Utility provider reporting extreme increase in energy usage.

Location: Colorado

I live in Colorado where Xcel energy has a state sponsored monopoly over the power grid. At the time of the bill I am attempting to dispute I lived in a 700 sq foot apartment with central air and my average energy usage for summer months was around 300-450kwh with some months during heat waves reaching up to 550 kWh, I lived in this apartment with the same habits for 4 years and am able to reference 48 months worth of data for my usage. Recently I received a bill stating that my energy usage was 1260 KWH for the second half of June and first half of July which is over 3x the reported usage for the previous billing statement and 2x any previous statement in my four years living in this apartment.

I attempted to dispute this bill with Xcel on the basis that it represented an extreme outlier from any previous statement and that with the size of my AC unit, my apartment and the few electronics/appliances I use it would be nearly impossible to consume that much electricity unless I ran all of my appliances and electronics 24 hours a day for the entire 30 day period. Xcel refused to investigate my dispute stating that my statement was based on an actual meter reading and they refused to do any testing on the meter to confirm it is reading accurately. I no longer live in this apartment so I am unable to test or verify an accurate reading on my own as I no longer have access to the property. I escalated this to the Public Utilities Commission who passed it along to an Xcel Liaison who gave a similar reply attempting to brush off this discrepancy due to it being an actual reading and the PUC closed their case as a result.

I am unsure where to go from here and I am curious if I have any legal standing to justify continuing to pursue a dispute of this bill. At this time the only action I can think of would be a lawsuit though I do not have any proof of this bill being inaccurate past the fact that it’s an extreme outlier from any previous statement, however it’s difficult to accept that a monopoly who is notorious for prioritizing profit above all else can be trusted to accurately report energy usage when they are not held accountable by any government agency or independent third party. In addition to my billing discrepancy I have heard firsthand accounts from over 30 other customers in the Denver metro that they also received bills with a 100% or higher increase in kwh usage for this same period so this seems to be an issue for many of their customers in this region not just myself.