<prompt> Human: NOTE: Im not entirely sure if this is the correct sub to post on, its the only thing I could think of though.A bit of backstory, Ive recently moved back into my moms place after living on my own for a few 10 months.Today we got a letter from the electric company saying that we owed them 500 due to supposedly faulty equipment readings in the time frame that I was away. Keep in mind I have a lot of electronic devices that left with me at the same time. Now theyve somehow calculated this supposed debt out of nowhere, perhaps some math to do with the amount used when I was still here. How can they even calculate this if their equipment was faulty?My main question is do we have anything here? Is there any way we can avoid having to pay this ridiculous charge?  <response>: Our local electrical co-op only comes out every few months to read our meter. In between they estimate your usage. If your usage is more, than you get hit with a big bill for the difference. Technically youve been under-paying the previous months. Still stinks. 