Meter mix-up leads to higher energy bills for some

MILWAUKEE -- A few We Energies customers on Milwaukee's east side recently noticed something was up -- namely their utility bills.

"When we got our bill and it was nearly double than what we expected it to be we were quite surprised," said Maggie Schmidt.

But Schmidt's unpleasant surprise didn't end there. She didn't believe her gas bill from We Energies was right last month, considering she hadn't even turned on her heat.

"They told me we turned on our heat on October 27th. And I talked to the boys upstairs and they turned their heat on that whole time and theirs was lower than ours. So we were really confused," said Schmidt.

Schmidt called her landlord and together they called We Energies thinking there might be a gas leak. It turned out a We Energies contractor accidentally switched the meters at the duplex.

Landlord Russ Wasserman believes the problem is more widespread along the city's east side. He also believes there's more to it after talking to a We Energies technician.

"He said there was a job over on Cramer Street which he confirmed and a couple more he had to check out," said Wasserman.

As for the mix-ups, We Energies is correcting the bills and meter problems.