Wednesday, January 21, 2015

#20/365--Average

What does
...average billing...
mean
...to you??

To me
...it means...
your
"Provider"
averages out your bill
...so that...
what you pay
...each month...
is
...pretty equal...
and
you aren't paying more
...in the summer...
versus
...the winter...

However,
MY
...Provider...
sees it differently

Each month,
I get these emails
...one that says...

and
a few days later
...another email that says...

...what would you do?

You,
being the responsible
...person...
that you are,
would probably
...login...
to your account
...to figure out...
the
discrepancy
but
...we are not talking about you...
we are talking
...about me...
and
I
simply thought
"oh, ok...they must have gotten something wrong"

so
...what do I do?

I pay the lower amount
because
...who wouldn't??

After all,
the email does say
"This is a reminder that
your XXX Energy
electricity
BALANCE
of..."

What exactly
...does "balance" mean...

in reference to definitions
2, 5, and 6
I
...personally...
take it to mean
my
BALANCE
is
...what I have LEFT to pay...
on the account

However...
I was
...sorely mistaken...
because
...you see...
The way
...my "Provider"...
sees it
is that
they are giving me
...a choice...
to pay
A) the actual amount
or
B) the "average" amount
and
what I was told yesterday
is
even though
I
pay my bills
on time
and
have not missed
...a single payment...
...but...
because
I
...involuntarily...
chose option "B"
that left
...a remaining...
BALANCE
that
...my Provider...
was billing me for
and
...get this...
they
mailed notifications to me
...not once...
...not twice...
but

...wait for it...

three times
a) first notification
b) my warning that it was late
and
c) a shut off notice

which they sent to

...wait for it...

the temporary
...apartment...
the kids and I lived in
after the fire

...wait for it...

where we
HAVE NOT
lived
nor
had electricity
at that address
for
ONE and a HALF
years.

Are you feeling my pain yet?

Michael and I
walked in the house
...to...
no power
at first
we thought
it was just an outage
but
after I called to report it
...the automated service...
...informed me...
that
my "Provider"
had shut off my power
and
I needed to
...contact them...
to get it
...restored...

wait.  what?

I spent
...34 minutes...
on the phone
with
...said "Provider"...
((after having to pay
...the "late" amount...
...the discrepancy between...
my bills))

...you would not have liked...
...this side...
...of me...

and
...there are many more...
details
but
suffice to say
my electricity
was turned back on
during that conversation
within
15 minutes
and
I
will be changing
..."Providers"...


1 comment:

  1. Nice to have options. Choice of "provider," I mean. Here the choice is take it or leave it.

    ReplyDelete