Edison to court?

[amdhunter]

In my apartment I have the following items connected to an electrical socket.

One Microsoft Surface, on from 5PM - 11PM daily with 29" Dell LCD.
One HP stream laptop, on less than 2 hours a month.
One refrigerator, older guy, on 24 hours a day.
One 46" LCD TV, on less than one hour a month, many times never on.
One cable modem, on 24 hours a day.
2 Powerline Ethernet adapters, on 24 hours a day.
1 Wireless router, on 24 hours a day.

I use gas about 1 time a day, for less than 30 minutes or so. Far less probably.

That's it. Nothing else connected, yet I paid $150 to ConED last month for an "Estimated" bill. Calling is getting nowhere, instead they try to sell me onto a 3rd party service (WTF?) for delivering electricity.

They are not taking my meter readings because the meter is in my apartment, and inputting on the website is making NO difference.

Is there a way I can take them to court? Seriously? There is absolutely no way I am using that much electricity.

 

[twinrider1]

Good luck.

Q: Why is my bill sometimes estimated even when the meter reader has read the meter?
A: There are times when we send an estimated bill even though we have read the meter. This happens when the reading we obtained is not in line with your normal consumption.
http://www.coned.com/customercentral/faqs.asp

I lol'd.

The new ConEd slogan....

 

[amdhunter]

Good luck.

Q: Why is my bill sometimes estimated even when the meter reader has read the meter?
A: There are times when we send an estimated bill even though we have read the meter. This happens when the reading we obtained is not in line with your normal consumption.
http://www.coned.com/customercentral/faqs.asp

I lol'd.

That's fucking retarded. How can they get away with this bullshit? I literally want to beat the fucking shit out of the people on the other side of the phone. Fucking pieces of shit.

 

[waffleironhead]

http://www.dps.ny.gov
File a complaint.

If they do every other month estimates, then just deal with it. You over pay one month, then gave a small bill the next month.

 

[twinrider1]

They're just the minions. Go beat up the suits and their lobbyists that make that sort of treatment legal.

 

[rcpratt]

I don't know about there, but around here you can only give so many consecutive estimated bills. There must be an actual meter read at a certain frequency. Are they really just giving you estimated bills every single month?

 

[Anubis]

do you have a DVR?

if so it uses more power than your Fridge

 

[amdhunter]

I don't know about there, but around here you can only give so many consecutive estimated bills. There must be an actual meter read at a certain frequency. Are they really just giving you estimated bills every single month?

Every single month. I've asked for a person to come read the meter and they BS me.

 

[Newell Steamer]

I have;
- PC tower (with a 1200W power supply) (on maybe 4 hours on a weekday, 7 weekend day)
- 3 consoles (rarely on)
- 40" LED (on maybe 4 hours on a weekday, 7 weekend day)
- Mac (on 24 hours)
- Wireless router/modem (on 24 hours)
- Fridge (on 24 hours)
- soft lights (on maybe 7 hours max per day)
- printer (rarely on)

,...and I pay $50 to $60 each month.

My meter is not in the apartment... so it seems they are giving me an accurate reading. Its in the basement of the complex I live in. I think the meter reading person has their own key to get access to the meters.

Now, if you want them to read your meter,.. well, have fun waiting an entire morning/afternoon each month to have someone do just that. I see home owners wait outside their homes to make sure the Con Ed meter reader actually comes into their homes, reads the meter and jots it down in their palm device.

Also, Con Ed is a beast to deal with - good luck.

 

[amdhunter]

http://www.dps.ny.gov
File a complaint.

If they do every other month estimates, then just deal with it. You over pay one month, then gave a small bill the next month.

Thank you, I will document my phone calls to them from now on and file a complaint in about 2 more months if they don't come to their senses. I have zero documentation now, so I want to go in prepared.

 

[amdhunter]

do you have a DVR?

if so it uses more power than your Fridge

Only a single cable modem.

 

[Newell Steamer]

Wait - is your apartment a basement apartment?? I have honestly not heard of an apartment where the electrical meter is inside the apartment,.. unless it's basement apartment, built near the meters??

 

[amdhunter]

Wait - is your apartment a basement apartment?? I have honestly not heard of an apartment where the electrical meter is inside the apartment,.. unless it's basement apartment, built near the meters??

Old Pre-War building in The Bronx. It's a very nice apartment - we have our meters in the kitchen. I am on the 3rd floor of a 5 story walk up.

ConEd was supposed to install Wireless meters but never came through - they cancelled installations in our building and instead have been charging for estimated readings instead.

I am afraid by the time summer comes along, I'll be paying upwards of $200 for service. It's been going up $15 every month.

 

[Brovane]

Can you just read the meter and track your electrical usage and see what the variance between what ConEd estimates your usage at and what the actual is?

 

[amdhunter]

Can you just read the meter and track your electrical usage and see what the variance between what ConEd estimates your usage at and what the actual is?

I input the meter reading every month on their website. They've converted my bills to paperless and I haven't received a bill since. I don't get them in email. I had to set up auto-payment because I got a letter saying I missed a bill.

Mind you, they put me on paperless without my consent.

 

[Brovane]

I input the meter reading every month on their website. They've converted my bills to paperless and I haven't received a bill since. I don't get them in email. I had to set up auto-payment because I got a letter saying I missed a bill.

Mind you, they put me on paperless without my consent.

When they give you a estimated Bill does it include estimated Kw/h usage? Or is it just we are going to charge you $150 with no further details?

 

[amdhunter]

When they give you a estimated Bill does it include estimated Kw/h usage? Or is it just we are going to charge you $150 with no further details?

Estimates are on the bill. But, I haven't received one in a few months because they changed me to paperless billing, and I haven't seen the bill. Only today I checked my bank acct and it's -$145 for electricity.

When I moved in it was $52 a year ago.

 

[Brovane]

Estimates are on the bill. But, I haven't received one in a few months because they changed me to paperless billing, and I haven't seen the bill. Only today I checked my bank acct and it's -$145 for electricity.

When I moved in it was $52 a year ago.

I haven't gotten a Bill from my Electrical Company for years, all paperless. However I can logon to a website and see my bill online and see my exact electrical usage. ConEd should have a online site were you can go and see your Bill. With Souther CA Edison I get a notification via e-mail when my bill is viewable online and I can see what it is several weeks before it is drawn out of my bank acct. You need to see your bill to see how much actual electricity they are estimating you are using. It should show you in Kw/H, you can then compare to your meter and see if there is a variance between your meter reading and the estimate. If you are tracking your meter readings from Month to Month you can also see how much you are using.

Do you have a logon setup for the website? If you are trying to balance your bank account you shouldn't have to wait until the money is withdrawn to know how much you have to pay.

https://apps1.coned.com/cemyaccount/NonMemberPages/Login.aspx?lang=eng

 

[amdhunter]

I haven't gotten a Bill from my Electrical Company for years, all paperless. However I can logon to a website and see my bill online and see my exact electrical usage. ConEd should have a online site were you can go and see your Bill. With Souther CA Edison I get a notification via e-mail when my bill is viewable online and I can see what it is several weeks before it is drawn out of my bank acct. You need to see your bill to see how much actual electricity they are estimating you are using. It should show you in Kw/H, you can then compare to your meter and see if there is a variance between your meter reading and the estimate. If you are tracking your meter readings from Month to Month you can also see how much you are using.

Do you have a logon setup for the website? If you are trying to balance your bank account you shouldn't have to wait until the money is withdrawn to know how much you have to pay.

https://apps1.coned.com/cemyaccount/NonMemberPages/Login.aspx?lang=eng

I will login later today to see what the hell.

 

[BoomerD]

CAN you take Con-Ed to court?

Yes, of course you can. This am the United States of America where you can sue anyone for any reason...

Will you win? Unlikely...and depending on NY laws, you COULD get stuck paying their legal bill for it.

 

[Kelvrick]

Yeah, comparing $$ bills is uselss. What is your actual kilowatt hour usage and what are they "estimating" you to use?

I paid $65 last month for 510 kWh.

 

[nageov3t]

read your contract fine print, I'm sure they made you agree to forced arbitration.

 

[Red Squirrel]

The issue with electricity is they tack on so many BS charges on the bill that even if you were to not use power for a whole month you'd still be paying close to 100 bucks.

Like "debt retirement fee", what the hell is that about? Their debt should be paid off by now if they can afford to pay their CEOs like 3 million per year and why are we having to pay it in first place?

 

[dud]

OP, what is your actual usage and what should your bill have been IF a reader had been able to access your meter?

 

[cbrsurfr]

Maybe your neighbor is stealing your power.