During the COVID shutdowns, a lot of utilities stopped sending meter readers into the field and switched to estimated reads. Makes sense from a safety perspective but it is creating billing nightmares for commercial customers. I have a restaurant client in Austin served by Austin Energy who was shut down from mid-March through May 2020. Their bills during that period were estimated at normal pre-COVID levels — about $3,800/month. Actual usage during shutdown was basically the walk-in coolers running on skeleton power — maybe $900/month. They are owed roughly $8,700 in overcharges across 3 months. Austin Energy says they will true it up when they get an actual read but there is no timeline. Anyone else dealing with this?
COVID shutdown estimated reads — utilities are way off
Seeing the same thing across Texas. CPS Energy, AEP, Oncor — all had periods of estimated reads during the shutdown. The problem is especially bad for businesses that closed entirely because the estimates are based on historical usage that assumes the business is operating normally. I have 6 clients in San Antonio alone who are owed credits. CPS Energy has been responsive but slow — they say they are processing thousands of billing adjustments.
Dallas area same story. I am telling all my clients to document their closure dates and submit them to the utility proactively rather than waiting for the true-up. If you wait, the utility will just apply the credit to future bills which does not help clients who are cash-strapped right now. Push for a direct refund or an immediate credit applied to the current bill.
Update — Austin Energy finally did the true-up in October. Client got a credit of $8,400 which was close to my estimate. They applied it to the current bill. Between this and two other COVID estimated read clients, I have recovered about $31K this quarter. Randy is right — this is great prospecting material. I put together a one-page flyer about COVID estimated billing errors and have been handing it out at local business association meetings.