Got my first "But it's christmaaaaaas!"

[Golden Phoenix]

And so it begins, in freaking November.

A woman who owes us nearly £3,000 (for electricity, wtf?) is going to court on monday so we can get a disonnection order.

She called today to try and arrange something, however, she refused to pay anything towards the debt now, refused a preapayment meter, refused to give me any details so i could assess her for one of our debt-help schemes....in other words refused to help herself and di the utmost to piss me off.

In the end i lost it a bit and said "If you won't agree to one of our payment shcemes the account will go for warrant."

At which point she started making sobbing noises (which mysteriously stopped every time she wanted to curse at me) and after a few more insults. (I'm apparently a horrible horrible woman with no life) she said:

"But it's christmaaaaas sooooon! You're taking away my kid's presents, why would you want to ruin christmas for my poor kids!"

I just repeated what i'd said before, this happened about nine times until she snapped "I hope you die on christmas day!" at me and hung up.

Personally i think little Timmy and little Jenny will be happier if they have electric on christmas day than not.

And it's only going to get worse *sigh*

[corporateslave]

Personally i think little Timmy and little Jenny will be happier if they have electric on christmas day than not.

Poor kids.

[pssorens]

I'm doing the math on the fly here, but thats almost 5000 us dollars. I cannot see how a bill could ever get that high, even over several months with out one of the following happening.

(a). some kind of massive electrical problem with the house
or
(B). every house on the block is running a extension cord from her house.

I don't think I've ever seen a bill over 300 even when it was close to disconnection. Of course, in the states we don't have to take people to court to shut off service for nonpayment

[Golden Phoenix]

It's usually when they're a high user and they've been under estimated.

If we can't get to their meter we have to guess their readings to bill to, (this can be if they refuse to give us access or if they were just out) However, we send them a letter about it *and* it say son their bill to call in with a proper read. We have to, by law, attempt to get a read once every two years minimum, and sometimes we can't even get them that often.

If we guess too low then they owe us money and eventually we'll get a reading somehow, it then end up that they get one gigantic bill to play catch up.

We'll spread that out with no arguements so they don't ahve to pay it all at once, but some people will pay on the plan twice and never pay again, leaving the ammoutn to ge thigher and go to court.

The other reason (which this woman had done) is that if we set up a payment plan it stops debt collection completely, so she just kept setting up plans over and over, never making a payment, letting them fail and doing it again and the bill just kept going up and up.

I've seen accoutns were nothing has been paid since 2001. (it's a broken system that they're trying to fix urgently)

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Poor kids.

If she even has kids.

It's possible the woman could have lied . . . and that's probably not the only person who will accuse any of us of ruining their Christmas . . .

Not only will we be accused of ruining Christmas for half the planet, but we'll also be responsible for killing Santa Claus, hunting down and eating the reindeer, poisoning the elves and raping Mrs. Claus and broadcasting the event live on YouTube.

Oh and don't be surprised if one of us gets accused of stuffing Frosty in the microwave.

[Javarod]

Its possible, i've had months here in a 980sq ft apartment in the summer where my electric bill has hit nearly $250. That's a fairly small 2 bedroom apartment, most are a good 100 to 150 sq ft bigger, and this is with three people. Still a bill as high as hers would take being delinquent for quite a long time even if it was a place twice as big as mine.

[edible_hat]

I cannot see how a bill could ever get that high, even over several months with out one of the following happening.

(a). some kind of massive electrical problem with the house
or
(B). every house on the block is running a extension cord from her house.

(C). they're growing an indoor marijuana crop
(D). they're the kind of person who, when it gets too cold, turns a heater on instead of turning the air conditioner off
(E). 36 hours of TV a day (requires multiple television sets)

[Golden Phoenix]

(C). they're growing an indoor marijuana crop

This happens a lot actually.

(D). they're the kind of person who, when it gets too cold, turns a heater on instead of turning the air conditioner off

As above.

(E). 36 hours of TV a day (requires multiple television sets)

Usually they leave their computer on 24/7, have the tv on most of the day, run a tumble dryer non-stop, leave their lights on constantly, and then wonder why the bill is high.

Worst is the ones who just had an outdoor heated pool put in and want to know why their bill went up.

[Aethian]

I'm doing the math on the fly here, but thats almost 5000 us dollars. I cannot see how a bill could ever get that high, even over several months with out one of the following happening.

(a). some kind of massive electrical problem with the house
or
(B). every house on the block is running a extension cord from her house.

I don't think I've ever seen a bill over 300 even when it was close to disconnection. Of course, in the states we don't have to take people to court to shut off service for nonpayment

When I was delivering today I got to one of the places where a sign had been posted on the front door about a eviction. I had delivered the power bills the day before and saw something crumpled up on the porch. Picking it up (yes I'm one of those who will toss someone else's trash...hate litter bugs) I realized it was their electric bill and stuffed it back into their filled mail box. The total... 775 dollars... Thats 25 more dollars then my rent.

[JLRodgers]

The house I'm in, the electric company apparently thinks we go through $750 USD in electric per month.... a two story hotel with 100 rooms only uses $1500 worth..... they say they're right (funny... an empty house with nothing but heat to keep pipes warm have a $450 bill a month).

So in my town, $5k would be about 6-7 months behind.

[PepperElf]

yeah... when i was in va my bill was over 100 a month. then my ac unit broke so it wouldn't turn on automatically... ended up switching to fans when i was hot. and my bill dropped to just 25-30 a month... so yeah, running lots of motors can do bad things to your bill

[ArcticChicken]

and that's probably not the only person who will accuse any of us of ruining their Christmas . . .

I actually have ruined people's Christmas'. I was three or four and had just discovered that Santa wasn't real, and boy was I pissed. I was so mad at the massive adult conspiracy that I told every single child in my daycare that Santa wasn't real.

[depechemodefan]

I guess your bill follows you around. Say you move within a city, the light company can say, "hey, you owed us $600 from when you lived at 13054 Baker street."

At the library, people will get a card in one kid's name, though there is a space for the parent's name that has to be added. Then the parent will check out "The erotic adventures of Pansy Watafox" and "How to get a man when you are over 30" and "How to have the best sex ever!" and "Tommy the Tank" and "Disney's Cinderella" and 10 dvds. And they renew them for 6 weeks. Then they never return them, and when we send notices to them, we get "addresee has moved" or "no forwarding address". And the asswipe goes to another library, gets another card in another sprog's name and even though you see the parent's name on the form, the computer isn't programed to say "hey! this parent's name is the same name on this other's kids account, and he/she owes $379.14!"

And the parent will keep on getting cards in the other kids' names and just rack up stuff.

Thank God none of them have been making up kids, since we don't require to see the kid for the kid to get a card. But unfortunately they are popping out kids at least 1 every 3 years.

[nomorecarts]

I don't think I've ever seen a bill over 300 even when it was close to disconnection. Of course, in the states we don't have to take people to court to shut off service for nonpayment

I know someone who has so many reptiles with electric heaters and lights that their electric bill is $1k a month

Not only will we be accused of ruining Christmas for half the planet, but we'll also be responsible for killing Santa Claus, hunting down and eating the reindeer, poisoning the elves and raping Mrs. Claus and broadcasting the event live on YouTube.

Oh and don't be surprised if one of us gets accused of stuffing Frosty in the microwave.

I wonder if I'll get in trouble for saying it was fun?

[Belari]

It's usually when they're a high user and they've been under estimated.

If we can't get to their meter we have to guess their readings to bill to, (this can be if they refuse to give us access or if they were just out) However, we send them a letter about it *and* it say son their bill to call in with a proper read. We have to, by law, attempt to get a read once every two years minimum, and sometimes we can't even get them that often.

That system of billing for electricity was one of the top reasons my husband and I chose to live on base instead of living off base here. On base, we forfeit our housing allowance pay in order to not pay rent or utilities. The European system for billing electricity is just too complicated for me.