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this post was submitted on 21 May 2024
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Is there any guarantee the utility company won't just drop you like a rock when they're fed up with contesting bills? (That is a serious question, most of us are locked in by utility monopolies so if that is a risk it would be borderline life ruining)
No. Large commercial customers contest their bills constantly.
They cannot legally do that in most areas. So long as you pay your actually bills they have to serve you. If you contest the bills and then never pay when the real bill is given they can disconnect you, but so long as you pay up they have to serve you. Where I live even if they disconnect you they have to reconnect you every winter.
Note that if you contest bills that are correct they can sue you. It isn't worth their time if it is just you (they would spend a million dollars in legal fees to get $1000), but if people start contesting legitimate bills they will start making examples of the loudest people. Pay your legitimate bills without complaint is the best advice here. Contest if they actually are wrong, this can happen, but it isn't common.
If you cannot pay your utility bills contact your utility - they are programs in place for the poor and they will guide you to them (they want their money, they don't care where it comes from)
And here lies the problem. It is actually very common. I know of one major utility company that has been "estimating" 70%+ of their residential bills for years. They cannot get a handle on it and they haven't had full, clean data for years...so how are they estimating? They aren't. They are guesstimates. That's why they hired us.
That's the most extreme case due to the sheer number of households, but most do it. We only have one customer that has hired us to help them achieve their goal of zero estimates. One. Most just want to reach "good enough for minimum regulatory compliance".
I would guess that in many (or even most) areas that don't have municipal utilities, the commercial utility is under no legal obligation to provide their service to you. Otherwise, they couldn't shut off people's electricity or water for non-payment.