If you don’t keep a close eye on your energy bills, you may want to change that. CenterPoint Energy has told one Houston homeowner he may be owed close to $14,000 after finding he overpaid on his electricity for 14 years. Peter Yang, a retired engineer and pastor, discovered the problem himself by walking outside and comparing the meter number printed on his monthly bill against the number on the physical meter attached to his house, KHOU 11 reported. The two numbers differed by a single digit.
Yang started looking after a change that should have lowered his costs didn’t do much of anything. He had switched electricity providers specifically to bring his bill down. The bill stayed high anyway, which is what sent him out to look at the meter itself. He told KHOU, “I see a meter reading that’s completely off compared with my invoice.”
The bills had been bothering him for a while before that, though. He nudged his thermostat up from 78 degrees to 79 and sometimes 80, tracked his usage, and checked his meter readings regularly to offset the charges. His monthly bills still stayed in the $200 to $300 range, and one month reached $400. Yang has maintained that nothing was wrong with the meter itself, and that the wrong meter had simply been tied to his account.
He filed a complaint with the Public Utility Commission of Texas, and CenterPoint swapped out the meter. After KHOU aired his story, the company told him its investigation found the 14 years of overpayment and a refund of roughly $14,000 or more. CenterPoint said it is still calculating the full amount and working with him to make sure he receives it, and the company apologized for the trouble while encouraging other customers with concerns to contact it directly. Yang told KPRC 2 earlier this month that he believes he “paid somebody else’s bill for almost 15 to 20 years.”
Why the Meter Number on Your Bill Is Worth Checking
In Houston, CenterPoint is the transmission and distribution utility that owns the poles, wires, and meters and records each individual person’s electricity usage. A separate electricity provider handles the billing. A customer shopping for a better rate will change only the retail provider, which is why Yang could switch companies and still receive charges tied to the wrong meter. That’s something extremely simple that could happen to you as well.
Cases like this have surfaced in other states, too. In 2024, a Vacaville, California, man named Ken Wilson realized he’d been paying for his neighbor’s apartment for some time, which PG&E said had likely been billed to his meter number since 2009. The company credited him over $600 after fixing it. PG&E responded by urging customers to compare the meter ID on their electric panel against the one on their monthly statement. It takes only a minute and doesn’t require you to mess with any equipment.
How to Dispute an Electric Bill in Texas
The Public Utility Commission of Texas directs customers to start with their electricity provider. If that does not resolve the problem, a formal complaint with the commission is the next step, and it is the step Yang took before CenterPoint replaced his meter.
Documenting the physical meter number, the number on the bill, and the meter readings gives a complaint something concrete to look at in the future and compare to older bills. You’ll have more leverage if you have hard facts you can point to when you speak to the utility companies. Know the facts, report them as you can, and you should be able to resolve any future billing disputes.