pretty glow

I just want to pay my bill please
...written on 01.28.05, @ 1:05 pm

Xcel Energy can kiss my ass.

See… since I don’t have a choice about my energy company I’m forced to go through these evil people. I’ve never had anything but problems with them.

I got a bill yesterday charging me for gas back to August. I’m pretty sure I’ve been paying the gas but I’m a moron who throws my bills away so I can’t really be sure. Lesson learned.

I called the customer service line which I’m sure routed me to Mexico where they don’t speak English very well and I got even more frustrated.

Mrs. I-don’t-speak-english was fairly useless since she just has a computer in front of her telling her what I owe or don’t owe. She is however sending me copies of all of my bills and what I’ve paid from August to now. Go her.

Of course this bill has been a problem since day one. I had to pay a deposit to get service since I haven’t had an Xcel bill in my name in years. The guy said I could split up the $80 deposit between my first 3 bills and everything would be cool. A week after I moved in I got a notice saying they were going to shut off my power because I hadn’t paid. Um? Anyway I got that straightened out and apparently I was supposed to be sending my $80 in without any sort of bill right away. Makes sense right? I didn’t think so.

After that I took it upon myself to split up the $80 since they didn’t correct my bill and charged everything on the first bill. They didn’t send me any threatening notes or even call me about it. I suppose they figured they were getting 75% of the bill or something so they weren’t going to bitch.

Anyway… back to yesterday. I get this crazy bill that says I owe $91 for gas back to August. $27 of that is for “metering & billing”. Seems excessive since the meter reader isn’t coming 900 miles out of his way to read my meter. There are how many other units around me? Standard fee… sure, fine. Mrs. I-don’t-speak-english couldn’t give me a reason I hadn’t been getting charged for gas except that it must have been a computer error. I wonder if she was using the same computer that Mr. Break-up-your-deposit was using but I’m guessing not. Since I send my payments to Texas I’m sure the guy that hooked me up in the first place is probably in Ohio somewhere. Heaven forbid I actually talk to someone in Denver.

I politely told Mrs. I-don’t-speak-english that I wouldn’t be paying this bill on time since I don’t think I should be penalized for their error. I have no problem paying for it if I truly haven’t been paying for it but other things lead me to think I have been. She said they could set up a payment arrangement for me (I think). Then she proceeded to tell me that my total bill is $115. Huh? I guess that January’s bill got mailed yesterday and I didn’t have it yet. Here’s where it gets crazy, are you ready? The $91 bill had a credit on it since I paid last month’s bill twice making the bill $30 something dollars total. In December they sent me a bill and I paid it. Then a couple of weeks later they sent me a revised bill and I paid it. I really should pay more attention but I’ve never had these problems with anyone else. January’s gas bill is apparently $40 and the electric is $30. Now, does this make any sense? 4 months of gas cost me $91 ($27 of which is a billing fee) and 1 month of gas cost me $40? Something is just really not right in the world of Xcel. I wonder how many people out there are like me and just pay the bill without thinking about it? I’m sure I’m the only moron.

I’m not really sure how to proceed since I don’t have a copy of the bill yet but here’s my thought if I truly haven’t been paying for gas. That deposit that they were convinced they needed since they didn’t know my payment history? I think a manager there will be perfectly happy applying that deposit to their screw up since I’ve been paying happily on time. It isn’t my fault they can’t bill me right. I also think they’ll be taking off at least $18 for the metering and billing (I’m willing to pay for a month).

I think the most humorous thing about this is that apparently their computer can’t add either. I went down their column of charges on the gas bill and it comes up to $70 something with the billing fee. The bill says $91.

Perhaps I should have asked them for a deposit.

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