Extreme weather conditions continue to make it difficult -- and in some cases impossible -- for Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. to read electric meters. As a result, the number of customer bills PP&L will issue in January based on estimated electricity use will be higher than normal.
"We read the vast majority of meters each month," said John R. Menichini, PP&L's vice president for Customer Services. "This month, heavy snows may keep us from reaching 30 to 40 percent of the meters across our service area."
PP&L calculates estimated bills using the customer's average electricity use in prior years for the month in question.
"With the next meter reading, we will address the minor inconvenience of an estimated bill by 'truing up' any difference between estimated and actual electricity use," Menichini said.
"We know that customers prefer to receive bills based on actual electricity use. We want customers to be aware in advance that they may get an estimated bill this month. We hope they understand the circumstances involved," he said.
Menichini added that customers can expect higher bills this month compared with last January because of PP&L's 3.8 percent rate increase granted in September, and because temperatures have been about 25 percent colder.
The most pressing problem in the days following the blizzard has been travel. While highways and main roads are open, many streets in PP&L's service area remain difficult to travel.
Even as roads clear, difficulties remain. In urban areas, narrow streets piled high with snow leave no places for meter readers to park their vehicles. In suburban and rural areas, meters may be located on the side or back of houses that are inaccessible to meter readers because of snow drifts and mounds.
One thing customers can do is clear a path to their electric meter if possible, he added. Clearing a path to the meter does not guarantee that PP&L will be able to read it -- there may be other factors that prevent meter readers from getting to the meter -- but it certainly helps.
"On a positive note, we are pleased that few PP&L customers were without electricity during one of the worst winter storms in memory," Menichini said.