Sven's life in Oz

I shall let you into a little secret: I don’t pay for my electricity. Not through choice, although I can’t say that I wouldn’t choose free power given the option, but rather through a combination of good luck and bad management. Obviously I shan’t name the company in question, but I will tell you all about it and hope they don’t find out.

When I moved out of the flat James and I shared and into my current home, I transferred the existing electricity account. (We had set it up in my name originally, so it was quite straightforward.) I told the company my new address, had them send final bills for the old place to me at my new home (thus confirming they knew I had moved), and confirmed that I would continue to pay my bills monthly via direct debit. That was last August. I haven’t heard a peep out of them since.

At first I thought I was not receiving a bill, but I was sure they would still charge me. I watched my account religiously, waiting for an unexpected amount to disappear overnight, whereupon I would ring them, berate them and get the matter sorted. Nothing happened. I convinced myself that I was being billed quarterly – no big deal, since I had budgeted monthly and the money was simply sitting there waiting to be spent. Three months went by and still nothing happened. By now I had over $250 waiting to be claimed. I was starting to get attached to the money, but expecting it to go at any moment. It’s still there.

Now, nearly seven months on I’ve got twice as much money sitting in my account, looking at me, waiting to be spent. Now it’s just getting silly. As far as I can see, I have three choices:

1. Tell the electricity company they haven’t been charging me for the past six months. Pay the bill. No harm done.
2. Don’t tell the electricity company and, when they find out, tell them I decided to leave them, then blame them for not transferring me to my new provider properly.
3. Move home when my lease is up and don’t leave a forwarding address.

#3 is a bad idea because I like my home, even if it is a little small and doesn’t have any air conditioning. But #1 would involve me giving up that little nest egg and I really don’t want to do that either. I guess I’m stuck with #2 and living like a fugitive, afraid that at any moment I’ll get a whopper of a bill and try to blag my way out of it. Oh, it’s a tough call.

What would you do?