Local electric company accountability

[gregintenn]

Several years ago, I was overcharged because my meter was misread. I paid the bill, thinking it would work itself out. It did, but since I didn't owe anything the next month, I was charged a minimum charge anyway. When I went to dispute this charge, I was basically told to go somewhere else and buy electricity if I didn't like it. Whatever.

Today while paying my bill online, I noticed a $5 "convenience fee" that's never been here before.

Is there any accountability for these folks if one doesn't agree with their business practices?

Were it something like a cell phone company issue, I'd just go to a different company. This doesn't seem to be an option with electricity.

[Ronald_55]

Welcome to the world of monopoly. "Utilities" can get away with murder. Gas, electricity, water/sewer, cable, and to less extent now, phones were given this power in the past as concessions for them investing in infrastructure in areas that were not highest priority. 

If your electrity provider is a local coop, sometimes you can attend a meeting to make your concerns heard. How much that helps can vary a lot.

First thing I would do is call them to ask what this fee is for. Some charge a fee for online payments. That is why it is labeled "convenience". By all means, if you get the "go buy your power somewhere else" speech again, kindly ask to talk to a supervisor. If that fails, write a very stern but polite letter of complaint to them and send it registered mail (so you have dated proof of receipt ). If you still do not get a good response contact the local media and let them know. Some of them have a "on your side" segment that researches and reports on issues. If nothing else this embarrasses the utility enough to straighten up. Sometimes it really exposes power grabs and people get fired or voted out to correct it.

Edited May 1, 2017 by Ronald_55

[nightrunner]

The way things are set up now, you have limited options. It's a true monopoly. 

Solar is another option.

[leroy]

Greg...

Do a bit of detective work and see if your utility is, indeed, a rural electric coop, or regular utility... All these guys report to someone... They absolutely hate negative publicity... Look around a bit see who they report to...

leroy

[E4 No More]

Aren't all of them regulated by the TVA?

[leroy]

2 minutes ago, SWJewellTN said:

Aren't all of them regulated by the TVA?

Not exactly "regulated"... "Watched" is more appropriate... Those that get power from TVA are audited for compliance with the Coop thing regarding being "not for profit"... That means that all the excess dollars go back into infrastructure improvements or as rebates to customers or lowering rates; the idea being that Coops operate at a "zero profit margin"... Im sure one of the "metrics" that the TVA uses is customer service; but the big hitters are the dollars... There are some outside oversight organizations to these coops at the state level somewhere... Ya can always rat em out to your local state and federal reps...

leroy...

[RED333]

We have MTEMC, the "convenience fee" is just that, fee for on line payment.

[Sam1]

3 hours ago, nightrunner said:

The way things are set up now, you have limited options. It's a true monopoly. 

Solar is another option.

solar really isn't an option unless you have $30,000 burning a hole in your pocket because to unplug from the grid, you need a battery bank which will run you a minimum of 10k on top of the system itself.  and that $30k number is conservative.

[Sam1]

7 minutes ago, RED333 said:

We have MTEMC, the "convenience fee" is just that, fee for on line payment.

yep, that's why I write them a check every month and spend 50 cents on a stamp instead of paying them $5 to make it easier on them.

[hipower]

1 hour ago, Sam1 said:

yep, that's why I write them a check every month and spend 50 cents on a stamp instead of paying them $5 to make it easier on them.

One of the reasons I have only one auto pay set up.

[Oh Shoot]

6 hours ago, gregintenn said:

.....

Today while paying my bill online, I noticed a $5 "convenience fee" that's never been here before.

That for credit card payment only?

Knoxville Utility Board charges something or other for CC payments, but bank transfer is free, whether one time or recurring.

- OS

[gregintenn]

29 minutes ago, Oh Shoot said:

That for credit card payment only?

Knoxville Utility Board charges something or other for CC payments, but bank transfer is free, whether one time or recurring.

- OS

I pay with a debit card. You'd think that and a bank transfer would

be the same difference. At least it is on my end. I need to investigate that a bit. Thanks. 

[Ski]

You might also try contacting the TN Public Utility Commission.

 

contact.tpuc@tn.gov

or

https://www.tn.gov/tpuc/article/csd-online-utility-complaint-form

[jpx2rk]

I have Ft Loudon Electric Co-op (FLEC) and signed up for auto-pay, where FLEC auto drafts my checking acct, no "convenience fee" is charged or noted on my monthly bills.  A lot of places have a "convenience" fee which covers their processing fees for these convenience fees, such as what a retailer has to pay a credit card company their X% whenever someone uses a CC to pay for their items.  TWRA has one when you renew your fishing/hunting license at wally world or on line.

[Luap]

If you using Tri -County Electric, they clearly state they charge a convenience fee:  

 Effective May 1, 2017 our billing software company, Southeastern Data Cooperative will begin processing all credit card and E-check payments received by Tri-County Electric.  SEDC will charge a Convenience Fee of 2.45% for each credit card transaction and a fee of $1.00 for any E-check transaction.  Tri-County Electric's Bank Draft Program is a FREEalternative and will allow our member-owners to avoid the billing company's charges. Please contact your local Tri-County Electric office to enroll today!

[gregintenn]

4 hours ago, Luap said:

If you using Tri -County Electric, they clearly state they charge a convenience fee:  

 Effective May 1, 2017 our billing software company, Southeastern Data Cooperative will begin processing all credit card and E-check payments received by Tri-County Electric.  SEDC will charge a Convenience Fee of 2.45% for each credit card transaction and a fee of $1.00 for any E-check transaction.  Tri-County Electric's Bank Draft Program is a FREEalternative and will allow our member-owners to avoid the billing company's charges. Please contact your local Tri-County Electric office to enroll today!

I suppose I'll just sign up for the bank draft and move on to more important things. I do not like change. I guess it's part of getting old.

[Garufa]

8 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

I suppose I'll just sign up for the bank draft and move on to more important things. I do not like change. I guess it's part of getting old.

A stamp is 49 cents. 

[E4 No More]

2 minutes ago, Garufa said:

A stamp is 49 cents. 

Not after you pay for the gas to go get it.

[gregintenn]

5 minutes ago, Garufa said:

A stamp is 49 cents. 

Yep. That's 6 bucks a year. A six pack of beer, or a happy meal!

Dang it! I sound like an old fart!!!!

[Garufa]

13 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

Yep. That's 6 bucks a year. A six pack of beer, or a happy meal!

Dang it! I sound like an old fart!!!!

As opposed to $60/year for that stupid-ass convenience fee.

[hipower]

18 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

Yep. That's 6 bucks a year. A six pack of beer, or a happy meal!

Dang it! I sound like an old fart!!!!

No....you just sound old and put out with all the absurdities of the world. In fact, you sound a lot like me!

[No_0ne]

36 minutes ago, Garufa said:

A stamp is 49 cents. 

My utilities, phone, and whatever else I could get on it have been drafted since way before there were e-checks, internet, or anything remotely similar.  It's kind of a set and forget thing, the bills get paid on time, I don't have to screw with them, no fees get charged, everybody's happy ...

[Ronald_55]

4 hours ago, No_0ne said:

My utilities, phone, and whatever else I could get on it have been drafted since way before there were e-checks, internet, or anything remotely similar.  It's kind of a set and forget thing, the bills get paid on time, I don't have to screw with them, no fees get charged, everybody's happy ...

I have that all set through my bank. It is up to them to decide to cut a check or do a bank transfer. It is all still free for me.

[analog_kidd]

I've often wondered if someone was to make up official looking bills, with items like "meter box attachment space rental" or "meter reader site access fee", and send them to the utility companies, would they pay them?

[Dolomite_supafly]

34 minutes ago, analog_kidd said:

I've often wondered if someone was to make up official looking bills, with items like "meter box attachment space rental" or "meter reader site access fee", and send them to the utility companies, would they pay them?

I should charge them a "don't whip your ass fee" as they are sneaking around my property to read the meter. We had wireless meters installed to keep them off my property but the meter reader can't seem to understand he doesn't need to walk all over my property any more. Not saying he is up to no good but I still can't come up with a good reason for him to be walking around my property, especially since my meters are already being read wirelessly.

I recently built a garage and went through hell getting the electricity installed. Wanted underground utilities, was told by KUB no. After I was finished with building the garage the same exact guy who said no before asked why I didn't get underground utilities. I got pissed and told him I wanted underground utilities but he said "no" before. Because I was pissed he offered to install underground utilities for free but I had to put a service pole right in the middle of our driveway, I laughed and told him "NO".

You have to pay for your inspection before they will approve a meter. After the electrical was installed the state electrical inspector said I needed at least four special little stand off brackets for the conduit coming down the service pole to my garage. I have never seen another residential pole with these despite the inspector saying it has been the law for a very, very long time. The electrician had never heard of them being used in a residential application but the state inspector said I MUST have them or he will never approve me for a meter. When I asked where to get them he handed me a sheet with installation instructions as well as where I MUST buy them. There is only one business in town that sells the inspector approved brackets and that business is the only business with brackets approved for use. And because they are required those $10 brackets actually cost me over $70 each.

As far as solar goes TVA and KUB have an agreement unlike anywhere else in the United States. Everywhere else in the United States you use YOUR power first then it pulls power from the grid. In TVA controlled areas you pay for the solar energy YOU generate because the energy YOU generate is dumped onto the grid ahead of your meter. You pay the same rate for YOUR solar as you do for electricity from KUB/TVA. KUB puts a meter on your solar equipment to measure how much energy you produce for the grid. Then they will reimburse you for the power you put on the grid but ONLY if funding is available. BTW, funding has not been available since the program's inception because some local companies put up some huge solar farms to reduce their electricity bills. By doing that those companies have taken all the funding away from residential customers who, like me, could use solar to offset their bill. 6-8 years ago I looked into installing a solar system and did not because the funding wasn't available then, just like recently. When I tried again last year and it was still the same way.

The ONLY way YOU can benefit from the energy produced by YOUR solar setup is if you go 100% off grid. You are not allowed to do a grid tie system where YOUR energy is used first in KUB controlled areas. You will not see a single dime worth of benefit from the solar YOU paid to have installed if you are still connected to the grid in any way. That is why no one wants to go solar in the area or at least that is why I would not install solar. It would cost me ~$45,000 to install a large enough system to put my bill at zero but because I will not get reimbursed there is no way I can recoup my installation costs. And when I told them I would not shell out $45K to install solar that would not benefit me they said "what about the environment?". So they are also trying to guilt people into paying them to install solar even though it will probably never benefit them. I would install solar immediately if they let me use my power first but you cannot, YOUR power goes into the grid first and you pay full price for YOUR solar. This is unlike anywhere else in the nation and the contract between KUB and TVA to do this still has close to 20 years before the contract expires. So even if the contract did change I would not have enough of my life left to break even because it will take 20+ years to break even according to their estimates. I even asked what would happen if I decided to use my solar first and was told I would get into serious trouble if I did. Not sure what sort of trouble, criminal or civil, but saving the environment is now no more important to me than it is to KUB.

Imagine the benefit if KUB offered to install a single solar panel on a residential roof for free and allowed customers to use a portion of that energy first. That would help out KUB because it would free up some energy production capabilities. Not only that but it would also generate, over the lifetime of the panel, profits well above the initial cost of installation. A solar panel lasts about 30 years and would not cost more than $1,000 to buy and install. I bet it would break even within a year or two then it would be 100% profit after that. Seems like a no brainer for KUB but they will never do it.

If they let me use MY solar first I would install a HUGE solar system tomorrow but because they have no idea if funding will be available year to year I would be stupid to throw away all that money for the benefit of KUB. Seriously, why can't they do like every other state in the country. Profits are the reason why, if people start using the power they, themselves, generate KUB could not charge people for it. They act like all energy being produced belongs to them even though the equipment used does not. It really is sad that they have an opportunity to help out people in the community but are more worried about profits than their customers or the environment.