Duke Energy

When the service began at the current address, the customer was informed on the phone, July 28, 2015 that a $510.00 security deposit would be charged on the first bill. The customer at the time did not ask any questions regarding the security deposit.
The first bill was due September 11, 2015...

for a total of $617.58. The customer contacted Duke Energy on September 1, 2015 and requested an extension. We advised the customer they could be extended until September 18, 2015 and he said he would pay the bill by that date.
Duke Energy did receive a payment of $125.00 on September 18, 2015, but that still left a past due balance of $492.58 due by October 13, 2015. Of that past due balance, $385.00 was for the security deposit. Any payments received on a customer’s account when a security deposit is due will apply to the security deposit amount first.
In this case, Duke Energy did not receive any payment for the bill that was due on October 13, 2015 and the electric was disconnected for non-payment on October 14, 2015.
The customer did pay $265.50 to have the service restored and since the security deposit was due at that time, that entire payment paid the security deposit. The security deposit is now paid in full on the account and the customer will receive the paid security deposit back once satisfactory payments for a period of either 9 consecutive months or any 9 out of 12 consecutive months. This is provided that there are no late payments for any two consecutive months.
If the customer chooses to discontinue their service before the deposit has been credited, it will be applied to their final bill. Any remaining credits would be sent as a refund check or will be transferred to another active account in their name if possible.
The customer did have a paid security deposit on file at a previous address which the billing ended in May 2015. That paid deposit plus interest, totaling $122.41 was applied to the final bill at that account.

At the current address, a payment arrangement is setup currently and Duke Energy is scheduled to read the meter again on December 18, 2015, at which time another bill will be generated.

Duke Energy has investigated the customer’s concerns and determined that the customer is responsible for the usage since he began service on April 28th, 2017.  It is true that a customer did contact Duke Energy on May 12, 2017 and provided the incorrect address for service, which is why the...

service was removed from Mr. [redacted]’s name in May.  Duke Energy would not know this was a red flag, because if a customer chooses to schedule service and they provide an address, Duke Energy has to assume they should be the responsibility party.   When the incorrect customer contacted Duke Energy on June 26, 2017, they advised they had given Duke Energy the wrong address.  Steps should have been taken at that time, which Mr. [redacted]’s account should not have been disconnected, however, due to an error, the service was disconnected, but once Mr. [redacted] contacted Duke Energy, steps were taken to schedule an order to restore service and it was restored on June 26th.   Duke Energy apologizes for that error and the customer is correct that we have setup a payment arrangement for 6 months at $30.00 additional each month. Mr. [redacted] has enrolled himself in paperless billing, as of August 24, 2017 and all bills will be emailed to him.  Unfortunately, Duke Energy is not aware why he would not have received any bills that were previously mailed to him.  The mailing address on record is 14 W. 9th St, Floor 1, Covington, KY  41011. There is no indication from Mr. [redacted] that he ever moved from the address, so although a different customer made an error and placed service in their name at the wrong address, that customer would not be responsible for Mr. [redacted]’s balance.   Mr. [redacted] is responsible for the account balance and Duke Energy would not be removing any charges.

The customer’s service was disconnected for non-payment in February.
In March when we went back out for the next month’s meter reading we found that
the service had been self-restored, so we removed the meter. The customer did
make a payment to bring the account current and paid for the...

unauthorized usage
on the account. A new meter was installed and service was restored on 4/1/16.

RE: Duke Energy        Mr. [redacted]     Our records indicate a past due balance of $231.37 from a previous address at [redacted].   A final bill generated in the amount of $480.68 for gas and electric charges at the previous address....

The final bill was due on 4/19/16. On 4/15/16 a partial payment of $75.68 posted to the account leaving a remaining balance of $405.00.  Because the total amount due of $480.68 was not paid a late charge of $6.08 was added to the balance making the total account balance $411.08.   On 3/25/16 the customer opened another account at a different location with Duke Energy. The residence was all electric. Regulatory guidelines prevent us from transferring gas charges to an all-electric account. As a result we were only able to transfer electric charges totaling $167.78 of the total $411.08 to the new account. The transferred charge of $167.78 was deducted from the $411.08 account balance at [redacted]. leaving a remaining balance for gas charges of $243.30.  On 4/25/16 this outstanding balance was assigned to a collection agency for collections.   On 5/9/16 as a courtesy, our representative transferred the $167.78 from the current account back to the finaled account.  The debit increased the balance back up from $243.30 to $411.08.  On 5/13/16 a $42.00 payment was applied to the account reducing the balance down to $369.08. Some of this payment was applied towards the electric charges that had been transferred back to the finaled account. The account balance of $369.08 was enrolled in a 6 month payment plan. Mr. [redacted] was advised if the payment plan defaulted we would transfer any outstanding electric charges back to his active account for collections. An installment of $61.00 was due on 6/27/16 and we did not receive a payment causing the payment plan to default. The remaining electric charges of $131.63 have been transferred back to his current account. As a courtesy we will suspend collections on the current account and generate a current bill showing the additional charges. The suspend will provide the opportunity for the customer to receive the bill. The customer has the option of contacting our Customer Service Dept. at ###-###-#### to discuss a payment arrangement if needed   Please let me know if you need any additional information. My contact information is listed below.   A J[redacted] Consumer Affairs Specialist Duke Energy ###-###-####

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.] I'm glad to know I will no longer be receiving the monthly reports, since they obviously reflect inaccurate information based on the fact the report that coincides with the bill in question indicated my usage was better than the others with whom I was compared!Regarding the company's response, it is not clear enough in order for me to determine whether or not the company plans to make an on-site visit.  Specifically, the response indicated an order was placed and the company was behind schedule.  That response coincides with my original call to the company during which the person indicated someone needed to make an on-site visit to determine whether the gas meter was operating properly due to the recent increased gas usage.  However, after staying home all day and making three calls, the first two of which indicated someone was on the way, the response I received from the third call was that no one would be making an on-site visit because of the type of meter that is installed in my home. As you can determine, the company's response provided to the Revdex.com needs to be clarified because I still can't determine whether or not an on-site visit is required.      
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. I reject this response again because I still don't get how you can take what my readings were previously and add on and just say that's what I used and how was it totaling 298 and how could my meter have been misread two months in a row and it stated my Jan 2016 was normal which was $84 so how can a month before that be so much higher would like face to face with someone where we can sit down and go over these bills together cause I know there's a big big mistake somewhere 
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
Regards,
[redacted]

We spoke to Mr. [redacted] on 4/20/16 around 12:30pm. We advised him that we are in the process of moving the primary connection for the transformer that serves his house to the middle phase. We explained that this does not guarantee fewer or no outages.

The customer's usage has increased since November. It is higher than what they typically used during the winter months, but we have tested the meter and the meter is working properly. Unfortunately we cannot say for sure what has caused the increase, we have no way of knowing what uses the power...

once it passes through the meter. The customer does have a smart meter and online services, so they are able to log in and see their daily usage to try and determine what is causing the increased usage. Based upon their usage pattern, it appears the highest usage days are the days that have been cold.We tested the meter 1/12/17 and the meter test was good. The results were : FL 100.10 PF 99.92 LL 100.29.The day we tested the meter the reading on the meter was 65770, which was higher than the read in December, so we know that the usage is accurate. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we are not able to say what is causing the increase in usage.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
Regards,
[redacted]

RE: [redacted]
Good Afternoon,
Duke Energy is required by the U.S. Department of Transportation to inspect indoor gas service piping from the inside building wall to our gas meter, and associated metering equipment, as part of providing safe natural gas pipeline operations. Inspections are...

performed yearly if the resident/business is located in a business district, or every three years if the resident is located outside of a business district. Our goal is to perform these inspections with minimal impact on our customers.
We had been unsuccessful in our attempts to notify Ms. [redacted] of a required Gas metering and piping inspection for her residence.There was no response to notification letters mailed on 2/24/16 and 3/22/16. There was no response to phone calls made on 3/1/16 and 4/1/16 to[redacted]. Both calls resulted in a message being left on voice mail.
On 4/13/16 a "final notification" letter was mailed notifying the customer it was imperative to schedule an appointment in order to avoid disconnection. Our records indicate arrangements have been made to perform the inspection on 4/25/16.
I've called to apologize to our customer for the confusion. She stated she only received 1 letter and no voice mail regarding this issue. I am going to forward this information to Duke Energy's Preventability Team for review.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions. My contact information is listed below.
A. J[redacted]
Duke Energy
Consumer Affairs Specialist
[redacted]

RE: Monica Davis       Revdex.com Case #[redacted]   On 9/30/16 a monthly bill generated for Ms. [redacted] in the amount of $488.61 due 10/24/16. The bill included a disconnection notice. The notice, printed on the front page of the bill indicated a past due amount of $353.91 was...

required by 10/27/16 to avoid disconnection. Our records indicate on 10/26/16 Ms. [redacted] contacted our office to request a Medical Certification.  Ms. [redacted] was not advised that either a payment must be made or an agreement must be set up within 30 days of receiving the medical certification or service would be disconnected.  The Medical certification protection ended on 11/26/16 and the service was disconnected for non-payment on 12/2/16. Ms. [redacted] used another Medical certification to restore the service.   I made payment arrangements with Ms. [redacted] today. I’ve also apologized that she was not advised to make a payment arrangement prior to the Medical certification expiring. The Security Deposit and electric reconnection fee will be waived.   Please let me know if you need any additional information.  [redacted]Consumer Affairs SpecialistDuke Energy [redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
The correspondence they state occurred did not.  I never received any calls on my phone. 
Regards,
[redacted]

I apologize for how long it is taking for you to receive the refund check.A new check was reissued in your name on January 11, 2017 and was mailed out.  Please allow 4-6 weeks starting from January 11, 2017 to receive your refund check.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Yet again I have been charged for a natural gas service that is not active. This is the third time duke has billed me for these services that they previously removed from my account. This time they are billing me for all of the past months service charges which show that no gas was used and that the service was in fact turned off. I do not know what my options are since it seems I will need to call them every month to remove charges that should not be there. Duke Energy refuses to address their internal problems in hopes that the customer will either pay the false charges or call to have them remove. I have no other options in utility providers in my area.Desired Resolution / OutcomeDesired Resolution:Billing AdjustmentselectDesired Outcome:Along with a billing adjustment, I would like an ink signed letter from Duke's internal management explaining what changes have been made to prevent this billing problem from happening again to me or other Cincinnati regional customers.
Regards,
[redacted]

Duke Energy would like to apologize for the inconvenience. Our tree trimming contractor spoke to the customer and apologized. We agreed to place grass seed and fertilizer on the spots that were affected by the tree limbs.

RE: [redacted]        Revenue Recover Charges: $660.41     Our records indicate that sometime between November 2015 – December 2015 the meter installed at the customer’s home began to slow and eventually failed  to register any electrical usage. A new...

meter was installed on 3/16/16 and the customer was charged $660.41 for lost consumption between  November 2015 – March 2016.   I spoke to Mr. [redacted] regarding the revenue recovery charges. He provided a receipt to confirm that he had a new HVAC unit installed in his home in September 2014. A review of his records also indicates the usage between November 2014 – March 2015 was lower than the revenue recovery usage that was added to his account for lost consumption between November 2015 – March 2016. Weather conditions were also a little milder during this past winter season.  Taking the new equipment and warmer weather conditions into consideration , a decision has been made to provide a 20% adjustment on the revenue recovery charge. Once the adjustment has been completed Mr. [redacted] and I will discuss payment plan options for the remaining revenue recovery balance.   Mr. [redacted] has accepted this resolution. Please let me know if you need any additional information. My contact information is listed  below.     A. J[redacted] Consumer Affairs Specialist Duke Energy [redacted]

RE:  Mr. & Mrs. [redacted]              Duke Energy Rebate  I contacted Duke Energy’s Sr. Products and Services Manager regarding Mrs. [redacted] program eligibility for a customer rebate for her equipment. Below is a summation...

(in part) I received from Mr. [redacted] detailing why the equipment does not meet the program eligibility requirements. Barbara and Gerald [redacted], had a Geothermal HVAC system installed through one of our registered [redacted], [redacted] Heating and Air.   [redacted] submitted a rebate application for the Geothermal HVAC unit which was approved and the customer rebate incentive was fulfilled and mailed January 7 for the qualifying Geo HVAC ($200 to customer, $100 to [redacted]).   [redacted] also sold an add-on water storage tank, which uses the Geothermal HVAC system as the source to heat water and pump to the storage tank. [redacted] stated they submitted a rebate application for the HPWH at the customer’s request. This add-on storage unit is not on Energy Star’s water heating product database listing, and not the technology as we filed with commission for approval.   Duke Energy has acted in accordance with program eligibility criteria.  I have tried to reach the customer, but we have missed each other twice.    Mr. [redacted] can be reached at ###-###-####   Please let me know if I can be of further assistance. My contact information is listed below.   A J[redacted] Duke Energy Consumer Affairs Specialist ###-###-####