But the bill she got for January jumped to $1,849.

"I couldn't believe it," she said. "I understand that electricity went up, but to that extreme?"

After going back and forth with customer service people at Baltimore Gas and Electric, she and her husband Clifton called their son Mike, who assured them he'd clear things up.

But the younger Mr. Lewis discovered that according to BGE, there was no mistake.

"Basically, they're telling me they have no idea" why the bill is so high, the younger Mr. Lewis said. The customer service representative suggested his parents were using more energy due to the winter months - a theory that doesn't make sense, since the Lewises have oil heating.

The couple raised seven children in the Annapolis home on North Lawrence Avenue. The energy bill has never been that high.

And the semi-retired couple, the only two people living in the house, are very careful in their electricity use.

"When it comes to electric, trust me, my mom is very paranoid," he said, noting that his parents don't even run the dishwasher for fear of running up the bill.

Mrs. Lewis is an avid recycler.

She keeps the heat off, or turned very low, and stays in a back room, where there is a wood stove.

"We even turned the hot water heater down," she said.

BGE sent a worker out to the home in February. He told them that there was nothing wrong with their electric meter, but replaced it anyway.

Since the meter has been replaced, the bill has steadily declined.

The family has contacted the Public Service Commission, and they are looking into the matter. Officials from BGE declined to comment on the dispute since it is being investigated by the Public Service Commission.

So far, the Lewises haven't paid the bill in question. They won't have to pay until the dispute is resolved, one way or another.

"If I have to pay it, I will," Mrs. Lewis said.

The January bill was for 13,926 kilowatt hours used over a 32-day period in the 2,250 square foot home. That's about the same number of kilowatt hours the Lewises used in the seven months from May to December. To put that amount of electricity in perspective, you would have to run a clothes dryer 24 hours per day for more than three and a half months straight. Or you could run a 2.5 ton central air conditioner 24 hours per day for five months without stopping.

In 2001, the average U.S. household used 10,656 kilowatt hours of energy in one year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

The family's electricity usage between November and January in 2008 was 266.5 percent higher than the same period in the previous year, according to a document sent to Mr. Lewis from BGE.

Mrs. Lewis wants answers as to how she possibly could have used so much electricity and has even invited BGE workers to come to her house to see for themselves. They declined.

Her son has a different question.

"What I want to know is, if there was nothing wrong with the meter, why did you take it? But no one can seem to answer it for me," the younger Mr. Lewis said.