I'm auditing a large commercial account in Charlotte and the delivery charges from Duke Energy don't reconcile with Schedule GS tariff rates. The client is being billed $0.0847/kWh for delivery but the tariff shows $0.0739/kWh for their demand level. Has anyone else seen discrepancies like this with Duke's billing system? The customer switched to a competitive supplier 6 months ago and these overcharges started immediately after.
Duke Energy delivery charges don't match tariff - help?
Derek, I've seen this before with Duke. Sometimes they don't update the delivery class properly when customers switch suppliers. Check if they're still billing under the bundled tariff instead of the delivery-only rate schedule. You might need to file a formal billing complaint with the NCUC if Duke won't correct it voluntarily.
Terry's right about the tariff classification issue. Also double-check the meter multiplier - I caught Duke using the wrong multiplier on a shopping customer last year. That resulted in a $18,000 refund. Make sure you're looking at the right tariff schedule too - Schedule GS-3 vs GS-1 can make a big difference.
What's the customer's peak demand? If they're over 1000 kW they should be on a different rate class entirely. I've seen Duke mistakenly keep large customers on small commercial rates after they go to choice. The delivery charges can be significantly different between rate schedules.
Check the effective date of any recent tariff revisions too. Duke filed new delivery rates that went into effect March 1st. If they're using old rates that could explain the discrepancy. The NCUC website has all the current tariffs posted.
Thanks everyone. Turns out it was a combination of issues - wrong rate schedule AND they were still applying the generation charge even though the customer had switched suppliers. Duke agreed to correct going forward and issued a $12,400 refund for the overcharges. Always pays to dig deep on deregulated market billing!
Great outcome Derek! This is exactly why deregulated markets need more oversight. The billing systems weren't designed for this complexity and errors are common. I always tell my clients to audit every bill for the first year after switching suppliers.
Agreed Frank. The transition to deregulation created so many billing system gaps. I've found similar issues with FirstEnergy here in Ohio. The legacy systems just weren't built to handle separate supply and delivery billing properly.