High electricity bills shocking to some
4 p.m. Thursday, August 7, 2008
When Vickie Berry got this month's electric bill in the mail she was shocked.
“I have to decide now whether or not to pay for my prescriptions or pay my utility bill,” she said.
The cost: $221.25.
That's two and a half times more than her bill two months ago that was $86.17 One of the reasons: using the air conditioner to keep cool during the summer.
It uses about half of the overall electricity in the home.
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Berry called the Westar customer service number to find out what the problem was.
But instead of being walked through her past bills to find out the problem she was told to turn the thermostat up to 80.
But because of a medical condition and her elderly mom in the house, she can't.
“I set the thermostat to a certain temperature which I thought 68 to 70 was good,” she said.
But Westar spokesman Nick Bundy says that's too low. He says the recommended setting is 78.
“Maybe she's not comfortable with it being that low, but I recommend she try to use a ceiling fan or portable fan as much as she can,” he said.
Bundy says electricity bills will also be higher during the summer because the cost of fuel is higher.
And that cost is passed off to you, the customer.
Electric rate breakdown
We also asked why Berry wasn't walked through her bills when she called customer service.
“That's why our customer service is there to walk her through,” he said. “We can apologize to her and we can sit down and do that.”
We heard from Vickie again late Thursday afternoon.
She says Westar did call and offered to switch her to an average payment plan, which would make her payments more consistent from month to month.
But it would take effect next month. She still has to pay that $221.
How To Read Your Meter
Some meters are digital but most meters have four or five dials. To record your meter reading all you have to do is write down the number that the hand is on, on each little dial.
Now let’s say one of those hands is between a number, in that case always take the smaller number. But let's say that hand rests between a zero and a nine. Always take the number nine.
So let’s see what this meter reads. It’s 79155.
So now that we've got that meter reading you can actually calculate how much energy you've used over a particular time period.
Let’s say a day, week or most likely a month.
Make sure you come back out in a month and record your meter reading once again. Once you have that number subtract those two numbers and then you will have the amount of kilowatt hours you've used or a month or how much energy you've used in that time period.
Find out how much money you can save by becoming more energy efficient by using Westar's Home Energy calculator.
Comments
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Aug. 7, 2008 at 8:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)serah (anonymous)
I opened my bill today and it was 286.00. Our air conditioner is preset on 80 ALL the time and we have fans running. Our bills were around 55.00 for May and June with the air conditioner running. Now I open this latest months bill and it's TRIPLE the usage! The electric company didn't read it right this time or more than likely they messed up the last two months. I am tired of Westar doing this. The lack of training of their employees needs to be addressed! These type of things put a damper in a families budget.
Aug. 7, 2008 at 9:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)dragonfly_218 (anonymous)
My bill in May was 126.37 because I had a past due amount on it. My bill in June was 116.00 because it was starting to heat up, but my air is set at 78 all year long. In July my bill was 212.32 and this month it is 297.00......I'm sorry, but I dont see how my bill can jump that much if it is set at the same temperature all year round, and if it is cool in the evenings/early morning I turn off the A/C.....
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