Faulty Gas Meters (Watch your BILL!!)

17,000 Puget Sound families have been undercharged due to faulty gas meters
By Michelle Esteban / KOMO 4 Problem Solvers
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Imagine heating your house for less than $10 a month. That is what a family in Renton paid for 3 years until Puget Sound Energy caught the mistake.
Turns out it is not an isolated incident, 17,000 local families have been undercharged because their power meters were not working. Now PSE wants customers to pay up.
The problem solvers first told you about this story a year ago. KOMO 4’s Michelle Esteban learned most of the meters have been fixed, but not all of them.
Jay Graves said in January, Puget Sound Energy replaced his gas meter, telling him it had not been working for three years.
“Four or six months, I could understand, but not years,” Graves said.
The broken meter meant Graves paid an average $8.25 a month to heat his two story home.
He thought the bill was low but chalked it up to the new weather proofing he installed, a new water heater and new windows.
“Didn’t think much about it,” Graves said. “It’s the gas company, you expect they were on their game.”
PSE estimated in those three years that Graves used $2,200 worth of free gas and they want their money. Because of his weather proofing they cut the bill in half.
“If you use a product you need to pay for it,” said PSE’s chief operating officer Bert Valdman.
Valdman blamed the problem on a new metering system they installed of which 17,000 meters failed.
“These meters are automated meters so we were focused on the deployment of these meters over the last few years,” Valdman said. “We are the first utility in the country to have our meters all automated meters.”
Nearly 1,000 meters are still broken, PSE plans to have them restored by June, and customers who thought they got a break will soon get a call, the same call Martin Coon got.
“It was frustrating,” Coon said.
Coon’s broken meter now means he now owes $1,700 in back bills.
“I want them to drop the price,” Coon said. “I want them to forget it.”
PSE reduced his bill by $400, but won’t forget the back bills, because it would be unfair to the other 1.8 million PSE customers.
State law requires utilities to collect back bills. So a reminder from the Problem Solvers, to double checks your bills. There are few freebies.