Maryland woman's empty condo ran up a suspicious $740 bill, so she began investigating. For 7 years, she'd been paying for the wrong house
An empty home cost her a staggering $740 until she proved to the company that they had mixed up her meter
When Maryland native Dorothy Baity moved out of her 1,400 square-foot condo in December, she expected her monthly expenses to drop. Instead, her gas and electricity bill soared to a staggering $740. Confused, she tried to contact customer service several times, but every time the representatives dismissed her concerns by blaming the rising utility rates. However, Mrs. Baity didn't give in and kept pushing, eventually uncovering the surprising truth, as reported by WMAR-2 News (@WMAR-2news), which has gained over 55,000 views since it was posted on June 4, 2026.
She knew this was serious
After having her concerns shot down by the Baltimore Gas and Electric representatives, who conducted a test and found out everything was working, Mrs. Baity contacted the Public Service Commission. However, even after talking to them, she felt like nothing was working out. That's when her friends suggested she contact the media, which turned out to be a masterstroke in her pursuit to pinpoint the issue with her house. As soon as she reached Mallory Sofastaii of WMAR-2 News, BGE contacted her.
Wrong number on the meter
The company told Mrs. Baity to turn everything off in her condo, note the meter's number, and check everything the next day. However, when she checked the meter later that day, the reading didn't seem quite right. So, she made a quick trip back home and brought along the bills to cross-verify the numbers on the meter. "The meter that I was reading was a different number [than the one] on my bill," she recalled.
An error that continued for 7 years
As it turns out, the numbers between her and her neighbor's meter were mixed up. So, for the past seven years, she had been paying her neighbor's bill instead of hers. Upon learning this, BGE, even though they refused to comment on this mishap, did make amends, according to Mrs. Baity. While they gave her a $5,000 check for paying more than she should have for all these years, they didn't charge her neighbor anything extra, given that it wasn't their fault either. "$5,000. Representing what I've paid — more than I should have paid for 7 years," she said.
How often do such issues arise?
Although there's no official record for how common or rare this instance is, BGE's communications specialist Jame Ballentine believes that people should always match their bill number with their meter number to avoid such issues. In fact, if those numbers don't match, they can contact BGE immediately, or even request a free meter test from BGE once every 18 months, or pay $10 and request a referee test from the Maryland Public Service Commission. Despite this, the majority of people remain confused about their bills.
Struggles with bills
Seemingly, old Mrs. Baity isn't the only one who struggles to figure out her bill. About 59% of people believe that what's written on their electricity bills is in another language. 43% suggest that their bills contain unnecessary information included purposefully by energy companies to distract them from the price, as per a survey from Renewable Energy World. Additionally, 37% of people didn't know that they had rate plans, while another 34% were unsure.
Charged for 13 months in one month's bill
That's why people were not only impressed by Mrs. Baity's fight for justice, but also alarmed. @LuvsTruth-e5g commented, "But, BGE employees didn’t check either. She should have gotten more money for her suffering. Worrying about that bill was a ridiculous thing to go through." @victoria8846 noted, "Wow! I'm in SC and got an unusually high water bill one month. I immediately called and asked for the meter to be read again. I don't know if the person read or input the number wrong, but 1 and 7 make a huge difference. I was being charged 13 months in ONE month."
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