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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