Thayer Taxpayers Association Blog

I think the city of Thayer may be manipulating the electric and water readings. Take this example from my own experience.

On this month's bill, the dates are said to be from 12/11/05 to 1/11/06, which would mean that the meters were read on the eleventh.

It says my "present" electric reading was 43688 and that the previous reading was 42923, a usage of 765 kilowatt hours.

And it says my "present" water reading was 6243 and that the previous reading was 6221, a usage of 22 units. One unit (I think) is 100 gallons.

Keep in mind that on water, there is a 20 unit minimum. You have to pay for 20 units, even if you use much less than that.

What they don't know is that every couple of days, I read and write down my OWN meter readings.

And on the 11th, the electric was 43558 and the water was 6239.8. Which means I actually used 635 kwh, not 765. That means the city is getting the money for the difference (130 kwh) a month before it should.

And for the water, I actually used 17.8 units, not 22. I would have to pay for 20 units, so the difference is 2 units.

That may not seem like a lot, but let's fast forward a bit, to yesterday, the 8th. My readings were 44076 on electric and 6253.5 on the water. And if they read the meters when they SAY they do, it's due to be read Friday or Monday (because of the weekend.)

Let's take the water as an easy example. Because they over-read last month by 4.2 units, they will UNDER-read this month by 4.2. By their readings, this month I've used 10.5 units. By the ACTUAL readings, I've used 14.7. At most, I have four days until the next reading. My 14.7 is a lot closer to the 20 unit minimum than their 10.5 is.

To make it easier to understand, let's say that over the 2 months, you used 40 units, 20 units per month. If they read the meters correctly, you pay for the 40 units, which is what you get.

But let's say they read the meters late the first month, so that it says you used 30. That means you pay for 30 units the first month. Then, the second month, they read the meter on time, which is 10 units later than the previous reading. Because of the minimum, you pay for 20 units even though you only get 10.

30 + 20 = 50 units, which is what you would pay for the 40 units. If they had read them on time, your cost would be 20 + 20, which is 40 units.

And if you're wondering if the late reading is just a coincidence, that maybe last month the eleventh fell on the weekend, let's take a look at when they actually DID read the meters. My calendar, on which I write the readings, says the electric readings of 43688 and 6243 happened on either the 17th or 18th, not the eleventh. That is SEVEN or EIGHT days late.

Keep an eye on your meters, folks. And if you run into trouble, raise hell with the city. If that gets you nowhere (as I think it probably will), contact the Missouri Public Service Commission. An online complaint form can be found here.