Georgia Power Spike in Charges Valdosta, Georgia

My power bill has averaged 400 kWh since December of 2011. With the job that I have, I am constantly gone which does wonders for my electric bill. There are times when I'm being so frugal that I will shut the power off from the circuit breaker but keep the refrigerator on for obvious reasons. The problem I have is that last month my bill was $48 and showed that I used less than 400 kWh. Suddenly within a matter of a month, it has almost quadrupled and nothing has changed in my habits that would effect the bill. I don't turn the heat on while I'm at work, I will cut it on for a couple hours while I'm studying, but then it's off again before I go to bed.

They even have a "convenient payment program" on the back of the bill that allows for budget billing; they average out your power bill over twelve months so you will pay approximately the same amount each month. I will have to double check, but my boyfriend told me he only saw one meter on the side of the building which would indicate they are rounding off the usage of one occupant on everyone else. It would make sense since my particular building wasn't full until last month. I can't switch to a different company because Georgia Power has monopolized the area. This is absolutely absurd. I guess since we may only have one month of winter, they have to make up for it by increasing the charges to make the same amount of surplus.