Solano County PG&E customer charged for someone else's utility bill for up to 18 years
VACAVILLE — Update: After this story was published on Monday, Sept. 16 the customer Ken Wilson provided an update to CBS13 on Tuesday, Sept. 17 that PG&E credited more than $600 to his account, the amount he has overpaid for three years. PG&E also fixed the meter on Tuesday so Wilson is now paying for his own electricity.
A Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) customer who lives at an apartment complex in Vacaville recently noticed something was not quite right with his utility bill. After further investigation that included PG&E coming out to check his meter, they discovered he had been paying someone else's bill for what could be nearly two decades.
Customer Ken Wilson's bill was linked to the meter for apartment unit 90. He lives in unit number 91.
Wilson has lived in the same apartment since 2006: 18 years.
"I never really paid attention to any of this because I always thought I just was using very little energy," Wilson said.
A few months ago when Wilson felt his PG&E bill was higher than normal, he started actively working to reduce his costs.
"I've been trying to conserve electricity and lower my costs because it was getting really expensive. I'm just supporting myself. There's not much more I could do to lower my energy. I was being very vigilant on this. It was a habit," he said. "Every day that I go to work, I turn the breakers off."
Wilson switches off most of his breakers so that the only thing left running in his apartment when he leaves is his refrigerator.
He also purchased a device that measures how many watts of energy his appliances draw so he could calculate himself exactly how much energy he uses.
"Even after I turned off my breakers, I was going outside to check my meter to see if it was still running and it was still running, and I couldn't believe it," he said. "So, on the PG&E website under usage, when I was seeing these spikes with my breakers off, then I said, 'I'm not looking at my meter. This is somebody else's meter.' "
At that point, Wilson called PG&E and a worker came out to check his meter on September 10.
"I thought there was a leak or someone was stealing my electricity or the meter was faulty because something wasn't right," he said.
The PG&E employee confirmed that Wilson was actually paying the wrong meter and someone else was paying his.
He thinks, since he lives alone and has always been cautious to conserve energy, his actual bill is likely lower than any other unit, especially if a family or multiple people have been living in the unit he has been paying the bill for.
"I feel powerless right now because I can't control my own meter," Wilson said.
A spokesperson for PG&E sent CBS13 the following statement on Monday:
"We acknowledge an error occurred in this instance, and we are fully committed to rectifying the situation with the customer and make the customer whole. We sincerely apologize for the oversight and regret any inconvenience caused by the duration of this issue. Our preliminary investigation has found the meter number for the customer's apartment was being billed to another apartment since potentially 2009.
If customers want to verify their meter is correct, they can look at their bill for the meter ID number and compare it to the meter ID number on their electric panel, or contact PG&E."
Wilson showed CBS13 his lease that he first signed in 2006, so he feels it is possible he has been paying the wrong meter for 18 years, not the 15 years PG&E suggested.
"I just hope this story helps others. I can't be the only one out there with this problem," Wilson said.
As of Monday, Wilson is still paying the wrong meter. He said that PG&E indicated in their conversations with him so far that it will not be changed until the next billing cycle starts.
CBS13 reached out to The Utility Reform Network (TURN), which serves as a consumer watchdog advocacy group concerning all utility companies in the state of California, for perspective.
TURN Director Mark Toney said he's shocked by this mistake, calling it rare and inexcusable.
"These meters are supposed to be geocoded so that the exact location is precisely matched with longitude, latitude, that's geocoding. So its precise location is supposed to match each address," Toney said.
Toney said that PG&E should work through Wilson's old bills and refund him for any amount he has paid over the actual price of his bill for every year impacted.
CBS13 asked Toney: What lessons should customers of any utility group take away from this story?
"Keep an eye on your bill," he said. "If you notice a spike in usage, and maybe you're out of town or at work all day and these spikes are happening in the middle of the day or at an odd time, that is the time to call PG&E and ask them to look into it."
Wilson said that he hopes sooner rather than later he could get his bill back on track.
Toney suggested that if the issue is not made right, the problem needs to be reported to the California Public Utilities Commission.