Woman gets $1 billion electric bill

[WI_DEM]

Sometimes electricity bills can get pretty expensive, especially during the summer when air conditioners are running almost constantly, but one Georgia woman's 10-digit power bill might set a record.

When Scarlett Hall sat down to pay her bills, she realized it was probably going to take quite a few Benjamins to pay a $1,016,500,130.09 dollar electricity bill.

Hall lives in an Acworth home with her husband and three children.

She's had high power bills before, but nothing like this.

"Last month I pawned the title to my car to pay the light bill," she said Tuesday. "Now, I think I might need to start selling organs."

Knowing this bill had to be a mistake, Scarlett called Cobb Energy.

"She started laughing and laughing," she said describing the customer service representative's response. "Then out of the blue, she goes 'I'm sorry ma'am. That just caught me off guard.' And I said 'Yeah, me too!'"

Hall said the customer service rep was able to correct the bill, bringing it down to a more reasonable and accurate $287.
http://www.king5.com/video/featured-videos/Woman-gets-1-billion-utility-bill-104915469.html

[Chulanowa]

1. $287? What in the world is she doing?

Cobb must have way higher ratesthan Puget Sound energy

[northernlights]

2. probably a/c

It gets very hot and humid down south. And central a/c uses a lot of electricity.

[TwilightGardener]

4. That's what I thought too. Either she needs to start unplugging some

shit every once in a while, or she's got electric EVERYTHING (common in the south) with no natural gas or propane bills.

[Chulanowa]

16. Shoot, I completely missed that it was Georgia!

I saw the story was on the local news, and assumed. Oops

[FSogol]

7. High rates, poorly insulated home, bad windows, and an old inefficient a/c unit.

I updated my a/c-heat pump 2 years ago and my electric bill dropped $40 a month.

[sarge43]

14. The kids running in and out of the house, usually leaving the door open n/t

[Luciferous]

3. Wow, even $287 is a lot! I think my most expensive electric bill

this summer was $185...

[TBF]

11. That's because you're in Illinois -

my winter electric bills are similar to your summer bills :)

Here in the summer we have 2 AC units running most of the time (2500 sq. foot house), and the bill is usually under $400, but not always. Of course, as I said in the winter it's routinely under $250, and the gas bills (heat) are very low year round because we mostly use heat for heating water.

[Uben]

12. Depends on house size, I guess

A $287 electric bill is a bit less than I pay monthly. Mine usually runs $300-$350, depending on time of year. But, I have a very large home, 40 yrs old, frame, 2-story, and some of it is cooled by window units, the rest by central air. For the size of my home, over 2500 sq ft of it is climate controlled. There's another 1700 sq ft or so that is not. The reason it is not all climate controlled is really because of taxes. That portion of the house is considered storage by the taxing entities since it is not heated and cooled.

[1monster]

13. Lucky you! I''m not sure how it is done, but my bill fluctuates from $135 to $398.

For some reason, December's bill is always incredibly high, even when the wheather is mild and requires no heating or air conditioning or or very little. But last month my bill was $238 and this month is is $135. It did get a little cooler this month, but not so much as to make such a difference.

I've never been able to figure it out.

[FSogol]

19. Doesn't your electric company have budget pay? The make all the payments the same

and credit you the difference at the end of their fiscal year.

[1monster]

20. Tried that once and it didn't work to well -- and there were still fluctuations

in hte bills from month to month, just not as dramatic.

[lame54]

5. there is not a 2 or an 8 or a 7 in the bill

[rurallib]

6. Had to pawn her car title last month? Good grief America!

[Obamanaut]

8. Several hundred customers got huge bills in Texas a couple of years

ago. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17268983/

[JaneQPublic]

9. That'll teach her not to switch out her lightbulbs.

But seriously, even $287 seems rather high.

[ecstatic]

10. Wow! What if her account had been on autopay?

She would have been screwed!

[old mark]

15. We NEVER have electric bills over $140...with 2 AC's. fans, 2 computers,etc...nt

[Ter]

17. I want to live in a time when electric, gas, cable, phone bills, and internet are all free

Maybe not gas, because that we can use up. But the others should be free as they're unlimited and cost nothing.

[pipi_k]

18. Batteries for the vibrator might be cheaper in the long run.... n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

21. now that's a BIG bill