I've got a commercial client in Atlanta that Georgia Power estimated for 18 consecutive months. When they finally read the meter, the true-up was $47,000 MORE than what they had been paying on estimates. The customer is furious and wants to know if there's any recourse. Has anyone dealt with Georgia Power on prolonged estimation periods? The meter was supposedly "inaccessible" but the customer says maintenance never blocked access. This seems excessive even for GP.
Georgia Power estimated my client for 18 months straight
Derek, 18 months is absolutely ridiculous. In North Carolina, Duke Energy policy is supposed to be actual reads every 6 months maximum. Georgia Power should have similar requirements under PSC regulations. I'd file a complaint with the Georgia PSC and demand they justify why no actual read was taken for that long. Your client may be entitled to a payment plan for the true-up amount.
Had a similar case with PPL here in Pennsylvania. Turned out the meter reader was falsifying reads and just submitting estimates to avoid going to "difficult" locations. When we dug into it, the utility admitted fault and waived late fees, plus gave the customer 24 months to pay the true-up. Document everything and push hard on the PSC complaint.
Update: Filed the PSC complaint and Georgia Power is now claiming the meter was "behind a locked gate" for most of those 18 months. Problem is, my client has security cameras that show the GP truck driving right up to the meter location multiple times. I'm requesting the actual meter reading logs to see what excuses they documented each month.
Derek, that's exactly the kind of evidence you need. Here in Alabama, I've seen Alabama Power try similar tactics. Security camera footage is gold in these cases. Also request their internal policies on estimation periods - most utilities have maximum consecutive estimation rules they're violating. The PSC will hammer them if you can prove systematic negligence.
Keep us posted on how this resolves. Duke Energy here in Cincinnati tried to stick a client with a $28k true-up after 8 months of estimates. We got them to split it over 36 months with no interest. The key was showing the estimates were consistently low due to their bad historical usage data. Your $47k sounds like they were using really old consumption patterns.
Final update: Georgia Power settled. They agreed the 18-month estimation period was excessive and waived all late fees ($3,200). Customer gets 30 months interest-free to pay the true-up balance. Plus GP committed to actual reads every 3 months going forward. Sometimes you just have to fight them hard enough. Thanks everyone for the advice and precedents.