Major screw-up here in San Antonio. CPS Energy billed my client for February 3-March 5 AND February 15-March 15. That's 18 days of overlap billing on a large industrial account. Schedule IS rate, so we're talking about $2,800 in duplicate charges. Has anyone seen overlap billing this bad before? Their billing system apparently had some kind of meter reading glitch and generated two separate bills.
CPS Energy double-billed overlap period - $2,800 overcharge
Holy cow Vivian! 18 days of overlap on industrial rate? That's insane. CPS usually has their act together better than that. I've seen 2-3 day overlaps with SAWS but never heard of CPS doing something this bad. Did they give you any explanation of what caused the system error?
Vivian, this sounds like what happened with Ameren here in Missouri about two years ago. Their new billing system had a bug where meter route changes created duplicate billing periods. Took them three months to identify all affected accounts. You need to demand they audit the entire route, not just your client's account.
Same thing happened with Entergy Mississippi last year. Overlapping periods after they switched to AMI meters. The real problem is they usually don't catch it unless customers complain. File with the Railroad Commission - they take billing system errors seriously down there.
Update: CPS admitted the error affects 47 accounts on the same meter route. All industrial customers. They're promising full credits within 30 days plus interest. Gerald's right about filing with RRC - apparently this isn't the first time this billing system has had issues.
Vivian, make sure they calculate interest correctly on that refund. Idaho Power tried to shortchange me on interest when they had a similar overlap billing error. Should be calculated from the date of each incorrect bill, not from when they discovered the error.
Warren's absolutely right about the interest calculation. Xcel Energy tried to pull the same thing up here. Interest should accrue from payment date, not discovery date. Texas regulations are pretty specific about this - check Railroad Commission Rule 25.28.
Good news - got the credit today. $2,847 plus $89 in interest calculated correctly from payment dates. CPS also sent letters to all 47 affected customers explaining the system error. Their billing manager said they're implementing additional controls to prevent this from happening again.
Vivian, you should ask for documentation of those new billing controls. TVA promised the same thing after a similar incident here in Alabama, but six months later the same error happened again. Get it in writing what specific changes they're making to their system.
Albert makes a good point. NV Energy made similar promises after billing system errors, but without documented system changes, you're just taking their word. I always request a technical summary of the corrective action for my files.
Following up on this thread - just had JEA here in Jacksonville create a similar overlap billing situation. Used Vivian's approach of demanding system-wide audit and it worked. Found 12 other accounts with the same error. Sometimes these billing system glitches are more widespread than utilities initially admit.