Will there ever be an end to this gas bill saga?
By Lena Kovadlo
@lovebuglena (52199)
Staten Island, New York
October 14, 2025 12:18pm CST
I called the gas company about the estimate readings on my mom’s meter letting them know that we’ve been overpaying because the meter reading on the meter is way less than the estimated readings on the current bill, which also means a few prior bills are the same way. I was told that the estimated readings will continue until an adjustment is made. An adjustment hasn’t been made because there are thousands of customers (or perhaps she said tens of thousands) with the same issue. It can take up to six months for the adjustments to be made.
I inquired if I should pay the current bill, even though the readings are way higher than the actual reading on the meter and the rep told me she cannot tell me what to do. I can either pay the bill or I can put the account on hold.
I’m not sure what putting the account on hold will do this time around but based on the prior experience when we had issues with the meter, this will mean not having to pay anything for a long time and then finally being billed and having to pay a lot of money.
Last time when our account was placed on hold (without us knowing) because of issues with the meter (or perhaps from issues with a third party supplier) we were not billed for almost a year and when they finally started billing us, after I had called them, it was way too much to pay.
We’ve been overpaying for gas for a while already and I don’t want to have to keep doing that until they resolve their issue. It’s not my problem that they have way too many customers dealing with the same thing. We shouldn’t have to pay for gas we didn’t use.
6 people like this
7 responses
@LindaOHio (222624)
• United States
15 Oct
I think I'd be lodging a complaint on the Better Business Bureau website.
2 people like this
@lovebuglena (52199)
• Staten Island, New York
15 Oct
What’s that gonna do really? I doubt it’d speed things up.
2 people like this
@lovebuglena (52199)
• Staten Island, New York
16 Oct
@LindaOHio I’m curious to see if there have been any complaints from others on this issue on the BBB website.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (222624)
• United States
16 Oct
@lovebuglena It would make you feel better; and the gas company would know that you complained.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (189927)
• Boise, Idaho
14 Oct
I'd be talking to meter reading or someone higher up that customer service, I think. How frustrating.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52199)
• Staten Island, New York
14 Oct
It is very hard to get a representative when you call the company. You have to work with an automated system to try and get to a representative. It seems like they do everything for you not to be able to talk to a live person.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189927)
• Boise, Idaho
16 Oct
@lovebuglena .......I know how that is. When phones were normal I used to be able to dial a number like the main one most people called, and was able to get someone important in the place I was calling. Can't do that anymore.
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (84823)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
14 Oct
The better question you should be asking yourself, since you pay your mom's bill, is can she go completely eletric? Is cutting off the gas even an option? Because if you put the account on hold, the gas could be turned off. And, while you're not paying in the short-term, it's cumulitive. Meaning if they're guessing on the readings, without actually taking the readings, they could easily just continue to estimate based on adverage usage. Assuming the gas isn't cut off.
So, do you need it? Is there a way to cook, get heat and hot water without it?
@kaylachan (84823)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
14 Oct
@lovebuglena What I was saying, is if you place the account on hold, that WILL happen. Addationally you run the risk of the gas being cut off completely.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52199)
• Staten Island, New York
14 Oct
She lives in a community with a homeowners association. All the houses have gas and you can’t do anything about it as far as I’m aware. The last time our account was placed on hold without them informing us about it, she still had gas the whole time that we weren’t billed. The bill that came had no readings and just said that we have an account credit from the previous adjustment.
@lovebuglena (52199)
• Staten Island, New York
14 Oct
Placing an account on hold could result in the same thing again where they don’t bill us and then all of a sudden we get a bill and we have to pay a lot of money. That is not something we want again.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (98026)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
14 Oct
Sorry you have to go through this so annoying I hope you can get it all figured out,
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52199)
• Staten Island, New York
14 Oct
It would be great if this whole thing ended. It’s probably gonna take a long time before everything is sorted out. What is frustrating is that you can’t really not pay the bills or they can potentially shut off the gas. But at the same time, my mom is overpaying and that is not something she wants to do. I was told during one of my previous calls that if you are overcharged, you’ll get credited for that eventually, however who knows if that’s gonna happen or when.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238338)
• Walnut Creek, California
14 Oct
@lovebuglena I often have to speak to people who do not understand English. I find it frustrating.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52199)
• Staten Island, New York
14 Oct
I believe she was. I didn’t get a super friendly vibe from her but perhaps that wasn’t the case and I got the wrong impression.
1 person likes this
@porwest (112864)
• United States
15 Oct
This seems so wrong to me on so many levels. I mean, if they KNOW they are overcharging customers, why are they holding the money even if it's thousands of customers. That means it's hundreds of thousands of dollars they are earning interest on while they hold it before refunding or making adjustments, which just seems wrong to me on many levels.
I'm not sure what I would do. I mean, if you short pay them, they'll add on late fees and probably interest, so you're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Perhaps you could call your congressman?
@lovebuglena (52199)
• Staten Island, New York
15 Oct
Honestly, I don’t want my mom to pay anything, but if we don’t pay, they’ll probably shut the gas off which we do not need or want. And it doesn’t matter that there are thousands of customers with the same issue. Why should she pay for gas she doesn’t use? I’d like to think that eventually an adjustment is going to be made, but I believe it still won’t be accurate anyway. Because you go based on previous reading and current reading, so even if the current reading will be actual previous won’t be because you can’t go back in time to read the meter on a certain day. Perhaps we should look at the latest bill and see where it says when the next meter reading is going to be and on that day ourselves, take a picture of the meter for evidence. And we should do that until this matter gets resolved. The thing is when you take a photo on the photo itself there is no timestamp so how would we prove that the picture was taken and so so date? Yes we can see the date we took the picture but on the picture itself it’s not displayed.
@lovebuglena (52199)
• Staten Island, New York
16 Oct
@porwest what does your last expression mean? I’ve never heard of it.
1 person likes this
@porwest (112864)
• United States
16 Oct
@lovebuglena Just sounds like an aggravating, chaotic mess to me. I'd be fit to be tied.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52199)
• Staten Island, New York
14 Oct
I’m really upset over this. If we are gonna end up getting estimated readings until an adjustment is made this will go on for many months if not for years and then what? We don’t want to overpay constantly for gas we didn’t use.
@lovebuglena (52199)
• Staten Island, New York
14 Oct
I wonder if I should still submit the meter reading from October 9th.
