Pay the bill. Why should the rest of the customers supplement his power use?
Oh, we paid it all right. Ugh. (It was 13 years ago.)
How do you know the old meter under charged him?
Maybe it's the new meter that was faulty?
Seems to me the burden of proof is on the city. He paid his bills, not his fault if they were inaccurate. Think he would get a refund if it was the other way around
"Pay the bill. Why should the rest of the customers supplement his power use?"
Because it is very unlikely that the folks who performed the analysis are any swifter than the folks who installed/read the meter incorrectly so that it didn't work properly. There is no way to tell if anyone supplemented anyone else.
Of course, he'll probably have to pay most of that to prove his case, so he should probably just offer to settle for some lesser amount if the city doesn't immediately roll over.