Wanted to share a victory with Westar Energy (now Evergy) here in Kansas. Hospital client was incorrectly billed on Schedule MGS when they should have been on Schedule LGS based on their transformer ownership. Westar agreed to go back 4 years and we recovered $43,200. Key was proving the customer met LGS requirements from day one and utility should have known.
Westar Energy 4-year recovery success
Nice work Bonnie! Four years is pretty generous for a rate schedule issue. Did you have to fight for that timeframe or was it in their standard policy? We're dealing with similar issues with TVA and they're usually stuck at 3 years max.
Great result! In Louisiana we see similar flexibility when the error is clearly on the utility side. The transformer ownership issue should have been caught during the initial service setup. Sounds like Westar recognized their mistake and did the right thing.
Roy, they actually offered 4 years without much pushback once I showed them the transformer ownership documentation and original service application. I think the hospital setting helped too - they're sensitive about overcharging healthcare facilities. The key was having all the paperwork from initial service connection.
Hospitals do get special consideration sometimes. We had a similar case with OG&E here in Oklahoma where they were very accommodating once they realized it was a medical facility. Good documentation always helps but the healthcare angle probably sealed the deal on the longer recovery period.
Bonnie, what specific documentation made the difference? I'm working on a transformer ownership case with CenterPoint and trying to build the strongest possible argument for going back more than their standard 2 years.
Steve, the original interconnection agreement was key - it clearly showed the hospital owned and maintained the transformer from day one. I also had electrical permits and inspection records proving ownership. The utility's own engineering records showed they knew about the customer-owned equipment but billing never got the memo.
Excellent work Bonnie. This is a perfect example of why documentation is everything in these cases. The disconnect between engineering and billing departments is unfortunately common. When you can prove the utility had the correct information but failed to apply it properly, they usually become much more reasonable about recovery periods.