I signed up for their "engery saving" program back in August. I was told that they would come to my home and install a new thermostat (free for signing up) sometime in November. I've called a few times once November came and went and I was told that I'm still on the list and they'll be out soon. Still waiting...

So, bascially I'm locked in with their summer rates and they are conveniently taking their time to update my thermostat to make my home more energy efficient. Yes...I'm bitter.

My January electric bill (I only have electric) was $536 for a three story inside unit townhome. I have never before had a bill higher than $250 in four years living at this address. Talk about a spike!

When we got our shocking December bill, we took measures to cut our usage. We turned down our thermostat, lowered the hot water heater 10 degrees, covered the pet door and made sure that there were no unnecessary lights or TV's on while we were home.

Imagine my shock when our next bill sited a 1000kWH INCREASE in our energy usage. BGE has refused to acknowledge my issues, refused to do an energy audit, AND referred me to a website for energy audits that doesn't actually do them.

If only there were an other choice besides living in cold darkness.

I think that the PSC should look into the length of time BGE is giving people to pay their BGE bills. It is my theory that sometime in the past six years, BGE reduced the length of time consumers had to pay their utility bills. This was done without notification and as a result the company probably benefited from an increase in "late" fees. I hope the PSC reviews this issue. It does not seem too hard to test.

Mr. Smith, we will ask that question! --- lfk.

Ms. Kay - thank you for this article. I was astonished when my $834 gas and electric bill arrived. This is about $300 higher than any other record breaking bill from BGE and it was before the frigid temps arrived in mid-January. I am so frustrated. I called BGE to complain and ask for an audit. They told me there was nothing they could do. We have the thermometer down to 66-68 degrees, wearing two sweatshirts and thermals in the house, limiting showers to under 5 minutes, turning off all lights, using a fireplace to supplement heat, etc.

After reading your article, I will now file a complaint with the PSC and demand some answers.

Just got my first $400+ BG&E bill ever!

Thanks for this article. I thought I was the only one with such a huge bill!!!

Mona, definitely not ... we'll follow up next week with more details -- lfk.

BGE are a bunch of crooks. They whine no matter what the commodities market is doing. Lets see if they drop rates since raw commodity costs have come down dramatically.

I received my February bill and fell of the chair. My Jan bill went up to 553 and Feb went up to 682.00. Thats after taking down xmas lights and 4 days less on my bill than Jan. I keep my thermostat on 68 and nothing has changed but no xmas lights and my bill bill jumps to 682.00. What is the problem here?

Like a previous poster, I have a 3-story townhome. Well above $500 both this month and last... and I'm not doing anything different than I was last year. The 1-cent change in "price to compare" that BGE cites on its bills, and the difference in measured month length and temperature, are still not enough to account for the discrepancy. Thanks for your article and post.

BGE customer, we're working on finding out more about this ... too many people are experiencing similarly high bills. -- lfk.

I was surprised after receiving my PEPCO bill for the month of December. I called to inquire about why my bill peaked so high in Dec. The customer service representative I spoke with gave me the explanation that if I looked at the usage a year ago in Jan 07, I'd realize this reflected the norm for my household. My response was that she could not simply compare what happened a year ago to what my usage was this year. Prior to November, my electric bill had declined so much that the recurring monthly amount going into the account created a credit balance against my account over $250. Also, from November 20 until 1 December, I was in Ocean City, Md with my family at our timeshare and it was 70 degrees when we left! One month after returning, I received a bill for a thousand dollars over and above the credit balance on the account. Something is definitely wrong. It occurs to me that if they can turn your heat down, the meter can also be changed to reflect a larger amount of usage. I won't be defeated by this overbilling of accounts, but in due time someone will have to answer to all of it.

It is at the point of doing away with the whole electric concept due to the ignorance of a dominant power. We are the all mighty and do not have to answer to you! From there statement on this page it clearly shows they want to place blame on who else the consumer. My February bill came in at $316.44 with a usage of 2,027kw average 29 days. Last year according to there record usage was 1,520kw. 32 days. Anything odd around this? I use propane heat and I have no space heaters going, my temp is a constant 70. I will share with you my past performance!

4/21/08 - 191.61 1359 kwh 31 days
5/21/08 - 142.32 984 kwh 31 days
6/19/08 - 236.19 1573 kwh 30 days
7/22/08 - 408.07 2689 kwh 33 days
8/20/08 - 308.10 2075 kwh 29 days
9/19/08 - 323.56 2093 kwh 30 days
10/21/08 - 190.81 1192 kwh 32 days
11/19/08 - 182.31 1136 kwh 29 days
12/18/08 - 215.16 1330 kwh 29 days
1/21/09 - 303.56 1871 kwh 34 days
2/19/09 - 316.44 2027 kwh 29 days

If we look into the history of these bills I find my average should be right around 1200 kwh - 1300 kwh. September I called BGE to complain that is was possible my meter was defective. They sent someone out to check the meter unanounced and we never spoke with them. I received a letter in the mail stating my meter was fine. I live in a mobile home for crying out loud and im not running a business here so what gives? However as you see the number is on it's way back up. There was no change in usage, and still it's going back up. BGE do you care to explain this as an increase in usage due to weather and your clamed 10% increase in usage. Quite funny that I have not changed my usage and yeah there was alot of cold nights but hey sometimes you gotta tuff it out. My request would be to audit there records of all users and see what the averages from last year and current year are to determine more factual representation other than just a meare statement with nothing to back it up.

Yesterday I received my BGE bill for the past 46 days. The amount I am being billed is $500. This is a two bedroom apartment with the theromosat set at 68 degrees for the last 46 days. My building was recently renovated - all new appliances. My current budget billing amount from my old home was $44 - which is the amount of the budget billing here. While I am not sweating the current BGE bill I will be sending in additional funds to make up for the obvious deficient. I have lowered the thermostat to 65 degrees and am heading out to pick up more sweat wear to wear inside. We look like Michelin men right now and can barely bend over. I am wondering now if there will be increase in births for the fall since everyone I know is going to bed early to keep warm.

Our bill for December is $702 and the bill for January-$754. The last bill shows that we spend almost 5000 kwh for 29 days. We have our heater on not in the hall house-it is on just in one bedroom, in the leaving and dining room. We are at work all day all week, no body is at home and we keep our thermostat on 65 degrees. We have a fireplace which we burn at night and at the weekend days. We have changed all of our appliances with new once and more efficiency once on December. And after all we have our bill increased more then two times.
I looked at the usage a year ago in January 08 and I realized that they pick almost the same usage even more kwh for this January 09, but they did not know that last year we were 7 people in the house from the mid December to the mid January. This year we are just two of us.
We start putting numbers down every day and the result until now is that we have spend just 1000 kwh for two weeks without changing anything at home and for two more weeks it could be just 2000 kwh, put them 2500 kwh, but not 5000kwh
It is ridiculous. It is definitely something wrong there.

I wonder what the salaries are of the CEOs and CFOs who work for Constellation Energy? Could part of this 'spike' be because Warren Buffett pulled out of his obligation to buy a substational chunk of Constellation.Who ever said, the rich get richer no matter what; and the rest of us get dragged along for the ride?

Great! This is awesome news. If you can't handle the cost, then sell your home.

My BGE bill doubled month over month with only a slight increase in usage. The charge per kwh effective rate on my bill increased nearly 200%. I have lived in 4 different states in 6 years and before the recent increases the rates BGE charged were already the highest I'd ever paid. The fact that this type of monopolistic behavior is just allowed to exist should be an absolute embarrassment to Baltimore City.