Just finished a brutal audit on our client's Xcel Energy account here in Minneapolis. They were being billed on Schedule A-23 TOU with summer peak hours 1-7 PM, but the actual tariff shows peak as 2-8 PM. This went unnoticed for 14 months and cost them $23,400 in overcharges. The worst part? Xcel's customer service insisted their billing was correct until I showed them their own tariff filing. Has anyone else seen this kind of systematic TOU window error with Xcel? I'm wondering if this is affecting other customers too.
Xcel Energy TOU Window Error Cost Us $23K
Hank, that's infuriating but not surprising. I've seen similar issues with IPL here in Indianapolis on their TOU-GS rate. The billing system was applying weekend peak rates during weekday off-peak hours for about 200 customers before they caught it. What's your next step - are you filing a formal complaint with the Minnesota PUC? In cases like this, I always recommend requesting a full account audit going back at least 24 months since these errors rarely start when you first notice them.
This is exactly why I always pull the actual 15-minute interval data and cross-reference it with the tariff schedule manually. Xcel here in Denver has had issues with their TOU programming too, though not as egregious as what you're describing. The problem is most customers just pay the bill without understanding how complex these rate structures are. Did you catch this through interval data analysis or was there something else that tipped you off?
Carl - it was actually the customer who noticed their bills were higher than expected during what should have been off-peak hours. When I dug into the 15-minute data, I could see they were being charged peak rates from 1-2 PM and 7-8 PM when those hours should have been mid-peak or off-peak. Greg - yes, definitely filing with the PUC and demanding a refund with interest. The utility initially offered only 6 months of corrections but I'm pushing for the full period.
Hank, document everything and keep pushing. Here in Phoenix with APS, I had a similar case where they were applying summer TOU rates year-round instead of switching to winter schedules. It took 8 months to get full restitution but we eventually recovered $41,000 for the client. The key was showing the pattern was systematic, not just a one-off billing error. Make sure you're calculating interest at the utility's tariffed rate too - that can add up to significant money on larger overcharges.
Sarah makes a good point about systematic vs. isolated errors. Here in Charlotte, Duke Energy had a software update that incorrectly applied TOU windows for about 3 weeks before they caught it. The difference in how they handled individual vs. systematic errors was night and day. For systematic issues, they were much more willing to provide full restitution without a fight. Have you checked if other customers on the same rate schedule might be affected?
This thread is a great reminder why we need to stay vigilant on TOU audits. Here in Albany, National Grid recently changed their TOU windows by 30 minutes and several customers got caught in billing limbo during the transition. Hank, definitely pursue this aggressively - utilities count on customers not understanding these complex rate structures. Keep us posted on how the PUC complaint goes. These cases often set precedent for how similar issues get handled in the future.