Working on a small office building in Marietta and Georgia Power billed them for only 16 days in August. Customer is asking if this is even legal since their tariff says monthly billing. The demand charge was prorated but the customer service charge was still full amount. Anyone dealt with short periods like this with GA Power? Their Schedule GS-1 doesn't specify minimum billing period that I can find.
Georgia Power gave me 16-day billing period - legal?
Derek - I've seen this with FirstEnergy here in Ohio. Usually happens when they're switching meter reading routes or had access issues. GA Power should have documentation showing why the period was shortened. The customer service charge being full amount sounds wrong though - that should prorate too unless their tariff specifically exempts it.
Had exact same situation with Duke Energy here in Charlotte last year. 15 day period, full customer charge. Took three calls to get them to admit the customer charge should have been prorated. Got a $18 credit for the client. Check section 3.2 of their standard terms - bet they violated their own rules.
This happens more than utilities admit. LG&E does this to me about twice a year when they change meter readers. The real question is whether they're calculating the kWh usage correctly for demand billing. On a 16-day period, are they annualizing the demand properly? Most tariffs require 30-day demand calculations.
Good catch Jack. Looking at the bill again, they charged 28.4 kW demand but the meter shows peak was only 18.2 kW during that 16-day period. They definitely screwed up the demand calculation. Going to file a complaint with PSC. Thanks everyone!
Derek, make sure you get copies of the interval data if it's an interval meter. CL&P tried to pull this same nonsense on me - claimed 35 kW demand on a 12-day period when the actual 15-minute intervals never exceeded 22 kW. $847 overcharge just on the demand portion.
Update for anyone following this: Georgia Power admitted error and issued $312 credit. Customer charge was indeed supposed to be prorated, and demand calculation was wrong. PSC complaint wasn't even needed - their customer service supervisor handled it once I quoted their own tariff back to them.