Bro, how do you go 18 years without realizing you were paying your neighbor's utility bill?
Ken Wilson lives alone in a NorCal apartment, barely uses any gas or electricity, and was racking up some huge energy bills as of recent. So naturally, he went into detective mode.
Ken Wilson keeps a watchful eye on how much energy he uses, especially in recent months since he got a high bill. He even bought a device to tell him how many watts his appliances give off, so he can track his daily energy usage down to the exact number.
‘I've been trying to conserve electricity and lower my costs because it was getting really expensive,' Wilson said. ‘I kept going outside to check my meter… and I couldn't believe it.'
This is the first time, in what could amount to 18 years, that he's noticed anything suspicious about his energy bill.
‘I thought there was a leak or someone was stealing my electricity or the meter was faulty because something wasn't right,' he said.
Wilson called PG&E, who sent a worker out last Tuesday to check his meter. That was when it was confirmed Wilson's apartment, unit 90, was linked to the wrong meter, so he was paying the utility bill for unit 91.
Bro paid unit 91's utility bill for up to 18 years!!
I wonder how many people have lived in 91 since Ken moved in in 2006; and how many months 91 was vacant and Ken paid close to zero dollars on energy. Either way, this is a completely ridiculous discovery to make 18 years into your stay at the apartment building.
PG&E apologized for the error in a statement Monday and says it is working to correct the issue. The power company says preliminary investigation shows ‘the meter number for the customer's apartment was being billed to another apartment since potentially 2009.'
Wilson was still paying for the wrong meter, as of Monday. He says the power company indicated the error won't be corrected until the next billing cycle.
Well, good for Ken for finally getting to the bottom of this. Hopefully he can stop monitoring all of his devices now and go back to being a normal person who isn't obsessed with his energy consumption. As a single man who's lived alone for such a long time, I think the least PG&E could do is give him a few months of free energy, but I'm guessing that won't happen.
I'll leave you with this news coverage documenting Ken's struggle:
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