Anyone dealing with Duke Energy in the Carolinas deregulated market? I have a client who switched suppliers 6 months ago and Duke keeps sending confusing reconciliation statements. The supply charges are being billed by the competitive supplier but Duke is also showing supply-related charges on their delivery bill. Client is getting double-billed for about $8,400 per month and Duke customer service is useless.
Duke Energy supply reconciliation nightmare
Marcus - I'm in Raleigh and see this all the time with Duke. They have a lag in their system when customers switch suppliers. The charges you're seeing are probably reconciliation adjustments from the switch date. Check the line items carefully - sometimes they show up as negative credits 2-3 months later.
Steve - that's exactly what I was hoping to hear. The line items show "Supply Transition Adjustment" and "Competitive Service Charge" but they're both positive amounts. When should I expect to see the offsetting credits? This has been going on since February.
Six months is way too long for transition adjustments. You need to escalate this immediately. Duke has a competitive markets department that handles these issues. Ask for supervisor named Janet Morrison - she knows her stuff and has helped me resolve similar problems before.
We see similar issues with MidAmerican here in Iowa when customers switch to competitive suppliers. The key is documenting every charge and making sure the supplier is aware of the Duke reconciliation charges. Sometimes the supplier needs to adjust their billing to account for utility reconciliations.
Contacted Janet Morrison and she was extremely helpful. Turns out the competitive supplier never properly notified Duke of the switch completion, so Duke kept billing supply charges while the supplier was also billing. Janet is processing a refund for $50,400 and fixing the billing going forward.
That's a great outcome Marcus. In North Dakota we don't have retail choice yet but I've heard horror stories about supplier transitions in other states. Documentation is everything in these cases. Glad you got it sorted out.
Excellent work! Janet Morrison has saved my bacon more times than I can count. Duke's competitive market processes are complex but they do make things right when you get to the right people. That's a substantial refund for your client.
Thanks everyone. The client is thrilled with the refund. Lesson learned - always verify supplier enrollment status with both the utility and the supplier when auditing deregulated accounts. The disconnect between systems can cost serious money.
Great thread. I'm bookmarking this for future reference. We're starting to see more deregulated market issues here in Iowa and this kind of insight is invaluable. Thanks for sharing the details Marcus.
Adding this to our best practices documentation. Supplier transition issues are becoming more common and having contacts like Janet Morrison at the utilities makes all the difference. Well done on the recovery Marcus.