David City, Nebraska residents were shocked to open their Aquila gas bills and find bills several hundreds of dollars over the norm, in some cases as high as $1,000. Aquila says that an inexperienced meter reader incorrectly read meters in the area too low for several months and now that the error has been caught, 1,100 affected residents will have to make up the difference. Customers aren’t too thrilled. Aquila is giving them three months to pay up, saying that all they’re doing is charging customers for the gas they used, that to do otherwise would be unfair to other Aquila customers, and that they won’t be shutting off anyone due to this billing snafu. Resident Cheryl Gregg was none too thrilled, saying, “A lot of companies that you go into, if they make a mistake, they take the loss. That’s kind of how it works.” What do you think? Should Alquila have paid for the cost of its mistake or is it only fair for customers to pay for the gas they used?

(Thanks to Stephen!)

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