Erie, PA – A Pennsylvania woman says she went online to check her electric bill and was stunned at the amount — more than $284 billion.
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The Erie Times-News reports that Mary Horomanski said her eyes “just about popped out” of her head when she saw the amount. She suspected that her family had put up their Christmas lights wrong.
The silver lining was that she didn’t have to pay the full amount until November 2018 — only a $28,156 minimum payment was due for December.
Horomanski’s son contacted Penelac, her electric provider, who confirmed the error. Parent company First Energy said a decimal point was accidentally moved. Her new amount was quickly corrected to $284.46.
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Information from: Erie Times-News, http://www.goerie.com
They should have forgiven the whole bill as an apology.
These electric companies are white collar thieves; where I live in the Midwest, my local electric utility has a habit of “estimating” bills, to their advantage. However, they started with the wrong Yid, since I read my meters every month (gas, electric, and water). When I confronted the electric company about their recent “error”, they treated me with disdain, and refused to correct it. Hence, I contacted two Senior Vice Presidents, with documentation, regarding the above habit of gouging customers. I also contacted the local public utilities commission. It took some time, but believe me, my bill was corrected. In fact, I was given an additional electric co. contact to notify, in case this ever happens again. The utility companies’ philosophy seems to be that very few customers actually read their meters each month, to compare their readings, with the bills which the local utility sends them. Also, of those that do read their own meter, very few will actually contest an error. Yidden, don’t let these ganevim get away with bogus charges; you should all read your utility meters (i.e. Con Edison, Brooklyn Union Gas Company, the water meters of the City of NY., etc.
She should just have paid the bill and not made such a chilul Hashem!