Claremore Residents Concerned With Electric Bill Increase

Some Claremore utility customers are wondering why their electric bills are much higher this month.

The city says it does not charge anyone during an outage.

But some customers say something had to cause the increase this month, and their questions are not getting answered.

It’s a waiting game that homeowners Dylan and Niki Owens don’t like playing.

“Just waiting for that bill to come out-it’s stressful,” Dylan said. “There’s months we sit there and check the website every day waiting for that new bill so we can try to plan on how we’re going to come up with that much money for that month’s bill.”

The latest utility bill left the couple wondering how the numbers could be so expensive. They say the electric portion is doubled what it was last month. 

While there are more days included in this billing cycle, the family went a week without power after a tornado.

The spike is even more confusing because the couple has taken steps to make sure their home is more energy efficient.

“Last year we spent 15 grand putting in new duct work, new heating and air conditioning unit, make sure it was sized right for the home, and my usage went up," said Dylan.

The Owens family isn’t alone.

Others took to social media to say, “13 days without power and my bill is $178 dollars more,” and “Our usage tripled from last month.”

The city says no customers are charged during an outage.

In a statement, it says in part, “As a result of extremely hot temperatures, customers often experience a surge in the use of home cooling systems, leading to increased electric usage.”

While temperatures did get warm last month, the Owens family says they always kept their thermostat between 70 and 75 degrees. They say the spikes are nothing new and hope to get some consistency with their billing, or at least some answers.

The city says anyone with questions or concerns about their electric bill should call the utilities office.

Meanwhile, the Owens family is considering getting new windows in another effort to save energy and money.