Ross Township woman ready to move after months of sky-high electric bills

CBS News

3 hours ago

A woman in Ross Township said she is ready to move after paying hundreds of dollars in electric bills for months.
Jaden Hunzeker lives alone with her cat at Alder Ridge in Ross Township. She is in a one-bedroom apartment, but her electric bills tell a different story.
"I was getting bills that were $400 a month for electric," she said. "Looking at the charges like $200 for a DLC charge, your supply is also around $200. I was like that doesn't make sense. I actually thought I was paying for someone else's."
She said Duquesne Light told her that's not the case and checked her meter, saying everything looked good. But the high bills kept pouring in last fall and through the winter and the spring.
"They offered me to do the budgeting plan," she said. "I do the budgeting plan, but my outstanding balance was still skyrocketing high every month."
February's bill showed $203 worth of Duquesne Light charges and $207 supply charges for a total of $410. It also showed a current monthly usage of 2,149 total kilowatt-hours.
While Duquesne Light does not have a publicly available average kWh usage for a one-bedroom apartment, the United States Power Outage map says an average bill in Pittsburgh for a one-bedroom apartment is around $121.41 per month, with an average consumption of 690 kWh.
Hunzeker's numbers are three times higher. For comparison, she talked to friends who live nearby.
"Who are in an over 5,000-square-foot house paying $120 electric a month," she said.
KDKA Investigates reached out to Duquesne Light, and it recommended the budget building for customers concerned about high bills. But Hunzeker is already using that.
Duquesne Light added that an average customer living in an all-electric place could use more than 200 percent more electricity compared to a customer who uses non-electric heating.
"That can be half a paycheck just going to electric," Hunzeker said. "I've called them numerous, numerous times and asked to speak to higher-ups as much as I could to try to figure this out, and I just keep getting rejected."
"What options has this left you with?" KDKA's Meghan Schiller asked.
"Debt," Hunzeker said. "Neighbors picking up part-time jobs just to afford the electric if they don't want to do the budget."
KDKA dropped into the leasing office at Alder Ridge to ask if it's an infrastructure issue, with potentially older buildings, windows and heating and air conditioning, but did not hear back on Monday.