I came home from work the other day to find this month’s electric bill from the town of Williamsport sitting in the mailbox.  Imagine my surprise when I opened the bill and read that I owed them over $940 for electricity usage from October 27 through November 23.  Before you do the math, that comes out to be 27 days.  The bill stated that our payment was due by December 21.

Merry Christmas.

Over $940 for electricity for 27 days.  And to think, you did not even turn the heat on during that time.  Imagine what it would be if we had.

The next day, we called the town and asked them about it.  They said it was probably a mistake and would send someone out to re-read the meter.  The person on the phone mentioned that they had a new person reading meters and it was possible they made a mistake.  You think?

I came home last night to find a new electric bill from the town.  It stated that we now owed them $89.88.  What it didn’t say was anything about the prior $940 error bill.  No apology, no explanation as to why we are billed such an excessive amount.  It was as though it never happened.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think if you mistakenly tell someone you owe them $940 a mere four days before Christmas, you ought to at least acknowledge your mistake.  Not only for the misread of the meter, but not catching the mistake before the bill was generated.   After all, it was over ten times what it should have been.