But It's Your Meter!

I got my electric bill the other day. I usually cringe when I see it. $200 here, $400 there. Since just about every place I have lived in Houston is less than energy efficient I constantly fight to keep costs down. As usual it seems to be a losing battle. The electric company always wins. So, when I opened the bill I was shocked, $5.12. Yeah, right. I have never had that low a bill. So I grab the phone and call Customer Service. The woman I spoke with was nice but not very helpful. She said that maybe they estimated the bill instead on reading the meter. Huh? I explained that I was concerned because I didn't want to get a huge bill somewhere down the line because they figured out they screwed up. So she had me go outside and read my meter. I gave her the information and she put me on hold while she "analyzed" the information. When she came back she told me that currently they were showing usage that would be about $40 to this point. When I questioned her about why the bill was only $5.12 , she told me that maybe the meter was going bad. Ok, so can you have somebody check it? That would result in a charge of $67. What? Why do I have to pay for the electric company to check it's own equipment? Maybe they don't have the manpower to do preventive maintance. Surely they know how old their meters and and when they were installed. But in order to find out if the meter is working right I have to pay them $67 regardless of the outcome. Maybe I'm crazy. I didn't buy the meter. I don't have a choice of which meter to buy. To me, making sure the electric company's equipment is their job. After all, it's their meter. I just use the electricity that comes through the lines and they bill me for what I use, right? Hey, Reliant, it's your meter! Fix it yourself. Or is this a way to get more money from the customer?