Check your own meter in multiple-family houses
Electric meter number is on first line of bill.
Should match eight-digit serial number on meter.
Call Gerald Flick, City of Hamilton field service superintendent, at (513) 785-7222 if you want your meter checked.
HAMILTON — Verna Stockmal was vacuuming her home on an otherwise normal June day when her electricity suddenly shut off.
“I knew I didn’t trip it because the garage light was on and my neighbors had light,” Stockmal said of the incident.
It was discovered by staff of the city’s utilities department that Stockmal had been paying for usage at the wrong address, which resulted in her power being temporarily shut off.
After more investigating by the utilities department, it was found that 10 of 76 electric customers living in Hamilton Villas West, near the Hamilton Freshmen School, had been paying the electric bills of their neighbors and not their own for up to the past five years.
Charles Young, deputy city manager of utilities, said the electric meters were wrongly assigned when the condominiums were built in 2005. Young said after five years, it’s hard to distinguish how the mistake happened — either by clerical error, lack of necessary procedure or mislabeling of the meter by the builder.
“This is a big problem for us,” Young said. “We’re not happy about it and customers shouldn’t be either.”
About a week after the initial contact with a meter worker, Stockmal received a letter stating she owed an additional $350 due to underbilling in the past year because her meter was “erroneously assigned.”
She’d been paying the electric bill of a vacant condominium at the complex.
“I’m not going to try to get out of my bill,” Stockmal said. “But it’s the principle of the thing. Some poor soul could be paying way more than they should and be on Social Security.”
Stockmal’s neighbor Carm Glover recently received a $700 reimbursement check in the mail due to being overbilled. Since 2008, Glover had been paying the electric bill of a husband and wife living next door.
“I had no idea it was going on, I do believe they’ll get to the bottom of it,” Glover said.
Young said a reason the wrong assignments were never detected may be because of low turnover at condominiums. He said misassignments are rare, especially those lasting years. Typically problems are discovered within months as people move in and out of apartments.
Gerald Flick, field service superintendent, said staff is reviewing its procedures for meter identification and labeling. Current policy states meters must be permanently marked by an engraved plaque and be arranged sequentially.
“We’re working with developers to make sure the meter matches the service area,” Young said. “These meters were assigned before construction was complete and they weren’t labeled yet.”
Young said the city had a similar incident occur at Knollwood Crossing Apartments, off Hamilton Mason Road, from 2007-09 when about 20 meters were wrongly assigned.
According to a city ordinance, the utilities department can only go back 12 months from the point of discovery in terms of reimbursement or extra billing. Flick said legislation will likely be presented to City Council in August to broaden the time frame.
Young said there’s difference in opinion when deciding if those underbilled for so many years should have to pay pack the cost of their extra usage.
“We want to do the right thing by people,” Young said. “If they knew what the bill was they might have adjusted their usage.”
David Labus, principal at Foundation Development Group — builder and owner of the condominiums — said since the incident both city staff and his own office have found room for improvements. Labus said he’s met with electricians to review his procedures. He said in the future when a new meter is hooked up at his buildings, staff will verify the meter number on the first utility bill to the actual serial number.
“At the end of the day the city will take care of this and we’ll be happy,” Labus said. “The city from day one had the intention to make it right by the customer.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2179 or hpoturalski@coxohio.com.
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