Hurricane season is here in New Orleans and I'm already seeing the billing chaos that follows major storms. Entergy estimated bills, interrupted service credits, generator fuel surcharges - it's a mess every year. Last year after Hurricane Ida I found over $60k in errors just from incorrect outage credits. Anyone else deal with post-hurricane billing disasters?
Hurricane season and utility billing nightmares
Juan, I feel your pain. After Hurricane Michael hit the panhandle, the Georgia Power billing for my clients near the Florida border was a nightmare. Estimated readings for months, incorrect storm restoration charges, and they kept billing for service during complete outages. Took six months to sort it all out.
We get this in Charlotte too after storms move inland. Duke Energy's automated systems go haywire and they start estimating everything. I had one manufacturing client who was billed for 150,000 kWh during a week when they had no power for five days. The meter readers couldn't get to the facility because of downed trees but the computer kept calculating usage.
Even here in Phoenix with APS we see billing issues after microbursts and haboobs knock out power. Not hurricanes but the principle is the same - when the infrastructure gets damaged, the billing systems don't know how to handle partial outages and temporary service. I've seen demand charges calculated during blackouts.
The key is documenting everything during the storm. I tell all my TEP clients here in Tucson to photograph their meter readings before and after any major weather event. When monsoon storms cause outages, having that documentation makes the billing disputes much easier to win.
Omar that's smart advice. After the derecho that hit Iowa and Illinois a few years back, I helped several clients in that region and the ones with good documentation got their credits much faster. The utilities want to fix the errors but they need proof of what actually happened.
Up here in Vermont with Green Mountain Power, ice storms cause similar billing chaos. Last winter we had a three-day outage and GMP kept billing one of my clients for electric heating during the blackout. The irony was the client was freezing in the dark while getting charged for electricity they couldn't use.
PPL here in Pennsylvania does the same thing after ice storms. The worst is when they bill estimated usage based on the same period last year, not accounting for the fact that businesses were closed for days. I've seen restaurants billed for normal electric usage during week-long outages.
Even up in South Dakota with Black Hills Energy, blizzards create the same problems. When the power's out for 48 hours and they can't read meters, the estimated bills are always wrong. I've learned to proactively contact clients after any major weather event to start the audit process early.
The frustrating part is that the utilities have all the outage data - they know exactly when service was restored to each customer. But somehow that information doesn't make it to the billing department. Duke Energy here in Cincinnati will send out press releases about restoration progress but still bill like nothing happened.
Cecilia that's the most frustrating part - they have the data but don't use it. OG&E here in Oklahoma City does the same thing after tornado outages. They'll have detailed outage maps online showing exactly when each neighborhood came back up, but the billing system acts like nothing happened.
The silver lining is that post-storm audits are usually very profitable. NV Energy here in Vegas rarely has hurricane issues, but after that windstorm knocked out power to half the valley last year, I found $40k in errors across just three clients. Utilities are so focused on restoration they don't watch the billing as carefully.
Kim makes a good point. After major storms, utilities are in crisis mode and normal billing oversight goes out the window. I cleaned up after that derecho in Pennsylvania and found errors totaling over $75k across multiple First Energy clients. It's unfortunate that disasters create opportunities, but that's the reality.
This thread is incredibly useful. I'm bookmarking all these tips for the next time MLGW here in Memphis has storm billing issues. The documentation advice especially - I'm going to start recommending that all my clients photograph their meters before severe weather hits. Prevention is worth a pound of cure in billing disputes.