How to Take a High-Bill Call at the Office

Why this matters

"My bill doubled" is a call the office takes before anyone in a truck hears about it, and the first four minutes decide how the job goes. Book it as "furnace not working right" and a tech shows up expecting a repair, finds a furnace that works, and either leaves the customer with nothing or goes looking for something to sell. Book it as a bill review, with the right trade and the bills in hand, and the tech walks in already knowing whether the problem is the house, the weather or the billing.

The office's job on this call is not to find the cause. It is to collect five facts, screen for the one situation that is not a bill problem at all, route to the right trade, and set an expectation the shop can actually meet.

Step 1: Screen for a safety problem before anything else

Before the bill, ask one question matched to the service: for gas, "Do you smell gas anywhere in the house or outside near the meter?"; for electric, "Any burning smell, outlets or switches warm to the touch, or a breaker that keeps tripping?"; for water, "Is there any water you can see where it should not be, or a sound of water running when nothing is on?"

The reason is that a leak big enough to show up on a bill can be big enough to hurt someone. A yes on gas odor ends the intake: tell them to get everyone out of the house now, not to flip any switches or use a phone inside, and to call the gas utility's emergency line or 911 once they are outside. A yes on electrical heat signs gets an electrician booked as same-day, not as a bill review. If the utility shuts the gas off, it stays off until the leak is found and fixed, and the appliances are relit by the utility or a qualified tech who confirms each burner lights and drafts. Visible water goes to a plumber, with the instruction to close the main shutoff if they know where it is and leave it closed until the plumber has found the leak, turned the water back on and watched the repair stay dry.

Skip this and the one call in a hundred that was really a gas leak gets booked for next Thursday.

Step 2: Which bill, which utility service

Ask which bill: electric, gas, water and sewer, or a fuel delivery (propane or heating oil). Many customers say "my utility bill" and mean a combined statement. The service decides the trade:

• Gas - heating tech; a plumber if the house has gas water heating and no gas heat.
• Electric - heating and cooling tech if the house has electric heat, a heat pump or central air; an electrician otherwise, or where the customer reports something electrical.
• Water and sewer - plumber, and the office can walk the customer through a meter leak check first. See related: How to Walk a Customer Through a Water Meter Leak Check by Phone.
• Propane or oil - heating tech, with the delivery tickets in place of bills.

Step 3: Get the two dates, the two usage numbers and the read type

Customers lead with the money. Write down that they are upset about the amount, then ask for usage, because usage is the part a tech can explain. The office needs, from each of the two bills: the service period dates (or the number of days), the usage (kWh, therms, CCF or gallons), and whether the read was actual or estimated.

The reason for days: a 34-day bill against a 29-day bill is 17 percent longer before anything changed in the house. The reason for read type: an estimated read followed by an actual read can put two months of use on one bill. See related: Estimated Versus Actual Meter Reads and the Catch-Up Bill. If the customer cannot find a field, tell them where it usually lives: usage and days are typically in a box near the meter readings, and an estimated read is often marked with an E.

Step 4: Ask what changed

Ask openly, then prompt: new equipment, a new thermostat, someone moved in or a houseguest stayed, a new hot tub or pool, home office use, a long cold snap, a stay away from home, a renovation, a new appliance, a change of supplier on the bill. The answer often is the cause, and the customer will not think to volunteer it because they do not connect the two.

Write down the answer even when it is "nothing." "Nothing changed" from a customer who installed a new thermostat in December is a fact the tech wants to know about before they arrive.

Step 5: Ask whether they have twelve months of bills

The tech needs the house's own seasonal pattern, not two bills. Ask whether they keep paper bills, receive them by email, or can log in to the utility's online usage portal. Ask them to have the last twelve months ready, or to send pictures of the usage-history table most bills print. Do not ask for their portal password; the tech can sit with them while they log in. See related: How to Get a Customer's Interval Usage Data Without Their Password.

Step 6: Book it as a bill review, and say what that means

Book the visit as a high-bill review with the trade from step 2. Then say out loud, in plain words, what the visit is: the tech reads the bills first, compares them against last year and the weather, and only then looks at equipment. Some calls are answered from the bills alone, and the customer should hear that before the visit so it does not feel like the tech skipped the house.

Step 7: Never promise a cause, and never promise a number

The office does not know why the bill went up, and saying "it is probably your furnace" sets up a tech to either confirm it or disappoint the customer. Do not say "we will get your bill back down" either. What the office can promise is a process: the bills reviewed, the likely causes ranked, and a written findings note. See related: Savings Claims Without Overpromising: The Honest Language.

The call, start to finish

A real-shaped intake on a gas bill. The two bills: November, 29 days, 64 therms, actual read; December, 34 days, 141 therms, estimated read.

OFFICE: Before we get into the bill, do you smell gas
  anywhere inside, or outside near the meter?
CUSTOMER: No, nothing like that.
OFFICE: Good. Is this the gas bill or electric?
CUSTOMER: Gas. It's more than double last month.
OFFICE: Can you find the usage? Look for a number
  with "therms" or "CCF" next to it.
CUSTOMER: November says 64 therms. December says 141.
OFFICE: And how many days does each one cover?
CUSTOMER: 29 days, and this one is 34.
OFFICE: Next to the meter readings on December, is
  there an E, or the word "estimated"?
CUSTOMER: There's an E on December.
OFFICE: That means the utility estimated the reading
  this month. Anything change in the house lately?
CUSTOMER: My sister's family stayed two weeks over the
  holidays. Otherwise no.
OFFICE: Do you keep a year of bills, or have a login
  for the gas company's website?
CUSTOMER: I can log in.
OFFICE: Then I'll book a heating tech for a bill review.
  He'll go through a year of bills with you first, then
  look at the furnace and water heater if the bills
  point there. I can't tell you the cause today, and he
  won't guess either. With an estimated read, it's also
  worth asking the gas company when the next actual
  read is, because the next bill may correct this one.

What the office did with the numbers, which it can do in its head or on a calculator: 64 therms over 29 days is 2.2 therms a day; 141 over 34 is 4.1 a day. So per day, December used about 1.9 times November, not the 2.2 times the totals suggest. That is still a real increase, and it is also a November bill against a December bill, which is a heating comparison, plus two weeks of extra people showering, cooking and doing laundry, plus an estimated read that may be high or low. Three plausible explanations before anyone opens a furnace door.

The office does not tell the customer any of that as a conclusion. It goes in the booking note.

The booking note the tech reads

The note is the handoff, and the tech should not have to call the customer back to get any of it:

• Service: gas. Safety screen negative.
• Bills: November 29 days, 64 therms, actual. December 34 days, 141 therms, estimated (E on bill). Per day 2.2 against 4.1.
• Changes: houseguests for about 14 days in December. No new equipment reported.
• History: customer has portal login; will pull 12 months with tech.
• Expectation set: bill review first, equipment only if bills point there. No cause or savings promised. Customer advised to ask utility about next actual read.

What changes the call

• The customer only wants someone to "check the furnace." Book what they ask for, and still collect the five facts. The tech walks in with them either way.
• The bill is from a third-party supplier. If the customer mentions a new company name on the bill or a rate that "went variable," the increase may be a price, not use. The office says so and suggests they read the supply section and call the supplier. See related: Third-Party Energy Suppliers and the Variable-Rate Jump.
• Budget billing. A customer on an equal-payment plan who suddenly gets a large bill is often looking at the annual true-up. See related: Budget Billing and the True-Up Month Surprise.
• Delivered fuel. "My tank emptied too fast" gets the delivery tickets, not bills: dates, gallons, and the gauge reading if the driver wrote it.

How the intake goes wrong

The office diagnoses. "Sounds like your water heater" is the most common one, and it makes the tech's job harder whether or not it is right. Ask, write down, route.

The money is recorded and the usage is not. A note that says "bill went way up" gives the tech nothing to compare. Usage and days are the minimum.

The estimated read gets missed. Of the facts on the list, this is the one most likely to explain the whole call, and it takes one question. Catch it by making read type a required field on the booking form.

References

• See related: How to Diagnose a High-Bill Call, in Order
• See related: Helping Customer Read Utility Bills Reference
• See related: Reading Gas Meter + Usage Reference
• See related: How to Compare Two Bills With Different Billing Days