MELBOURNE, Fla. – A Melbourne family has been stuck with a $12,000 electric bill after their power company discovered someone had tampered with their meter limiting how much usage was being reported.
Michelle White told News 6 a worker with Florida Power and Light showed up last Wednesday and turned off the power to their home.
She said he left a letter taped to their door that read in part, “illegal tampering with FPL’s equipment has occurred at your location and that the tampering caused the meter to improperly under-register the electricity that your home has been using.”
“There’s a jump in here, where somebody has been stealing electricity,” she said.
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She said she does not know who tampered with her meter on her 1,000 sq. ft. home.
Her family has been without power in the 90-degree heat for one week.
“I just saw a new bill, a new bill, a new bill – dated all the way back from 2019. They charged us the difference from what we paid to what they think we should have paid,” she said.
News 6 calculated the family’s power bill was an average of $62 lower during the summer months last year – a timeframe FPL said their meter was tampered.
That amounts to an average of $3,720 underpayment since 2019, but that is not what FPL said they owe.
“We viewed the bill in the amount of $12,245.92,” she said. “I was like – this has to be a glitch in the system.”
Her boyfriend – the home’s owner – Alvin Knight said they called FPL for help after one of the power lines coming to their home caught fire.
He said that’s when they found the meter had been tampered with. He said FPL replaced it, and they never mentioned anything about money.
“I would have never called you had I known that it had been jumped,” he said. “It would make me look as guilty as… I don’t know what.”
“I have a kid who takes a nebulizer every four hours, and he has an oxygen machine,” White said. “I’ve even provided them a paper from the provider saying they would need an extension. They don’t care about it. They don’t care about my kids.”
White and Knight are using a power generator to run a window air conditioning unit in one room with their child’s nebulizer, while they stay cool in one of the only places they can – their car.
They told News 6 they are not able to come up with the$12,000 – especially when they claim they did nothing wrong.
News 6 contacted FPL, and they responded:
“Out of respect for customer privacy, we do not comment on individual accounts. However, it’s important to note, high bills can stem from various factors, including charges for electricity stolen through meter tampering. Stealing electricity is not only illegal and unsafe, but it can also result in higher bills for all FPL customers. Customers are responsible for ensuring their meters are not tampered with. If tampering is detected, we may back-bill a customer or an account for unpaid and unauthorized electricity consumption and charge investigation fees, as permitted by the Florida Public Service Commission.”
Kamrel J. Eppinger, FPL Spokesman
“The only people that have ever been in there was FPL,” White said. “We have cameras in our house, so if anybody even tampered with it, I would have seen it.”
Safety experts say one thing homeowners can do safely to make sure your electric meter has not been tampered with is shut off all of your circuit breakers. If your meter continues to go up, there is something wrong, and a call to the power company is recommended.
Stealing electricity is against Florida law, and White and Knight have not been charged with anything.
They said that is because FPL cannot prove they did anything wrong, yet they are left holding an expensive bill.
The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help raise the money FPL claims they owe. Donations can be made by clicking here.