$33K power bill stuns Richland couple. Is this guy running a backyard aluminum smelter?

Dec. 19—A Richland couple posted their stunning five-figure utility bill this week to Facebook.

Within a day, more than 200 neighbors had flooded the comments with pithy remarks about backyard aluminum smelters, illegal grow operations, kids leaving the lights on and more.

The north Richland residents, who asked not to be identified, received their monthly power, water, sewer and garbage bill on Dec. 16.

The invoice showed new charges of $33,209. With a credit, the bill came to about $31,700.

“It is clearly an error,” said the resident, who described the home he shares with his wife as an “ordinary house.”

The problem was traced to a mistaken entry into their account. But the result was a comically huge bill: $30,000 for electricity and nearly $3,000 for utility taxes.

The bill included reasonable charges for water, sewer, stormwater and other utility charges.

The city acknowledged the energy portion of the bill was inaccurate, chalking it up to an isolated error on the couple’s account.

“As always, we encourage any of our citizens who receive a bill that they feel may be in error to contact the city’s customer service office as soon as possible,” it said in a statement to the Tri-City Herald. A spokeswoman said the city’s system typically flags issues before bills are generated.

The bill was missed as part of a manual update.

408 megawatts

The bill suggested the couple used an eye-popping 408,594 kWh when their meter was read on Nov. 14 — a figure that easily exceeds the power consumed by the entire city.

No individual house could consume that much electricity, even if all the kids left all the lights on, all the time.

The billed amount translates to 408 megawatts or one-third of the output of Energy Northwest’s 1,200 megawatt nuclear plant north of Richland.

The customer said he’s retired and isn’t active on social media. But he was curious to see what neighbors would make of his bill, which led to his post in the Richland Residents page on Facebook.

The responses did not disappoint.

“What in tarnation? Did you accidentally power the sun?” one person wondered.

Another questioned how it went unnoticed before landing on a retired couples’ kitchen counter.

“That didn’t cause someone in the utilities department to say: ‘Huh, is this guy running an aluminum smelter in his back yard, or did the meter reader miss a digit?’” the commenter wondered.

There were obligatory comments about illegal cannabis operations — notorious for consuming large amounts of power — and sympathetic stories about unrelated billing disputes.

The resident with the $30K+ bill said he and his wife make equalized payments of $275 a month, which is deducted automatically from their bank account. They recently received a $1,200 check from the city with no explanation.

Mystified, he went to city hall and was told it was a refund for overpaid utility fees. The city routinely refunds overpayments when accounts reach a certain balance.

Satisfied it was legitimate, the couple deposited it. The new bill arrived shortly afterward.

New meters in 2023

It isn’t the first time the resident tangled with the city over an erroneous utility bill.

They received an inflated bill in early 2023 as Richland turned to a new advanced meter system to measure water and power use. During the chaotic roll out, the billing system estimated use for some customers, leading to bills that were 200% or more higher than normal.

The project was paused in February 2023. It has since completed the $13 million project that replaced 49,000 water and power meters with advanced digital meters. Richland is unique among the Tri-Cities municipalities in providing electric service to its residents.

The resident confirmed the city contacted him after spotting his post on Facebook. The problem has been fixed, he reported in a followup statement to his original post.

“I don’t need to start an only fans page to pay my utilities,” he reported. “I have thoroughly enjoyed everyone’s comments.”

This story was originally published December 19, 2024, 10:50 AM.