Cool news story sister

1.21 GIGAWATTS!!

Global warming hurts everyone, eventually.

This is the reason I don't enroll in auto pay!

I'm just glad to see that the Power Company didn't douche and act like even tho it's a type, she has to pay it. I'm glad the immediately corrected it and sent out a new bill.

Snarcoleptic_Hoosier: Why doesn't the company make mistakes in favor of the consumer? One think that if such occurrences were truly randomly distributed, numerous stories of customers getting billed for fractions of a penny (Yes, I know the epic check story) would abound.

Unless it's NOT all accidental.

If you get that kind of an error in your favor, you probably don't want the company to notice, and showing off your bill to the press would be a bad way to make that happen.

b...b...b...but when I call the electric company, they say the computer is ALWAYS right

Sheesh, that's almost TWICE what I pay during the month of August. It is, as you say, a lot of money.

You'd think their billing system would have some code in it that would notice if a bill was over a certain, ridiculous amount and flag it for review.

It's very obviously an account number or a meter number.

Snarcoleptic_Hoosier: Why doesn't the company make mistakes in favor of the consumer? One think that if such occurrences were truly randomly distributed, numerous stories of customers getting billed for fractions of a penny (Yes, I know the epic check story) would abound.

Unless it's NOT all accidental.

Something like that actually happened up here with the local Air Force base. Some of the meters for the base laundromat were reading incorrectly and thus underbilling the USAF for years.

Once the problem was discovered, the local utility couldn't exactly go back and charge the military for the millions of dollars in gas they figure hadn't been billed for, so they of course did the most sensible thing they could. They added a surcharge onto everyone elses bill to make up for it.

B@stards.

Ken Lay is laughing in his lair. "Amateurs," he scoffs.

ks1415: Snarcoleptic_Hoosier: Why doesn't the company make mistakes in favor of the consumer? One think that if such occurrences were truly randomly distributed, numerous stories of customers getting billed for fractions of a penny (Yes, I know the epic check story) would abound.

Unless it's NOT all accidental.

If you get that kind of an error in your favor, you probably don't want the company to notice, and showing off your bill to the press would be a bad way to make that happen.

I went five months getting a "zero usage" water bill. I figured that was long enough pushing my luck and called them on it. Then I got a very large catch up bill. I was willing to pay for what I used, but they slapped me with a crapload of overusage fees and rates. That crap didn't fly. I eventually got them to bill me for the 5 months of usage at normal rates.

But I still stand by my regular statement of "FARK FGUA UP THE POOPER".

Snarcoleptic_Hoosier: Why doesn't the company make mistakes in favor of the consumer? One think that if such occurrences were truly randomly distributed, numerous stories of customers getting billed for fractions of a penny (Yes, I know the epic check story) would abound.

Unless it's NOT all accidental.

This just in....

Sometimes, when people get a wad of cash, they just get all shushy and quiet, in hopes they wont make any waves and pershaps the money is not noticed.

They tend to biatch rather loudly when given a bill for the same amount.

Corporate scheme is not necessary.

DarthBart:
I went five months getting a "zero usage" water bill. I figured that was long enough pushing my luck and called them on it. Then I got a very large catch up bill. I was willing to pay for what I used, but they slapped me with a crapload of overusage fees and rates. That crap didn't fly. I eventually got them to bill me for the 5 months of usage at normal rates.

But I still stand by my regular statement of "FARK FGUA UP THE POOPER".

My water meter was broken and I got a 0 usage charge for 4 months. They got wise, came out, and fixed the water meter. They also didn't try to back charge me at all either. Their meter, their problem.

ScotterOtter: b...b...b...but when I call the electric company, they say the computer is ALWAYS right

The computer was right. Human that entered the data was the flaw.

I enjoyed getting back at a utility for my now wife. She got estimated gas bills for two years for WAY over the actual charge and she just payed it(dummy she was). The estimated reading was what added up to $6000 overcharged and I made them audit it. It took them 6 months to pay her the difference and 20 calls.

FARK you dominion gas.
/cool story bro
//riveting fable comrad

So from what I'm getting out of reading fark and thousands of new articles for the last two decades online is that if you aren't married and make a babby and keep it, it's going to be autistic, and you must announce your marital status to the media or authorities at any opportunity.

"I'm glad I didn't have autopayments," Harriger told the Business Insider.

Imagine the overdraft fee from that from Bank of America or Citibank etc. She would be royally screwed.

o my dog

vudukungfu: So from what I'm getting out of reading fark and thousands of new articles for the last two decades online is that if you aren't married and make a babby and keep it, it's going to be autistic, and you must announce your marital status to the media or authorities at any opportunity.

"take pity on me, I have it hard enough here"

Mr Talbot: 1.21 GIGAWATTS!!

What the Hell's a gigwat!?

Yeah, I have a heated pool too. Sucks, doesn't it?

What an attention ho for bringing up her single parent status, and presence of child with autism.


/is kidding, but is also sure there are people actually thinking that.

Damn. And I get upset when my bill breaks $300...

SirEattonHogg: Let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of power consumed by this woman as per her electric bill. It would be a Twinkie... thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.

you could have SAID the same thing with a dick and it would be like 100x funnier

She probably has an electrical leak somewhere. She should get that fixed, after she pays her 1.3 million-dollar electric bill.

telaran: You'd think their billing system would have some code in it that would notice if a bill was over a certain, ridiculous amount and flag it for review.

You sound young - If it doesn't actually make the company money, don't spend any time on it.

And I mean ANY time on it.

Really tired of this system of screwing every. single. person. for everything they can get.

algrant33: vudukungfu: So from what I'm getting out of reading fark and thousands of new articles for the last two decades online is that if you aren't married and make a babby and keep it, it's going to be autistic, and you must announce your marital status to the media or authorities at any opportunity.

"take pity on me, I have it hard enough here"

Not all women use the phrase "single mom." The ones that do are to be avoided. Don't go near them. I'm not saying to avoid single, working parents. Just all the ones who use the phrase "single mom" within the first... month... of conversation. I could go on...

"Total Current Charges". Funny.

telaran: You'd think their billing system would have some code in it that would notice if a bill was over a certain, ridiculous amount and flag it for review.

The answer to crappy code is not: add more crappy code.

For a moment the utility mistakenly thought it was in the printer ink business...

/ when PG&E changed my house over to "Smart" Meter, first they double-charged me on electricity, then later in the year for natural gas.
// not too "Smart" of them if you ask me.

kpaxoid: telaran: You'd think their billing system would have some code in it that would notice if a bill was over a certain, ridiculous amount and flag it for review.

The answer to crappy code is not: add more crappy code.

Eh, it is and it isn't. It depends on lots of factors. Sometimes the answer is in fact to add more crappy code. Sometimes the answer is just do nothing. I leave it to management.

SirEattonHogg: Let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of power consumed by this woman as per her electric bill. It would be a Twinkie... thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.

Actually, if you do the math and apply the proportions (she got billed 10,000 cents a kwh instead of 9 cents, which is 11111.11 times the normal rate) to a normal Twinkie, her Twinkie would instead weigh 891 pounds and be about 2 feet two inches long. If you apply the over-billing multiplication factor to the length of the Twinkie instead, it would be a Twinkie over 3,700 feet long, and weighing 59,264,010 short tons.

/Knowledge is power.

kpaxoid: telaran: You'd think their billing system would have some code in it that would notice if a bill was over a certain, ridiculous amount and flag it for review.

The answer to crappy code is not: add more crappy code.

Adding checks and balances is not "adding more crappy code". In a large complex system bug will always creep in. Always. No software product will ever be perfect unless we somehow change the way we create software. Creating defenses against errors is not a bad thing.

I'm shocked! shocked! to find that lectricity's xpensive.

KarmicDisaster: Yeabut, they should quick give her a freebie for that small an amount (aprox 100 dollars) before someone sues them for the "mental anguish" of receiving a bill for 1.3 mil.

Why? 99% of people are fine with just having the bill corrected.

Snarcoleptic_Hoosier: Why doesn't the company make mistakes in favor of the consumer? One think that if such occurrences were truly randomly distributed, numerous stories of customers getting billed for fractions of a penny (Yes, I know the epic check story) would abound.

Unless it's NOT all accidental.

Billing 1000 times the actual amount is an error, because it's nearly always going to generate a response from the user.

Billing 1% more might not be caught. As for not hearing about the incidents of underbilling, that's because people keep quiet about them. I hear about the government overpaying vouchers all the time - but the advice is pretty universally 'stick the extra in a savings account because they're going to take it back eventually'.

Cyclometh: Er, TFA says it was a computer error, she got charged for $1000 per kilowatt hour. When the power company found out, they corrected it.

I mean, I know it's not news, but come on. This isn't even Fark. It's a goddamn typo.

How the heck can the computer "accidentally" change her billing one month from 9 cents to $1,600.00???

Snarcoleptic_Hoosier: Why doesn't the company make mistakes in favor of the consumer? One think that if such occurrences were truly randomly distributed, numerous stories of customers getting billed for fractions of a penny (Yes, I know the epic check story) would abound.

Unless it's NOT all accidental.

It happens all the time. It is way, way more common for a customer to slip through the cracks and not get billed in my experience. However, my experience is working for a woefully incompetent ISP that prefers to lose track of money and then raise prices rather than to become efficient and remain competitive.

/Anybody hiring?

Snarcoleptic_Hoosier: Why doesn't the company make mistakes in favor of the consumer? One think that if such occurrences were truly randomly distributed, numerous stories of customers getting billed for fractions of a penny (Yes, I know the epic check story) would abound.

Unless it's NOT all accidental.


Actually this does happen. It's not at all uncommon for places with numerous meters such as apartments to have a mis-wired meter where one person is receiving the bill for another apartment's use.

Eventually something occurs where the power co. is told something is amiss - for example, Apt A is on Apt. B's meter, and maybe Apt. A goes out of town for a month but gets billed as though they were there using power the whole time. Then the power co figures it out, does an audit and tries to determine how long the meters were mis-wired for and then bills Apt B for the real usage.

Sometimes this adds up to thousands of extra dollars tacked on to the next bill. Usually they'll try to come up with a payment plan, but what they definitely don't do is eat the cost.

what the cat dragged in: For a moment the utility mistakenly thought it was in the printer ink business...

/ when PG&E changed my house over to "Smart" Meter, first they double-charged me on electricity, then later in the year for natural gas.
// not too "Smart" of them if you ask me.

They probably had to change their billing system in some fashion. Billing system 'upgrades' cause more problems than anything... gotta keep those software consultants busy.

Smart meters are really to help lower their costs/protect revenue by broadcasting their functionality/wellness back so broken meters can be fixed much faster. They also report power outages which lowers the cost of fixing them since they can see exactly who has power and who does not.

RubberBabyBuggyBumpers: AccuJack: SirEattonHogg: Let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of power consumed by this woman as per her electric bill. It would be a Twinkie... thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.

Actually, if you do the math and apply the proportions (she got billed 10,000 cents a kwh instead of 9 cents, which is 11111.11 times the normal rate) to a normal Twinkie, her Twinkie would instead weigh 891 pounds and be about 2 feet two inches long. If you apply the over-billing multiplication factor to the length of the Twinkie instead, it would be a Twinkie over 3,700 feet long, and weighing 59,264,010 short tons.

/Knowledge is power.

you could have SAID the same thing with a dick and it would be like 111x funnier

explain.

SirEattonHogg: Jon iz teh kewl Smartest
Funniest
2012-06-22 05:18:12 PM


SirEattonHogg: Let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of power consumed by this woman as per her electric bill. It would be a Twinkie... thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.

you could have SAID the same thing with a dick and it would be like 100x funnier

Oh, everybody is a critic [rolls eyes].

Plus using a dick probably would have killed the PG rating.