XCEL Energy
Billed $300.81 for Vacant Property, Shutoff Threatened

OK, I am going to make a long story... Well... Shorter. I am sure if you are reading this right now you have had a similar experience, so no boring you with fine details. Me, my fiance and my father bought a property in July. Me and my fiance had our own place up north and my father had his own apartment. Neither of our leases expired until Sept. 2008. As part of the contract of buying the property, we had to switch the utilities to our name. Which we did in July. Mind you... We did NOT move in until September. First order of business since the property was going to be sitting empty, was to shut off all circuit breakers and the main. Now I know Excel charges you like $30 a month or whatever even if you use no electricity. That is fine. Now this is a list of bills.

August - $30.04 (for July)
September - $300.81 (for August)
October - $86.87 (for September)
November - $95.36 (for October)

Now I understand the last 2. They seem to be average of what 3 people in a household uses. But how could we be billed $300.81 for usage in August? We didn't move in until September, the main and breakers were all off, and all the locks were changed so no one else had access to the building. Called Excel and they said that in the 2 months that the place was empty, we used over 2500 Kilowatts. Ok, so 1250 a month. However currently we are only using less than 1000 kilowatts with all 3 of us living here. Excel said don't worry about the bill, we will send a tech over to do a meter trace. Blah blah blah and so on. Well, guy came back and said everything was fine. However we were told that he needed entry to the building to complete his job. We are living here and no one like that came by for anything like that. I told CS that I wanted proof of his findings. They said they don't have to provide it. I refused to pay the $300.81 because no one was here, the building was empty! Now we get a notice saying pay it or we are shutting you off. So how is it I can fight this? Or do I just give in and pay something that I am positive I do not owe. By the way for those of you wondering, the meter on this building is one put on over 10 years ago and the building was sitting vacant for over 7, before we bought it. So I am wondering if the meter is truly accurate. Digital meter BTW.

Company: XCEL Energy
Country: USA
State: Minnesota
City: Minneapolis
Phone: 8008954999
Site: www.xcelenergy.com

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