I was so stinking mad
By dorannmwin
@dorannmwin (36392)
United States
April 9, 2013 5:36pm CST
Last Thursday Paul and I were sitting in the office, he playing video games on Tom's computer and I working online on my computer when all of a sudden the power went out in the house. I figured that it was just some construction going on or something. But then I looked outside and there was a red truck sitting in front of my driveway. I went out and said, "I'd like to know what's going on?" The man replied, "You didn't pay your electric bill!"
Excuse me, you didn't send the bill to me promptly. I received and overdue bill on just Saturday and figured that since it was already late I would wait for the next bill to come and pay it all at once. I didn't get a shutoff notice or anything, just a bill that was not delivered to me promptly.
Well, I came into the house and called the electric company and made a payment to them. They had already read my meter for the next payment so I was able to pay it all at once. Then I asked them when they would turn my power back on (mind you it had only been about 20 minutes from the time that the power was cut off). They told me that the service person should still be in the area and therefore it should take less than an hour (this was at 3:30). I sat here and messed around on my laptop with my neighbors wifi for a little bit and then read until I had to go out and run errands, the power was still not on when I left the house a few minutes after six.
When Tom got home at about nine o'clock the power was back on but in the mean time I lost food and such because of the warmth.
In my opinion, something like this is uncalled for. There are a variety of reasons that our bill might be late getting paid, but they should never cut off your utility when you are a good payer and you were only a few days late paying your bill.
I'm still not entirely over it because they are not charging us a reconnect fee and also a security deposit, all because of either their incompetence or the incompetence of our mail service.
2 people like this
11 responses
@Hugsy25 (274)
• Canada
10 Apr 13
I hate our power company. I didn't get the bill in the mail once so I went down and paid some on it. But it was $14 more than what I paid when it came, so I figured it wouldn't be a huge deal if I waited until the next month to pay the $14. Nope the next week I got a disconnection notice over $14. WTH It's $14 through it on the next bill it's not like it's a huge amount.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Apr 13
I mean the fact that you'd made a payment should have made it obvious to them that you weren't trying to hide from your bill.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Apr 13
I mean if it would have been hundreds of dollars that we were talking about, I would have been able to understand it. However over less than a hundred dollars, I don't think that is something that they should sweat quite so much.
1 person likes this
@dagami (1158)
• Rome, Italy
9 Apr 13
here in rome, they don't cut the power if you're late in paying one bill. they lower the supply but it's still enough for the refrigerator and the light. however it's not enough to run the dishwasher, laundry machine, hair dryer, clothes iron, micro wave, and other high consuming appliances.
1 person likes this
@KayeCee15 (51)
• Philippines
10 Apr 13
AH! This one's nice, you still have electricity though you're over due. =) I wish it's the same here in our country. But I doubt it. Sometimes, even if you're paying on time, and no natural calamity or something, the power will just shut off,. then will be on again for like 2 minutes, and there are times that certain areas will be out for like a half a day or so, their reason was fixing some broken lines or just upgrading something. Its sometimes bugs me off especially when I'm working into important files.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Apr 13
That really is a great concept and I wish that it would be something that they would adopt here. To throttle the energy that a late payer is getting would be something that would remind them to pay their bill without causing them to have other great losses as well.
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
10 Apr 13
I know how you feel because this has happend several times to me. They will cut off my bill 3 days after the due date and it sends me crazy. The bills can come late but they do not take that into account. This month they have not sent me an invoice by email and I has signed up for this service six months ago. So I had to check and the bill is so high despite my cutting down. We pay the highest electricity rate in the world so my bill is nearly equivalent to US$250 - and trust me I am frugal. I never use a dryer and washing is on the shortest cycle in cold water etc but my stove is electrical. There is no competition of the Island and so they can behave like pigs and get away with it
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Apr 13
I really do think that the entire world would be a much better place if they were able to get some competition for the different utilities. It would make the rates more reasonable and would also give us a choice as consumers.
@randylovesdar (4932)
• United States
10 Apr 13
It is odd that they would shut off your power without any notice. If you were six months behind I could understand, but since you were a few days late it was very uncalled for. I would contact the claims department and file a complaint about the food that was spoiled. I would give them itemized list of what you bought and let them cut you a check.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Apr 13
I don't know that they would do that, I've been going rounds with them. To put it fully into prospective for you, I paid the balance of the late payment in addition to the payment that still isn't due and only had to pay a total of $150. It really was only one payment that was late.
@jenny1015 (13366)
• Philippines
10 Apr 13
I can understand how you feel. And I have been in that situation myself. But it was with the water utility. Now, I have not been receiving my Internet connection bill for the past 3 months, and this I make sure to pay ahead of time. I wouldn't want to get bothered again with a disconnected service. I have reported about the missing bills but they have told me that they always sent mine, but maybe somebody is just messing up with me.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Apr 13
It really is a pain when we don't receive our bills on time. I wish that there was a better way to do it, but none of our utility companies here offer a paperless billing, though that would be cheaper for them and more convenient for me.
@911Ricki (13588)
• Canada
9 Apr 13
Just because you didn't pay 1 bill - they only do that if you haven't pad bills in the past. My friend went 6 months without paying her bill before hers was shut off. I would be calling the company back and tell them they need to pay you for the food they ruined, that would be my entire month of food thrown out.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Apr 13
I think that the reason that they do that to us here is because of the fact that they can get away with it being that they are a monopoly. I've heard of other people owing hundreds of dollars and not getting theirs shut off, ours was less than a hundred dollars and we've always paid in the past. I think they might just want to get a deposit on record and that is part of the reason for this.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Apr 13
I will definitely be checking that out. They were supposed to have a note in our account that my husband has a serious illness and cannot go without electricity if we are late to pay but obviously that didn't make any kind of a difference.
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
11 Apr 13
In my case it was the water and getting stuck with a $10 late charge after I didn't get a bill. If they actually shut the water off, I'd be hopping mad.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Apr 13
I know what you mean, I would be exactly the same way over the water. A notice or a door hanger reminding us would be really nice because our mail service just isn't what it used to be.
@bounce58 (17387)
• Canada
15 Apr 13
I think that's the problem with big utility companies letting machines or computers do their data sorting. It's always black and white. It's always paid or not-paid. And the consequence is always absolute.
And the sad thing is, the decision to reconnect, and the act of reconnecting is still dependent on a human so there is always a delay and not very automatic.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Apr 13
That is true. However, I don't think that there was any excuse that it took hours to reconnect it when I know that the person that was ordered with the reconnect was still right in our area.
@Rick1950 (1575)
• Lima, Peru
12 Apr 13
I've experienced the same situation than you, but in my office. Sometimes I forgot completely to pay the bill and sometimes because I didn't get any electrical bill delivered. Well, I did must to run to the payment center in order to get the power reconnection few hours later. The company doesn't assume any responsability if you don't get the bill on time, although it is not fair. I always have been charged with fee reconnection.
Doesn't exist a consumer protection office, in where you are living, and where you can set a complaint about the late receipt of the invoice?
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Apr 13
I don't know about a consumer protection office, but I know that I've been on the phone with them several different times in the last week and a half and I've been able to get absolutely no where with them. It is really starting to p!ss me off.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Apr 13
See, I really think that the standards should be more universal. I know other people that have several months in default and they never get their power turned off or have to pay a deposit. It isn't right at all.
