Why should CenterPoint Energy be able to take more than 30 days to read a meter if it pushes usage into a higher block?
Inverted block rates are for the recovery of wholesale gas costs and CenterPoint Energy cannot over- or under-recover these costs from our customers on an annual basis. Consequently, CenterPoint Energy does not profit from longer billing periods. If these costs were over-recovered, we would build a credit into rates to return the excess amount starting in September. We understand the impact that a longer-than-expected billing period can have on our customers in the winter with the inverted block rates. We have recently implemented some changes that will reduce the number of these longer bills and we will continue to read customers’ meters as close to a 30-day period as practical.
Related Questions
- Why is it fair that that CenterPoint Energy charges more for some usage – is the company just making more money on the extra usage?
- Does CenterPoint Energy simply adjust the number of days to make sure that the total usage is elevated to a higher tier cost?
- How will CenterPoint Energy determine customer usage in the event the 15 minute data on the meter is lost?
