Does Your Power Co Use Real-Time Data?

[Rodent + 1,424]

So... my power company just called me to warn me that my power bill was way more than normal. After talking with her more, I discovered that there had been a problem with the communication with my meter for the last couple of months, so they've just been estimating it. But now they have a real reading, and it's higher than normal due to their subpar estimating.

I was shocked, because she said that it clearly states that on my power bill, that it was estimated. Of course, I don't look at my actual bill--I use their app that they provide--who looks at their bill these days? I explained that I found that hard to believe that they had been estimating my usage for months, because there is a daily electricity tracker on the app that shows me how much energy I am using each day. It's updated daily, for the previous day's use. She said, oh, that's just based on an estimate using last year's figures. WHAT?? Last year? But the app doesn't say that. So I asked her, for clarification, "so the daily usage you show on the app isn't really my daily usage?" She said, "Right. We're sorry that's not clear." 

What is the purpose of a daily tracker that doesn't really track usage? It's just weird. She apologized for the confusion, and just said that's just the way their software works. 

It's 2018, people. Let's get into this century. Real-time data (or even a meter maid would do)!

Anyone else run into this problem?