gas and electric scenario

[freshstart10]

hey guys, curious if this has happened to anyone?

i surrendered my house and moved out. i left my gas and elelectric on for 2 months to be nice and make sure the pipes dont freeze. the first months bill i got was 45 bucks.. i just recieved 2nd months bill and its 220$. i have thermostat at 45 degrees and no lights were on. the g&e company said when they read meter it showed a big use of power. even in december and january my bill never went over 200. this leads me to believe that the people who changed my locks had a party and turned up heat or somethings wrong. i know the locks have been changed because the dead bolt was missing. and i think if people broke in and lived there some of my neighbors would have noticed. so i cancelled the g&e immediately......any thoughts or experiences?

[StartingOver08]

No experience with it, but is it possible they estimated the first month and then did an acutal for the second month? Just thinking out loud.

[fltoo]

The 45. bill was estimated.

Hopefully you were joking when you said the locksmith had a party at your house and jacked up the heat.

[lrprn]

i surrendered my house and moved out. i left my gas and elelectric on for 2 months to be nice and make sure the pipes dont freeze. the first months bill i got was 45 bucks.. i just recieved 2nd months bill and its 220$.

Since you left the utilities on, and the house and utilities remain in your name, you owe the payments. You can dispute the bigger bill with the utility company, that's about it.

[freshstart10]

i did dispute, but they dont care, you know for the 3 years i lived there i never once saw a man come and read my meters or anyone elses in the community . makes you wonder about the g&e sometimes.

now i did cancel the g&e, thats ok right? also im not keeping myhomeowners either.....my lawyer said go ahead and drop. do i have to call hoi and tell them to cancel or just let policy lapse? just dont want a bill to come back in future.

[southernbelle]

Since you had it shut off and aren't sure if the reading is accurate, read it yourself. I did it for a long time because the meter reader in my area was lazy and missed several houses along the route and they would estimate my bill which was ridiculous because sometimes it was decent and other times it was outrageous. If you don't know how to read it, just write down the numbers you see on the meter and call the electric co. to compare.

If the reading is wrong you might have a case. Good luck