Mom has tremendously high electric bills compared to neighbors... Can't figure out why... Need suggestions?

I live in a manufactured home in Southern California. We depend a lot on Southern California Edison to check our bill. They will come out to the home and find out where there might be a problem. They also have level pay plans for senior citizens and low income families. Your mother sounds as though she is watching her part. Now it's time for the utility company to step up.

Have the electric company come out to investigate. It could be that a mistake is being made on estimates...have them come out to do a manual read...I just dealt with my power company this past month regarding exactly this...my bill was three times what it normally is, and it was found that there was a meter reading error. And as other people have said...stealing electricity is a common 'crime'...but it happens frequently, and the electric company can tell whether or not that's the case.

Check insulation in the attic. Too little insulation will cause heat loss during the winter and a/c overrun during the summer.

Old windows will also cause high electric bills because it will make the a/c and furnace work too much.

Old refrigerators are also an electric drain.

Good luck

Whoever supplies her electricity should be prepared to check that her meter is running accurately. We recently had a letter telling us that our gas consumption was extremely low for the season and therefore the gas meter would have to be checked to see if it was running incorrectly.

If such companies will check when they think there's a problem in the customer's favour they should surely be prepared to check when the reverse happens.

Call the electric company and have them check the meter. I received a bill that was triple the norm for 3 months.

They came out, checked it and found I had a faulty meter.

New meter was installed, they did not give me a cash refund but I had several months with nothing due on my bill.

Most if not all energy providers will, if requested, do some testing or auditing of her usage to see where she is losing unnecessary energy. Often times for older homes the insulation must be reevaluated and perhaps supplemented by adding more insulation.

You might not believe this, but I've heard of neighbours stealing electricity.

All that's needed is a small trench over to her breaker box and a hook up.

It would be really easy in Florida because it wouldn't have to be very deep.

Has a ''service man'' asked to get into the house to read the meter?

It's easier than you think.

call the electric service and have them check your mother's outdoors wirng. A friend of mine found a neighbor had attached his electric wiring to the wires on my friend's house. Of course this was against the law but it does happen.

Maybe the street lights are running off her meter. Get the power supplier to check it out.

Stranger things have happened.

I would call the electric company to do an energy use audit, some one may be stealing her power.