Been auditing a manufacturing client here in Youngstown and noticed some weird gas rider charges on their FirstEnergy bills. They're getting hit with a "Gas Cost Recovery" rider that seems to be double-charging for the same commodity adjustment. Anyone else in Ohio seeing this pattern? The tariff language is pretty murky on Schedule GS-3.
FirstEnergy gas rider charges - anyone else seeing this?
Jim, we've seen similar issues with Georgia Natural Gas down here in Atlanta. Different utility but same concept - they're bundling commodity adjustments into riders that should be separate line items. Have you checked if they're applying the base rate correctly before the rider kicks in?
This is exactly what we caught with Atmos Energy here in Tennessee last year. Turned out they were applying the rider to the total bill instead of just the commodity portion. Saved our client $18,000 in overcharges. Check the tariff section 4.2.1 - that's usually where they bury the calculation methodology.
Good catch Terry. We're seeing similar issues with Piedmont Natural Gas here in Charlotte. The key is understanding whether the rider is percentage-based or volumetric. If it's percentage-based and they're applying it to taxes and fees, that's usually an error. Most tariffs specifically exclude non-commodity charges from rider calculations.
Derek, that's exactly what I'm seeing! They're calculating the rider on the entire bill amount including delivery charges and taxes. The tariff clearly states it should only apply to commodity charges. This could be a $25K+ issue for my client over the past 24 months. Time to file a formal complaint.
Jim, make sure you document everything before filing. We had a similar case in Cincinnati with Duke Energy Ohio and they fought us tooth and nail until we provided detailed tariff analysis showing the error. Also check if other customers in your rate class are affected - could turn into a class action refund situation.
Update: Filed the complaint and FirstEnergy admitted the error. They're issuing a credit for 18 months of overcharges totaling $31,400. Also implementing system changes to prevent this from happening to other customers. Sometimes persistence pays off!