chato de shamrock

Hey guys I'll have to apologize about this ahead of time because I feel its a very juvenile question. I've youtubed videos and have found a lot, but it all seems to be very technical and doesnt answer my question. I feel my electric company is trying to take us on a ride charging us for more electricity than we actually use. I live in an apartment building and found my meter box, a digital one. All the display shows is a large number (34851) with a small black square under the number and the kWh symbol. That number is our current usage correct?

Assuming the monthly cycle was done with this being the number, the electric company would subtract it from last months final reading to get the total kWh I used this month, and multiply it by the rate they charge per kWh, correct?

I'm asking because like I mentioned, i feel they are charging us for more than we use. November and December we had the central heater running nonstop, with the holiday lights on nightly and stove going full blast while we cooked for the holidays and hosted friend for dinner. My girlfriend was out of college for the holidays while I was still doing 20 hour/week part time work and were both home more. Our electrical bill was averaging $50 from the months of October through December. January, my girlfriend was out of the country for two weeks and my job promoted me to their full time staff which meant our apartment was empty for the better part of the day and our bill more than tripled to $181 for using 1983 kWh. The holiday months prior our usage was estimated to be in the mid 400 kWh. We got the company to come out and re-read our meter only to receive a letter that so far, on a cycle that's still ongoing, we have consumed 2,967 kWh and are expecting to be charged well over $200. The letter indicates the electrical re-read is at 37,473 but our digital meter outside reads 34,851. January's final read was at 34,506.

Lastly, do electrical companies still send out people to read digital meters or are those somehow set up to electronically send the reading to the company eliminating the need for meter readers?

Thanks in advanced guys.