Electronic meters’ false readings up to six times higher than actual consumption
I was paying upwards of $150 a month for heating in a tiny &lt;400sqft studio in Boston at one point. $200 on one month. There was definitely something wrong with the meter readings, and pretty sure I was getting charged for someone else&#x27;s electricity considering how little I was at home with the heater on. The utility company refused to investigate and would only threaten to send in debt collectors if I didn&#x27;t pay up. My property manager only pointed me to the utility company. I tried complaining to DPU, but they didn&#x27;t respond to e-mails, and I didn&#x27;t have time for phone calls or mediating this mess, in general.<p>As much as I wanted to fight, as sad as it sounds my time was worth more than the money I&#x27;d get back by spending time on the phone arguing and escalating the issue at critical hours of the day. :-&#x2F;<p>Moved to California, paying a much more reasonable utility bill, and glad I didn&#x27;t have to deal with that again.<p>If there were a &quot;deal-with-humans-as-a-service&quot; business that took a 20% cut of any money I could get back in situations like this, I&#x27;d totally pay for it. I once had to argue for 2 hours on the phone with T-mobile about $250 in excess charges on my phone bill, and while got it all back after escalating it to a manager, I&#x27;d totally pay $50 for someone to deal with the 2 hours of phone calls for me.