Electric Bill Jumps From $50 To $1,000 | bill, lamb, last - WTVC NewsChannel 9: Chattanooga News, Weather, Radar, Sports, Lottery

Electric Bill Jumps From $50 To $1,000 | bill, lamb, last - WTVC NewsChannel 9: Chattanooga News, Weather, Radar, Sports, Lottery:

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John Pless

A Signal Mountain woman asked NewsChannel 9 to look into her power bill that skyrockted this month. Rebecca Lamb's bill shot up 20-times what it has been.

Is the new digital smart meter outside her house to blame, or is there some other problem devouring electricity?

Her February EPB bill was a real shocker at $1,017.24 In January it was $50.69. And the December bill was $116.15.

"I almost fainted, I thought surely this has got to be some kind of practical joke, Lamb said.

But it's no joke. The bill shows almost 11,000 kilowatt hours of electricity used, compared to last month's 458 kilowatt hours.

It's the last thing Lamb needed after a fire in her house last year and the passing of her son last month, which left very little money for bills.

Lamb suspects the new, digital smart meter that was recently installed is to blame. But an EPB technician checked the meter and found it to be working properly.

"He told me it was the appliances that made the bill jack up so much and for me not to be surprised if it's that's much again," Lamb said.

We went to EPB Friday to get some answers. Their privacy policy won't allow them to get into the specifics of a customer's account but they can talk about general issues that can cause huge power consumption spikes.

Deborah Dwyer, EPB Public Relations & Marketing supervisor, said "typically when a usage spikes like this, unless there is a problem that we can identify, it's typically because something has changed in the home."

After last year's fire Lamb had all-new energy efficient appliances installed. More recently a new HVAC unit was installed.

"Often we've seen when a significant spike has occurred and there is an issue identified with a heating and air unit it could be the wiring is incorrect or that it is running on emergency heat," Dwyer explained.

Lamb said the man who installed her HVAC told her he may look at it the next time he swings through town from Illinois to Florida.

So what about the huge bill?

"This bill is like a mortgage payment, there's no way I can pay this," Lamb said.

Dwyer said in situations like these they try to work out a way to help customers like Lamb pay their bill.