Faulty gas meter costs homeowner over $1,100

MILWAUKEE -- A faulty gas meter cost one Milwaukee homeowner over $1,100! FOX6's Contact 6 warns you could be paying a lot, if you're not paying attention.

Patti Post says We Energies said her gas meter stopped working back in August. Post says a We Energies official said someone would be over the next day to fix the meter, and her bill would be readjusted. "Of course, it's combined with electric and gas, but the whole bill together was over $1,000! I was very shocked! I was sick to my stomach, actually," Post said.

Even though Post had been paying, on average, about $100 online every month, the readjusted bill was over $1,100! Post says We Energies apparently knew about the faulty meter back in August of 2011. "If you're first noticing something in August of 2011, why are you finally coming to me in March of 2012?" Post said.

We Energies did notify Post about the faulty meter, but the message was on the last page of her bill, and she simply never saw it. Contact 6 sent Post's complaint to We Energies. A We Energies spokesperson said this kind of malfunction is rare, but the company may have waited too long to tell Post what was going on. "In hindsight, we probably should have called sooner than we did to alert the customer even a little bit more. We're working and have offered to work with the customer in terms of any kind of flexible payment plan that we may be able to come up with down the road," We Energies spokesman Brian Manthey said.

Contact 6 says customers should:

CLICK HERE to file a complaint with FOX6's Contact 6.