MISSOURI CITY, Texas — Driving through a Missouri City subdivision, it's clear to see that no neighbors were spared from Hurricane Beryl's destructive path.
Among them is Cheryl Moore, who called KHOU 11 News because she needed help getting answers.
"I don't know, Matt (Dougherty). I just don't know what to do," she said.
They're having problems with their electric bills and trying to find out if power companies were charging them for electricity they couldn't have possibly used because the lights were out.
"It's just wrong. It's just wrong," Moore said.
Moore showed KHOU 11 News reporter Matt Dougherty her electric bill for July, which she received on Wednesday.
"The billing period is June 17 ... through July 17," she said.
The bill was $194.88 and she said they lost power on July 8 and didn't get it back until July 17.
The part that confuses her is that her June bill was $189.36 -- a difference of only $5.52 -- even though she didn't have power for eight days during the July cycle.
"If you look at the chart there, the wattage -- it's identical to June -- it looks like they just used that and charged me for this month," she said.
Moore said she called her electric company Just Power on Wednesday and said she was given an explanation for the billing discrepancy.
"It just means you used more wattage this month," she said a representative told her.
Moore said her 89-year-old mother uses the same provider.
"She was out 10 days without lights and the same thing -- same amount of money as last month," she said.
Just Power's office is in the Galleria area, so Dougherty reached out to get some clarification. He asked why customers said they're getting bills for power they claim they never could have used because it was out. The company sent KHOU 11 News this statement:
"We understand and appreciate that outages experienced by customers and our employees caused by the hurricane have caused concerns.
"We bill our customers based on the meter readings we receive from the utility (e.g. CenterPoint, etc.). In general (without taking outages into consideration), we would expect a customer’s July bill to be 20% to 30% higher as temperatures are generally hotter at the end of June and early July than at the end of May and early June.
"If a customer believes there is a discrepancy in their usage, they may dispute the usage directly with the utility or with their retail energy provider. If the customer disputes the usage with Just Energy or through the utility, we will work with the utility to investigate the discrepancy and make any necessary adjustments based on the utility’s findings."
Moore isn't the only one dealing with problems with electric bills. KHOU 11 News has been contacted by several Houston-area residents who said the same thing is happening to them.
Penny called and said she had no power for five days in June and a week in July but her bill was still almost $400.
"We keep our thermostat on 77 or 78 -- don't understand why it was so high then. Wonder what the July bill will be. Something has to happen," she said.
Jocelyn in The Woodlands said she lost power from the Monday Beryl hit Houston until Sunday of the following week.
"Most of us have smart meters. There should be no excuse, like, 'We had to average your amount since we couldn't read meters," she said.
Anyone with questions about their power bills in the wake of the widespread power outages can call us at 713-521-4310 and leave us a message. We'll continue to stay on top of the issue to get you answers.