National Grid billing error sparks outrage

We are paying more for everything. The last thing you need to worry about is being charged more than you owe for anything. 13 Investigates is reporting on National Grid billing errors, and it is sparking many comments from our viewers.

Our team reached out to one advocacy group for some advice on what you need to do when you get your next bill.

“Trust your gut. If you think something is wrong, call the utility,” said Laurie Wheelock, with PULP, the Public Utility Law Project.

She works for PULP, the Public Utility Law Project. Wheelock said always take a minute to review a bill.

“If you think something is wrong, the usage looks off, the first thing you should do is contact that company,” she said.

That is exactly what Ray Peter did. He told 13 Investigates his most recent bill was 20 times higher than normal last month.

National Grid acknowledged there was an error on its end.

Apparently, he was not alone. It opened up a floodgate of conversation on Facebook. A lot of them talked about National Grid rate increases in general, but there are a handful who reacted specifically to our story.

Like these:

“Same thing happened to us. $1,100,” Mary said.

“Geez I never thought to check,” Cynthia said.

“Happened to us too!” Jamie said.

“I had the same situation and got a revised bill 2 days later. Thank goodness,” Cindy said.

“This also happened to me,” Lori said.

The truth is, we were all cranking up the air conditioning during the recent heat wave in the Capital Region, and we should expect the bill to be a little higher, but not by that much.           

“It’s good to just check on a monthly basis, how are your expenses going? That goes for even your internet and cable. Sometimes the cost may increase there as well. You never just want to rely that auto bill is taking care of it,” Wheelock said.

If you ever need help with a bill, you can also call PULP’s hotline at 877-669-2572.