this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2025
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Humorous on face value, but that's not what utility companies do. In every utility district I ever lived (and it's a lot), if the meter readers were "unable" to read your meter, the consumption was estimated.
I had many conflicts about this because I traveled a lot for work and knew that there was no possible way I could have consumed as much electricity as they estimated. It turned it that meter readers could just claim the meter was inaccessible, and their job was considered completed.
Are there really people in the US driving from house to house reading the meters? In Germany you just get a letter (or an email nowadays) asking you to read the meter and tell them. Unless the values you're providing are obviously wrong, noone questions you.
If you lie there you'll be found out when you move out of your apparent or when the meter is changed after 20 or 30 years.
Where I live they check once a year and ask you to report monthly.
Every month is wild. Do the electricity prices change based on the season or why can't they just calculate the average over a year?
Wait fuck I switched up gas and electricity. Electricity used to zo be done that way but then they installed the automated meters.