“Anyone know a resource for Washington Gas customers getting screwed by a measurement error?”

“Dear PoPville,

Hoping some commenters might be able to help me out with a utilities nightmare.

Last March, my roommate and I moved to a new unit within the same apartment building. Due to a miscommunication with Washington Gas, the new account was not set up until we reached out to them in July, having not received a bill for several months. The first bill for the new account included charges for the four months we had lived in the new unit without a gas account set up, which made sense.

The problem: The gas meter readouts from the March-July period showed astronomically high usage, which then returned to normal levels for all measurements taken after we called (see screenshot). Needless to say, our use of heat during this period did not actually reflect these levels. There was clearly a problem with Washington Gas’ retroactive measurement.

We’ve reached out to Washington Gas at least once a month since last summer — online, by phone and even going to the downtown office — but their customer service has been horribly unhelpful. As of now, they’re threatening to cut service if we don’t pay the ridiculously high bills that are obviously related to a measurement error.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? Does any government office/NGO provide free or cheap resources for people in this situation? We’d prefer not to hire lawyers over a few hundred dollars, but we also don’t want to give a few hundred bucks to a company that is being deliberately obtuse and unhelpful.

Thanks for any advice,

Angry Washington Gas Customers

TL;DR — Anyone know a resource for Washington Gas customers getting screwed by a measurement error?”