A Man in California finds out that he has paid his neighbor’s power bill for up to 18 years
When a California man started to wonder why his monthly energy bill was so high, he found that an error from up to 18 years before was giving him much more power than he needed.
Ken Wilson is a customer of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) who has lived alone in a Vacaville apartment complex since 2006. He told ABC News’ San Francisco station that he started to see his bill go up a few months ago.
Wilson told the outlet that he tried to use less electricity and bought a device to help him keep track of how many watts his machines use in order to save money.
As Wilson told our sister station KGO, “I kept going outside to check my meter to see if it was still running, and it was still running.”
He also said, “I couldn’t believe it.”
Wilson said he called PG&E about the problem, and they sent someone to his apartment to check his meter and confirm what he thought was true.
The utility company told ABC News that Wilson had been paying the electricity bill for the apartment next door “since potentially 2009,” which is three years after he moved in.
“Our preliminary investigation has found the meter number for the customer’s apartment was being billed to another apartment since potentially 2009,” PG&E said.
The company admitted it made a mistake and said it is “committed to rectifying the situation with the customer,” according to the statement.
Wilson told KGO and other news outlets that he thinks the costly mistake has been going on longer because he has had the same deal with PG&E since he moved into the complex in 2006.
“We sincerely apologize for the oversight and regret any inconvenience caused by the duration of this issue,” the person said.
The PG&E representative told ABC News that Wilson’s meter had been fixed so that he would only be charged for the electricity he used and that the company had paid his account with over $600.
PG&E also told customers who are worried about their usage and bills to check their meter by matching the meter ID number on the power panel to the one on their bill.
