Picked up a dry cleaning business in Richmond VA served by Dominion Energy. The client noticed his bills had been suspiciously consistent for the past 5 months — same kWh every month to the penny. I pulled the meter reads and sure enough, all estimated. Went out to the site and the meter display was blank. The meter had failed and Dominion was just estimating based on the prior 12-month average. Here is the problem — the client installed a new high-efficiency boiler 3 months before the meter died, which should have dropped his usage by about 25%. But the estimates are based on old higher usage. He is being overbilled by roughly $600/month during the estimated period. How do I get Dominion to adjust the estimates to reflect the equipment change?
Meter stuck at zero for 5 months — client getting billed on estimates
First thing — document the equipment change. Get invoices for the new boiler, installation date, manufacturer specs showing the efficiency rating. Then request that Dominion replace the meter immediately and do a billing adjustment based on the equipment change. Under Virginia SCC regulations, when a meter fails the utility is supposed to use the best available data to estimate usage. If you can demonstrate the load changed, they should adjust. I had a similar case with Duke Energy in NC and they accepted the equipment documentation as justification for adjusting the estimated period.
TVA territory here so different utility, but same principle. When a meter fails, you are at the mercy of whatever estimation method the utility uses unless you can provide evidence of changed conditions. I always tell clients to keep records of any equipment changes — dates, specs, installation receipts. It is the only leverage you have when the meter is not recording actual usage.
Got Dominion to replace the meter last week. Now working on the billing adjustment claim. Submitted the boiler documentation and a comparison of usage patterns before and after the equipment change on similar accounts. Dominion says they will review within 30 days.
Final update — Dominion accepted the adjustment. They re-estimated the 5 months of failed meter reads using the new actual read from the replacement meter as a baseline and applied a 25% reduction to the estimated period. Client got a credit of $2,950. Not bad for a dry cleaner. My 35% contingency fee was about $1,030. Small win but a happy client.