Found that a client's utility is applying municipal franchise fee to the total bill AFTER adding the state regulatory surcharge. So they're charging franchise fee on a fee. Small amount per month but across 11 accounts and 4 years it's ~$8K. Utility refuses to refund, says "it's how the billing system calculates." Anyone successfully fought this?
Franchise fee charged on a fee — utility refuses to refund
Yes. This is a classic cascading fee issue. Check your state tariff — most explicitly define the franchise fee base as "gross receipts from energy sales" which excludes taxes and other regulatory surcharges. If the tariff says gross receipts, the utility is misapplying their own tariff. File a formal tariff inquiry with the PUC. I've won this three times in two states. They'll settle before the PUC rules because the exposure across their full customer base is enormous.