Found a nasty one at a manufacturing client in Atlanta. Georgia Power has been billing them on TOU-8 schedule but classifying Saturdays as weekdays instead of weekends for the past 18 months. The difference in on-peak hours is costing them about $3,200 per month. Has anyone else seen GP misapply weekend definitions on TOU-8? The tariff clearly states weekends are Saturday and Sunday but their billing system shows Saturday 7am-11pm as on-peak periods. I've got 15-minute interval data showing consistent weekend usage patterns that should qualify for off-peak rates.
Georgia Power TOU-8 Rate Schedule - Weekend Classification Error
Rachel, this sounds familiar. I had a similar issue with FirstEnergy in Ohio last year on their TOU-E schedule. Turned out their billing system had a programming error where it was reading Saturday as day 7 instead of day 6 in their weekend classification logic. Got them to go back 24 months and recovered about $47,000 for my client. Georgia Power should have audit trail documentation showing how they're classifying each day. Request the raw interval billing data with day-type classifications for the disputed period.
We see this occasionally with Ameren Missouri on their Large General Service TOU rates. The root cause is usually in how they handle daylight saving time transitions. Springfield had three cases last year where the billing system was applying weekday rates to Saturday hours that fell during the spring forward transition. Check if your error dates coincide with DST changes. Also verify they're using the correct time zone - some utilities mistakenly apply Eastern time windows to Central time customers.
Good catch on the DST angle Elmer. I checked and sure enough, several of the worst overcharge months coincide with March and November transitions. The interval data shows they're shifting the entire on-peak window by one hour during these periods. Jim, did FirstEnergy provide documentation of their fix? I want to present GP with a clear technical explanation of what they need to correct in their billing system.
Rachel, FirstEnergy provided a detailed technical bulletin explaining the fix. They had to update their day-type classification table and reprocess all affected accounts. The key was getting them to acknowledge the error in writing first, then they were cooperative about the remediation. I can send you a redacted copy of their response letter if it helps with your GP case.
Rachel, you might also want to check if they're correctly applying holiday schedules. CPS Energy here in San Antonio had a similar weekend classification bug that also affected how they handled federal holidays. Some TOU schedules treat holidays as weekends, others don't. Make sure GP is following their own tariff language for holiday treatment on the TOU-8 schedule. Could be additional refund opportunity there.
Following up on this thread since I just resolved a similar case with Alabama Power in Huntsville. The weekend classification error extended to their demand billing too - they were applying on-peak demand charges to Saturday usage. Total recovery was $28,400 over 20 months. Rachel, make sure you're also checking the demand side of the bill, not just the energy charges. Alabama Power's fix required updating both their energy and demand billing algorithms.