A Newark family says that their electric bill was unusually high because the utility company was not able to access the meter because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Mary Capers says that her electric bill in May was nearly $2,000. Capers lives on North 12th Street in Newark. She says that she received a call from PSEG that she should expect a big bill because the meter has been estimated for the year – February 2020 to February 2021. The exact payment due was $1,956.

Capers says she always pays her bill on time so she called to ask what happened. She says that she was told that no one was able to access the meter, which is inside the basement of her home, because of COVID-19 restrictions.

“The supervisor told them it's the pandemic and that's the only reason they gave me,” Capers says. “They said, OK, six months, they can’t come out and read the meter. OK, so what about the other six months? I’m here all these months.”

PSEG tells News 12 that the company is investigating the matter.

Capers went ahead and paid the bill, but she still wants to know why it was so high and why no one made a harder effort to check the meter earlier.

Capers also says that the electric meter belonging to her daughter who lives upstairs is located right next to hers. She has not had any large payments due.