You don't want to be on the wrong end of this one. Paying your bills can be particularly hurtful, and paying more than you were planning can be a real headache. This is exactly what happened to Ken Wilson, a California man who noticed a significant spike in his utility bill. And while paying more can cause frustration, imagine Wilson's surprise when he found out he wasn't paying his bill at all.
Back where he lives in Vacaville, Wilson was already aware of his expenses. To that end, he tried to lower the cost of his utility bill by saving electricity. He said the following to KOLD-TV: "I've been trying to conserve electricity and lower my costs because it was getting really expensive." He added: "I kept going outside to check my meter... and I couldn't believe it."
"I thought there was a leak or someone was stealing my electricity or the meter was faulty because something wasn't right," Wilson said, theorizing about the reason for this potential malfunction.
An Expensive Connection
What Ken Wilson thought was a mistake in his bill because of a leak or a faulty design, ended up being something even rarer. His outrageous utility bill was due to a misconnection. Living in unit 90 of his apartment complex, his meter was hooked up to unit 91. Wilson moved there in 2006, so that means that had been paying for his neighbor's utility bill for 18 years.
He said: "I feel powerless right now because I can't control my own meter."
After having a PG&E (Pacific Gast and Electric Company) worker help him discover the issue with his meter, the company stated that "the meter number for the customer's apartment was being billed to another apartment since potentially 2009." This statement came out on Monday, and Wilson was still paying for his neighbor's bill as of that day.
While they said they were working on correcting the issue after apologizing, things are far from over. According to Wilson, the error will not be corrected until the next billing cycle. He reflects on what happened: "I just hope this story is going to help others. I can't be the only one."
