These meters are a part of the Green scam

Remember when Obama said electricity costs would skyrocket?

Residents steamed over high electric bills

By Hailey PersingerKilleen Daily Herald

Leticia Ochoa has lived in her 1,600-square-foot Killeen home for almost 10 years.While she said her electric bills have always run her a monthly average of $200, she opened her mailbox this month to find one charging her $865 – more than three times the amount she'd spent each month to heat her home.Experiences like Ochoa's have every party in the electric bill equation – retail electric providers, the city, the consumer and electric deliverer Oncor – looking for an explanation."It's a new meter," said Cheryl White of Copperas Cove. White said her bill jumped from $346 to $733 this month. "There is no way we're using that much electricity. It's no different than how we've lived in this house. Our usage is the same."The new meter – Oncor's Smart Meter – has taken much of the blame from upset consumers.The Public Utility Commission of Texas approved the Smart Meters for installation over Oncor's service area from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex south to Round Rock.According to material printed by Oncor, the meters, which were installed in homes across Central Texas within the past few months, "record electricity use in 15-minute intervals instead of once a month."During a Killeen City Council meeting last week, Oncor representative John Toone told the council that since they take readings more often than their predecessors, the Smart Meters are yielding a more accurate reading of electric use.But retired Col. James Northan of Killeen said electric use in his home is not nearly what he's being charged for."We cut the furnace off, we cut everything off except for our security light and of course the refrigerator," he said. "We were gone during that time frame. And we still encountered a bill almost twice the normal average."Blaming new Smart MetersWhile consumers blame the meters, Oncor officials said the main culprit is most likely the on-again off-again cold snaps that hit Central Texas throughout December and January."Your usage doubled and tripled, no question about it, because the weather in October and November was mild," Toone said. "We heated a lot in December – day and night sometimes."The key to understanding the spike in electric costs is to compare electric use from winter of 2008-09 with this year's use, Toone said. If those are in stark contrast to each other, he said he wouldn't rule out a human error."I would definitely think that's a high possibility of misread or something," he said. "I would call my retail provider and tell them the reading just don't look right from a year ago."While the temperatures this winter have been cooler than last year's – 2.8 degrees colder on average, according to the National Weather Service – Terry Hadley, Public Utilities Commission spokesman, said the high costs are rightfully unexpected."The preliminary data I've seen systemwide shows about a 6 percent increase in electricity use for December 2009 compared to December 2008," he said. "It would not explain a doubling or tripling of a bill."Hadley said his own reading was off when Smart Meters were installed in his Austin home, and after a re-read, his bill was slashed.For some consumers however, they may end up paying more on their next bill if a re-read is requested and the meter turns out to be monitoring use accurately. Toone said he did not know what the fee for such a visit from Oncor would run a consumer.In instances like these, the PUC has a system by which consumers may file complaints. Of the hundreds of thousands of Smart Meters installed, Hadley said there have been more than 400 formal filings from consumers upset with their energy bills."That's a very small percentage," he said, "but certainly it is significant to those 400."To file a complaint, Hadley recommends that the consumer first contact their electric service provider – Reliant, Stream or TXU, for example – regarding his or her bill.No answer or an unsatisfactory answer should steer consumers to the PUC, where they can file a complaint by phone or letter, which will allow the PUC to look into where the error, if there is one, may have occurred.At last week's council meeting, city officials were told they had no power to help with such bills. They have since scheduled a public hearing for Feb. 16 for residents to question representatives from their respective retail electric providers as well as Oncor representatives.State Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock said he, too, had little power to drive bills down.Toone said he and his colleagues are just as confused as the public and have set up information sessions for the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Gilmore Senior Center in Killeen. Two other sessions will be held from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Friday in the Killeen Community Center Gym.But for Ochoa, those responses to her bill are unacceptable until the price is back to normal."That's not fair. Look at what they can do," she said. "As long as they're getting money, they should have answers."Contact Hailey Persinger at haileyp@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7568.

Follow her on Twitter at KDHcity.Need to dispute a high electric bill?The Public Utilities Commission recommends that customers who believe there are discrepencies in their electric bills first contact their electric retail provider.If the retailer provides an unsatisfactory answer, consumers are encouraged to contact the PUC, which will work with all entities involved to determine where those discrepencies may have occurred.The PUC can be contacted by phone at 1-888-782-8477, by fax at (512) 936-7003 or by mail at PUC – Customer Protection P.O. Box 13326, Austin, TX 78711-3326.Oncor reps in town to answer billing questionsOncor representatives will answer questions from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Friday in the Killeen Community Center at 2201 E. Veterans Memorial Blvd.The company will also be at the Bob Gilmore Senior Center in Killeen from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday to offer information about how its Smart Meters work and ways to conserve electricity.