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1 posted on 11/14/2004 8:52:40 AM PST by Willie Green
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To: Willie Green

"City of Monroe...meet my lawyer!"


2 posted on 11/14/2004 8:54:09 AM PST by OwnershipSociety
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To: Willie Green

I'd move.


3 posted on 11/14/2004 8:54:50 AM PST by xJones
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To: Willie Green
I got a $1,400 gas bill once. My ex-husband decided to heat the swimming pool in the dead of winter so he could take night swims.

Notice I said my EX-husband...

4 posted on 11/14/2004 8:55:17 AM PST by truthkeeper (Yeah, I have a 1998 signup date. So?)
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To: Willie Green
a city policy allows Monroe's energy services department to back-charge up to three years if officials discover a meter has under-registered, even if a city utility worker caused the problem.

It's a "city Policy", not a law...
Take it to court..

7 posted on 11/14/2004 9:05:15 AM PST by Drammach (Freedom; not just a job, it's an adventure..)
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To: Willie Green

Obviously Bush is ruining our economy. Halliburton is involved somehow, too.


8 posted on 11/14/2004 9:05:19 AM PST by MisterRepublican ("I must go. I must be elusive.")
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To: Willie Green
Their meter was defective so the utility should have to eat it, unless there was absolute proof that the restaurant owner tampered with it, which is impossible to do without the meter reader knowing it.
I used to work for a software company that worked solely for utilities (Mostly gas). They are sooo notoriously cheap it's not funny.
They think just because our work came from our brains that anything they asked for extra after the contract was signed should be free, "Can't you just make this change I want? It'll only take an hour or two.".
I used to ask them to provide free gas to my apartment. This always shut them up in a hurry.
God, how I've come to detest utility companies. I hope these folks get their lawyer on this.
10 posted on 11/14/2004 9:08:01 AM PST by Brainhose (THINK OF THE KITTENS!)
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To: Willie Green
$11K, peanuts. That is noooooooothing!

Last year my MIL who lives in a single family bungalow in Chicago got a monthly Electric Bill (ComEd) for ....... $94,000!!

I called ComEd for her, explained that it was utterly ridiculous and that the electric bill for Sears Tower's probably wasn't that much. BUT the first thing the lady said was .... "did I check to verify the meter reading indicated on the bill was right". I said no and plus I didn't care WHAT the meter reading was, $94,000 was an IMPOSSIBLILITY. She finally agreed to void 'that' bill until they could get another meter reader person out to her house. Two months later she received a corrected bill for $42.00

I swear, the world is full of idiots and they ALL work for the gubmint and utility companies.

12 posted on 11/14/2004 9:10:06 AM PST by Condor51 (May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't. - Gen G Patton)
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To: Willie Green
a city analysis showed his old meter had been under-registering for almost a decade. He would be billed almost $11,000 -- three years' worth of back charges.

Umm..... no it doesn't work that way.

14 posted on 11/14/2004 9:16:21 AM PST by HairOfTheDog (<<<loves her hubbit and the horse he rode in on :~D)
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To: Willie Green

It's called the 'Monroe Meter Hustle" !!!


15 posted on 11/14/2004 9:19:44 AM PST by GeekDejure ( LOL = Liberals Obey Lucifer !!!)
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To: Willie Green

I think that the owner ought to pay this IF indeed he used the excess power AND IF the utility company can produce some sort of proof that he actually used that much more power. I always think you should pay for what you use. But here, did they know when the meter broke? If it's a clear case of the meter having been installed with the wrong setting, so it logged 2 KWH when it should have logged 3 KWH, then fine. But if it went defective some time during the last three years, and this was the utility's best guess, I'd negotiate something else with them, as they probably took the point of view that benefitted them the most... So in principle, I'm not against him having to pay, but I think he needs to check to make sure that the revision is indeed accurate.


16 posted on 11/14/2004 9:19:45 AM PST by Koblenz (Holland: a very tolerant country. Until someone shoots you on a public street in broad daylight...)
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To: Willie Green

"had been under-registering for almost a decade.
"

Does that mean it never resulted in a bill? If so, how could he possibly not pay any utilities bills? I say he would owe back bills.


17 posted on 11/14/2004 9:24:26 AM PST by shellshocked
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To: Willie Green
his power bill increased from between $800 and $900 to $1,200 a month

Yikes! How the heck do you rack up a $800 Utility bill? Use 1000 Watt Floods in every socket?

But in response to the Title Question, if I got a $11,000 Utility Bill, I'd think their Accounts Payable was in cahoots with the Accounts Receivable and cross-checked their notes on me to extract financial revenge for all of the work I've done for many over the years.

18 posted on 11/14/2004 9:25:46 AM PST by woofer
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To: Willie Green
My position would be prove when the meeter went bad.

And by the way I just added 25% to my consumption last week so don't try to prove anything with usage records.

23 posted on 11/14/2004 9:29:01 AM PST by Dinsdale
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To: Willie Green

The simple and obvious solution, if in fact it was underregistering through no fault of the businessman, would be to pro-rate the amount of the undercharge over the following three years, without interest. The owner would be paying for what he received, but would not be unduly burdened by the utility's mistake.


24 posted on 11/14/2004 9:29:08 AM PST by CatoRenasci (Ceterum Censeo Arabiam Esse Delendam -- Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit)
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To: Willie Green

Goodbye to one more independent business.

Like our communist legislators in Arkansas - these "good ole boys" cannot get it into their pin-head brains (if any) that when tax revenues go DOWN from a falling economy, you don't raise the taxes and then wonder why the revenues fell even lower!

A vicious cycle that lawyer/politicians fall into - then if all else fails --- SUE! To hell with the "WORK ETHIC"


31 posted on 11/14/2004 9:35:34 AM PST by steplock (http://www.outoftimeradio.org)
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To: Willie Green

Why shouldn't your barber or local eatery be able to decide they should have asked you for more during the last 3 years and send you a bill for the difference? The city sold him a product, they set the price and he agreed on it, the deal was done, now they want more. No other business but govt. would be allowed to get away with this absent any evidence of fraud.


32 posted on 11/14/2004 9:36:28 AM PST by jordan8
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To: Willie Green

The first question his lawyer should ask the city is if they have ever refunded money from over charging a customer. I bet not. Silly question.


36 posted on 11/14/2004 9:39:43 AM PST by cynicom (<p)
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To: Willie Green
It was broken for almost 10 years and the city didn't notice there was a problem? TEN YEARS!

They can't ethically charge him for power they can't show he actually used. At best they're guessing based on current data which may not reflect use during the period in question.

A bill like this could put him out of business especially since we know they'll nag him to death, get a lien and who knows what else to collect.

The only "gotcha" is he should've had some reason to know the meter was wrong such as a sudden plunge in his bill about TEN years ago. Even then, it's been so long that could be explained by any number of things including rate changes, hours of operation fluctuations, expansion, remodeling, change in appliances, etc., etc.

He most certainly needs a lawyer to protect his rights because I can guarantee he'll get "screwed" by the city.

37 posted on 11/14/2004 9:43:49 AM PST by newzjunkey (San Diego, Kleptocrasy by the Sea. -- VOID the Illegal Mayoral "Election")
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To: Willie Green
This almost happened to me when I decided to read my own meter because I got tired of electric company employees being afraid of my two Rhodesian Ridgebacks. (heh, also the mail had stopped being delivered) Anyhow.... my bill doubled each month because of something I was doing wrong. After about 5 months when my bill had gone from $300 to $1500 I decided to get a fence and coast along on my overpayments for a while.
39 posted on 11/14/2004 9:50:54 AM PST by Ditter
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To: Willie Green

Wow! Gas Stations could have a field day with this ditty!


43 posted on 11/14/2004 9:57:48 AM PST by Dacus943
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