$427.
That sound you heard was my head thudding against the floor as I passed out.
Once I woke up, I thought about things. We have a gas furnace (high-efficiency to boot), gas hot water heater, gas dryer, gas stove. And we weren't even living in the house for three of the four weeks included in the bill. The house is bigger than our last house (where the Pepco bills ran about $50 per month this time of year), but not massively so. It's about 2,000 square feet--not huge by any stretch.
Yesterday, I called Pepco. And spoke with a very nice lady who told me she'd put a hold on the account and launch an investigation. Said it would take three to four weeks. And when I asked her about the history of this house, told me the bill was high, "but not that high."
I thought about things some more. Had a bit of a panic attack, actually, wondering how we were going to afford this and still save for retirement and college and the things you save for while you're younger and working (you are saving for those things, right?) And then I called the previous owner of the house; Pepco doesn't know we were neighbors for nine years.
"Oh no," she said. "Oh no, no, no." She said her bills ran about $40 per month this time of year, and never reached $400, even in the heat of the summer.
She also said the same thing happened to her during her last month in the house. She got a massive electric bill, called about it, and got a credit for almost the full amount. "Honestly," she said, "I don't think they know what they're doing."
I went and got the bill. Now, here's the kicker. The electric meter is about 10 years old. The reading on it was about 2,200. Pepco claims that last month--when we weren't even living here--we used an additional 725 units of power. That's nearly one-third the power that was used in the preceding decade. I think not.
That's where we are. I'm waiting for either a credit against my account, or World War III against the electric company. And I hate this.
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