SAN ANTONIO -- We're still getting emails from some of you who've received CPS Energy bills that are double, or triple what you are used to seeing.
"I was totally shocked, the amount was almost three times what it had been the month before, and the month before that, " said CPS energy customer Susan Riley.
Riley's bill average around $140, her last bill was more than $450. "When I called them they told me they had not read my meter since October, " added Riley.
Riley said she had no idea the utility was estimating her electricity usage. "I was pretty angry, I thought this is not a way to go about treat your customers, " Riley went on to say.
Albert Cantu, a spokesperson for CPS Energy says whenever the utility has to estimate usage it tends to underestimate consumption, so that was they don't overcharge the customer.
"It's unfortunate that we've had to estimate in this case because of low manpower", said Cantu.
Last month, CPS Energy told News 4 they had a shortage of meter readers. Cantu says the utility has since added more meter readers, and is also adding more digital meters to replace the dial ones.
Customer Susan Riley just had a digital meter installed outside her home a couple of days ago.
The utility already has 400,000 digital meters around the city, and plans to install 100,000 more by August.
To know if your CPS Energy bill is being read or estimated you can look directly on your bill. "You'll see an R, and that lets you know if it's been read, if it's estimated you'll see an E, " added Cantu.
If you would like a digital meter for your home, you can call CPS Energy at (210) 353- 2222.
The meters are free, but we're told the wait time is about two weeks.
The utility says it will probably be another few months before this issue is fully resolved.
