Do I owe the Electric Co. for 6mo. without being billed?

Question

I moved to a new apartment in a new state about 6 mo ago. One of the conditions of the lease is that I needed to set up an account number with the electric company which I did.

A couple weeks pass and the electricity goes out. I call the company and they have a hard time finding my name or my account number but after a few minutes assured that they had me on file and there was just a brief outage and power would be restored. Since then...6 mo and no bill.

My apartment complex charges water and trash removal in the rent...my last apartment complex also included electricity. I was hoping I was wrong and didn't check the lease.

Tonight I check my voicemail. "Urgent call" from the Electric Co. I'm assuming my luck has run out and I'm getting a massive bill.

Is this disputable? Can I at least get out of late charges for their part in the error? Do they have to supply me with a detailed bill for 6 mo of energy use? Any advice would be great! THANKS!

Answer 1

Let me get this straight...

You knew you had an account with the company, but after not one, not two, not even three, but SIX months, did not think, "Gee, I haven't gotten a bill, I'd better get ahold of them and find out what I owe them..."

Yes, you're going to have to pay them the charges. The late fees as well.

What were you thinking, you were getting electricity for free?

Answer 2

First, I'm not a lawyer. But if I'm being charged for anything, I do want a detailed breakdown of the charges.

If your lease states that you are responsible for your own electricty service, then that's indisputable. (If state law were to negate that, then it's extraordinarily odd that it would be in the lease at all, so that's not the issue.) Bottom line is, you contracted for service and received it. So you're responsible for the payment.

NOW... that they did not bill you for six months does not relieve you of your responsilbility. Nor does it relieve you of any late charges. A single late charge without billing may be arguable, but not six months. You did know that there should have been a bill and you compounded your own problem with your silence. (Not being critical here, just knowing how a court would view it. This is not a new thing for them.)

However, since they did, in fact, NOT bill you for six months, they'd be hard put to demand immediate full payment. You could reasonably expect to win a court decision in which you could pay the overdue bill in a series of payments over 3 - 4 months withOUT interest or additional fees. Knowing this, and preferring to avoid additional litigation costs, the electric company will likely agree to such a plan in addition to your regular billing.

So, yes, first, in order to even agree to any plan, you do need a breakdown of bills and fees so that both sides are agreeing to the same information.

Answer 3

I had a very similar situation happen to me. I moved in to a house with a roommate and I assumed that she was getting and paying the bills, she assumed that I was getting and paying the bills. The electric company contacted us six months later and hadn't been billing us. They were very reasonable and offered to bill us for the previous six months over the next six months and didn't charge us any late fees or interest, and we didn't get slammed with a huge bill we couldn't pay. We, of course, kept our end of the agreement and made the payments. Just talk to the company and see what you can work out. This happens all the time.

Answer 4

A billing error won't relieve you of the responsibility for payment of charges for electricity you used. Given the situation, you may well be able to talk them out of any late charges, and possibly can make arrangements to pay the amount due over a few months to lessen the financial impact.

Answer 5

They didn't make an error, you did. You knew you were in the system when you made that first call. If you didn't receive a bill, you should have called. Where I live they would have disconnected your service after the second month. You might be able to get them to take the late charges off, but don't count on it.

Answer 6

Good luck fighting that. You knew you were getting electricity and not paying for it. You should have called again when there was still no bill. You do owe because you received their services. They may have made a mistake and accidentally not billed you, but you did receive electricity and playing dumb for 6 months doesn't mean you shouldn't have to pay for it.

Answer 7

We had trouble with our electricity constatly going off recently. It was going off for only a couple of seconds at a time and then coming back on, but then it went off for an hour and half and of course it was about 9:00pm on a Sunday night so I couldn't call anybody. I was getting in a complete panic until it suddenly came back on again. Luckily it stayed on until the next day when I was able to call the company who eventually fixed it.

Answer 8

just because you don't receive a bill in the mail doesn't mean that there isn't one. Also, that doesn't eliminate your responsibility to said bill. It is your responsibility to contact the electric company, or any company, if you haven't received your bill. This is similar to breaking a law you didn't know existed, that doesn't make it OK.
Ultimately, you are responsible for the whole bill, including and late fees.

Answer 9

It sounds like they simply finally caught up with their error of not billing every month (for whatever reason).
Yes ~ you used it and they can and will expect payment for it.
When you call, talk to someone that can take the late charges OFF. After explaining, if they say no, then keep asking to speak with someone higher then them (manager, etc.) until they drop the late charges.

Answer 10

Yes you owe the electric company. If your getting it, and its not included in your rent, billed or not, yes you have to pay.

I'm suprised it hasn't been shut off already.