Super Car Wash

The monthly meter reading PNM took on Jan 23rd, showed a reading of on the meter.? The next monthly meter reading taken on Feb 21st, showed a reading of 10049.? PNM then issued a bill to the customer for 3,927kWh worth of usage for this day period.? The meter? was test according to the standards set forth by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission.? As stated in our previous reply, the test results will be provided to the NMPRC, but cannot be sent in? response to this particular complaint? due to PNM proprietary information in? the test results.? The test results show that the meter accurately recorded the customer's usage.The customer's own meter readings taken after Feb 21st? confirm that this jump in usage occurred.? As an electric utility company, PNM is required by the NMPRC to provide electricity to our customers, and provide a way to accurately measure the electrical usage (this is what the meter does).? We are then required to bill our customers monthly for the usage recorded on the meter.? This is what we have done.? PNM has no way of know what electric appliance(s) are causing this unexpected usage.? This is something the customer would need to hire an electrician to determine.? PNM has correctly billed the customer for the usage that occurred at the property while their account was active.? There was no error caused by the meter, the bill was issued correctly and the charges on the bill are correct.? ?

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:Thank you for investigating for me.? Although what PNM states in their response is true as far as the phone calls, etc., neither I nor my granddaughter were informed there had been a problem with this apartment before.? The customer service representative, although polite, did not inform ME that an electrician was needed.? My granddaughter called a couple hours after I did (that was MY fourth or fifth call to PNM) and was finally told the apartment complex needed to have an electrician check the wiring.? I realize that whatever regulations are involved may have prevented PNM from actually helping me, I am frustrated that I could not have been advised correctly on my first phone call instead of several phone calls and two enormous bills later.? I face a third enormous bill soon.? It seems to me that a public utility could me more helpful to the consumer.? I am a senior citizen and to tell me to unplug one appliance at a time, then go out and read my meter, which isn't just outside me door, is completely non-customer friendly.? The maintenance person at the apartment complex proved to my satisfaction that it was not one single appliance causing the issue.? But, of course, I am not trained or knowledgeable about electricity.? As an example, in my previous home I got an exceptionally high water bill.? When I called them, they gave me a number to call for an expert to come and evaluate the cause.? This was completed within days.? It proved to be a faulty toilet, the expert fixed it, and my only cost was the toilet repair.? That is what I expected from PNM instead of getting the run around and have me do the work of discovering the error.? The apartment complex has agreed to bring an electrician here and if they don't I will have to bring my own or move again.? My income is fixed and cannot withstand this sort of expense.? ? Sincerely, [redacted] [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the responseIf the consumer does not provide a reason the complaint will be closed Answered]

Good morning,? Although the consumer feels that they are not liable for the $plus late payment charges, these charges are valid.? Our meter reader attempted to get a meter reading and was unable to do so.? Because of this, we estimated how much electrical usage was consumed from November 3rd, through December 6th, 2017.? The resulting estimate produced a bill of $61.65.? This was billed within the Rule's allowed by the NMPRC.? The consumer contacted the PRC this morning, and the PRC also advised her that we are allowed to estimate bills? If these charges continue to go unpaid, the account will become eligible for disconnection for non-payment.? Please let us know if you have any further questionsPNM Customer Service

Good afternoon, Pursuant to NM State Statute, PNM is restricted from giving out any customer information without the customers express permission.? 62-8-Consumer information; disclosure prohibited A.? ? ? A public utility, as defined pursuant to Section 62-3-NMSA 1978, or its employees or agents shall not sell or disclose consumers' nonpublic personal information without the customer's permission or unless it is in accordance with standardized credit reporting practices, pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 56, Article NMSA or the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act or other reporting requirements imposed on the public utility.? ? B.? ? ? Exempted from the provisions of this section are:? (1)? ? ? the public regulation commission pursuant to the Public Utility Act [62-13-NMSA 1978] and the Public Regulation Commission Act [8-8-NMSA 1978] and rules adopted pursuant to those acts; or? (2)? ? ? an action by a government agency or an officer, employee or agent of an agency acting on behalf of the agency to obtain telephone records in connection with the performance of the official duties of the agency This particular statue prevents PNM from responding to this complaint with any specific customer account informationI would highly recommend that the customer contact our customer service center at ###-###-#### to discuss their complaint further.? ? Aaron PNM Executive Customer Relations

Good afternoon, Pursuant to NM State Statute, PNM is restricted from giving out any customer information without the customers express permission.? 62-8-Consumer information; disclosure prohibited A.? ? ? A public utility, as defined pursuant to Section 62-3-NMSA 1978, or its employees or agents shall not sell or disclose consumers' nonpublic personal information without the customer's permission or unless it is in accordance with standardized credit reporting practices, pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 56, Article NMSA or the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act or other reporting requirements imposed on the public utility.? ? B.? ? ? Exempted from the provisions of this section are:? (1)? ? ? the public regulation commission pursuant to the Public Utility Act [62-13-NMSA 1978] and the Public Regulation Commission Act [8-8-NMSA 1978] and rules adopted pursuant to those acts; or? (2)? ? ? an action by a government agency or an officer, employee or agent of an agency acting on behalf of the agency to obtain telephone records in connection with the performance of the official duties of the agency Because of the above mentioned statute, PNM is unable to disclose any customer specific? account information? regarding this complaint.PNM Executive Customer Relations?

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: Regards, [redacted] [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the responseIf the consumer does not provide a reason the complaint will be closed Answered] [redacted] has always been in tenants name not mine, any balance from [redacted] should be transferred to my address at [redacted] .? I have made several calls and talked to it after another who assured me this would happen

Good afternoon, ? Ms [redacted] has recently contacted PNM regarding her high bill.? Our investigation has shown that this high and unexpected? usage did? occur at her property, and has been accurately billed to her account.? When troubleshooting large bills a customer might receive there some steps we can take to help try to determine the cause of unexpected usageHowever, PNM is limited in the ways we can troubleshoot this type of complaint.? This is especially true when the complaint involves an apartment complex ? When a customer calls us about a high bill, we want to check to make sure their most recent meter reading was correct.? While our meter readers are experts in reading these meters, they are only human, and occasionally make errors.? We will ask a customer to get a reading from their meter if possible, and determine if we have read the meter correctly.? In this case the reading we got over the phone confirmed the most recent reading as accurate ? Another troubleshooting step we will use to try to help understand what appliance(s) a customer has that may be causing the unexpected high usage is to do what we refer to as a ‘breaker test’.? A breaker test works by having the person turn off all of their breakers at the property, and then to check the meter to see if usage is still occurring.? Then, one by one, we have the person turn the breakers back on, and then check the meter to see which breaker is connected to whatever is causing of the high usage.? While this will help determine where the highest usage is happening on the property, it may not make it 100% clear what the cause for the unexpectedly high usage is.? To determine the exact cause of the usage, a customer or property owner would need to hire an electrician to run tests to find the exact issue.? ? In this particular case, the customer called us back after doing the breaker test, and stated that the meters usage had recorded kWh worth of usage while the breakers where off.? This tells us that there is possibly some sort of electrical connection that is connected to the meter, which is not also connected to the breaker box.? In a house this can usually be easy to locate and is usually something like a pool or hot tub that may be on the property but has a separate breaker on a dedicated electric connection that may not be connected to the breaker box.? However, this can be much harder to determine at an apartment complex without the help of an electrician ? With the exception of the electric meter, all of the electrical wiring and equipment on any property is owned by the property owner, be it a home owner, or the property owner of an apartment complex.? This wiring was not installed by PNM or owned by PNM.? If there is something that is connected to Ms [redacted] ’s meter that is not connected through the breaker box in her apartment, then this is something that the property owner would need to hire an electrician to find ? Prior to Ms [redacted] moving into this apartment, PNM was contacted by the apartment complex management to investigate a meter mix up between the apartment she moved into and an apartment next door.? The investigation showed that the two meters were mixed up, so PNM swapped the meters and correct this in our billing system.? However, this was not a PNM error that caused the meter mix up.? Because all of the electrical wiring is owned by the property owner, when PNM installs our meter at the property, we rely on the customer’s electrician to properly label each meter box and make sure it is connected to the right apartment.? PNM cannot tell if the meter box is improperly marked ? Our meters can only measure the amount of electricity that flows through it; they are unable to ‘see’ what appliance(s) are using the electricity.? If there is an issue with something that is causing unexpected high usage at her apartment, then the property owner must hire an electrician to be able to determine the cause of this usage.? This is an issue that the tenant and property owner must work out between them.? ? Please let? us know if you need any further information

The extra $monthly charge has been refunded to the customers account, leaving a balance of $27.50. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused the customer. Please let us know if you need any further information.

Good afternoon, ? The customer did have a deposit on his account for the [redacted] address in the amount of $390.00.? On March 27, 2010, the deposit along with interest was paid back to his account, giving the account a credit of $392.41.? On March 29th, 2010, a new electric bill was issued in the amount of $130.15, which was taken out of the credit on the account, reducing the credit to $262.26.? ? The customer had had active service at [redacted] until February 2nd, 2010, when a new customer called to take over service at that address.? The final balance due was $272.12, and went unpaid for over days.? On March 31st, 2010, we transferred this unpaid balance to his active account at [redacted] **.? When the transfer was completed, these past due charges were mostly paid for by the $credit on the active account at [redacted] , leaving a balance due of $ ? NMAC Rule allows electric utility companies to transfer unpaid balances from premises no longer active in that particular customer’s name to any other active account under the same cr.? ? “NMAC PROHIBITIONS ON DISCONTINUANCE OF SERVICE: A utility shall not discontinue service for: B the failure of a residential customer to pay for service received at a separate metering point, residence, or location; however, in the event of discontinuance or termination of service at a separate residential metering point, residence, or location, a utility may transfer any unpaid balance due to any other residential service account of the residential customer and proceed in accordance with subsection B of NMAC;” ? PNM did give the customer back his $deposit plus interest earned on this deposit throughout the time we had a deposit on file for his service.? The deposit was only? applied to electric usage that they? were responsible for under? their specific account number.? ? As far as the account being on our Landlord Standby program, we are not sure what relevance that has to this complaint, however we are showing that the customer had requested that the landlord standby program be setup at the [redacted] address on 4/25/11, and this was only recently terminated by the customer through our website on 5/2/ ? Please let us know if you need any further information ? PNM Executive Customer Relations

Thank you for your inquiryI’ve reviewed the account you’ve submitted and find that PNM has performed our required functions for billing correctly in this instanceI’d like to explain our investigation and conclusion ? Our customer has asserted that the usage this winter has been a great deal higher than last winter, and that is correctThe total billed consumption from November to February is around 89% higher than the same period the previous yearWe can certainly understand why that would be a cause of concern to any customer ? PNM’s responsibilities in rendering a bill to a customer can generally be considered to provide an accurate measurement device, collect an accurate measurement each billing period (within reason), and bill for all electricity measured ? We provide a meter to each customer that is pre-tested for accuracyIn this situation, due to the large increase, we exchanged the meter used for the period in question on March and subsequently tested itThe meter is operating within limits, as defined in public utility regulations issued by our governmental oversight authority, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC)This means that we did provide an accurate measuring device ? It is PNM’s responsibility to obtain an actual meter reading from each meter for each billing periodBecause human error is an inevitable reality in our business, we use a process (as do most utilities with metered service) to account for human error and ensure that the process will “self-correct” Our meters are not reset while they are on a customer’s property; they continue registering from the last reading, similar to how a car odometer doesn’t reset when you turn the car offIf you’ve not ever seen how that results in a self-correcting system, I’ll provide an example [redacted] just built a new home, and got a brand new meter with a starting reading of In his first month, he uses kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity, and so his meter reads “100”However, the meter reader accidently enters a reading of “150” into the systemThis means that for month 1, [redacted] has paid for kWh of electricity, which is more than he usedHowever, the meter keeps recording for month two from its actual first reading of “100” [redacted] also used kWh in his second month, and so on meter reading day, the meter now reads “200”The meter reader in month enters the correct reading of “200” into the systemOur system recognizes that [redacted] was already billed for kWh last month, and so only bills him kWh this monthIf we’d taken the correct reading for month 1, [redacted] would have been billed for kWh for the two monthsEven with the error, though, [redacted] is still only billed for kWh ? At the account referenced in your inquiry, we took a reading of on March 17, when we exchanged the meter for testingThe last clear and undisputed reading was taken on November 18, at This means that, since the meter was measuring accurately, we know for certain that 7, kWh were used between November 18, and March 17, This particular customer is disputing a bill based on a reading taken February 21, of Because is between the two verified reads, it’s likely correct (if it were higher than the read in March, we’d know it to be an error because the meter does not run backward) ? While ordinarily PNM must obtain an actual reading each billing period, there are situations in which we are permitted to estimate a bill, and this account was estimated in December, as a locked gate prevented our meter reader from taking the readingTypically speaking, as estimates under these conditions are permissible, we don’t offer to review the final cost of a bill based on the estimate unless the customer can either provide us with a reading or requests a rereadHowever, given that the January and especially February bills were higher than expected, we decided to make certain that a combination of the estimate, a potential human error (there’s no evidence of such but it’s always a potential), and the way our pricing structure works didn’t adversely impact the customer ? PNM’s pricing structure for this rate charges customers a low rate for the first kWh in a standard billing period, a slightly higher rate for the next 450, and a premium rate for usage in a billing period exceeding kWhBecause our residential pricing structure is such that customers pay more for electricity the more they use each month, and the fact that this customer had an estimated reading and higher than typical consumption, we decided to run a simulation available to us in these circumstances to see if the customer was impacted substantially by these eventsIn this case, we looked at the kWh consumption from November 18, to February 21, to find a daily averageWe multiplied that average daily consumption and used the average to figure out how much consumption would have been billed in each billing period (based on the number or days, since that can vary)We simulated bills for the newly calculated usage, and found that the difference to the customer would have been less than $That is not enough to justify rebilling the account, as it suggests that the initial billing was correct ? To sum up, PNM has thoroughly investigated this matter We’ve determined that we have correct readings from a working measurement device, and that human error was unlikely, because apportioning the usage evenly over the three months in question makes almost difference in the final price of the bill

Good morning, Although the consumer feels that they are not liable for the $plus late payment charges, these charges are valid. Our meter reader attempted to get a meter reading and was unable to do so. Because of this, we estimated how much electrical usage was consumed from November 3rd, through December 6th, 2017. The resulting estimate produced a bill of $61.65. This was billed within the Rule's allowed by the NMPRC. The consumer contacted the PRC this morning, and the PRC also advised her that we are allowed to estimate bills If these charges continue to go unpaid, the account will become eligible for disconnection for non-payment. Please let us know if you have any further questionsPNM Customer Service

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:
Regards,
*** *** [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the responseIf the consumer does not provide a reason the complaint will be closed Answered]there is no correspondence from directing pnm to apply any of my refund to be directed to *** *** *** this property is a rental and the tenant is responsible for utilities. please provide documentation showing I requested that. I have told them repeatedly either to refund to me or to transfer to my new residence at *** *** ** ** ***

Good afternoon,
We have reviewed the complaint filed by the customer regarding the recent meter readings that have been used to bill their account. There were three occasions in recent history that the customer contacted us to state that they had been overbilled. On those
occasions our customer service representatives took a reading over the phone with the customer, and then rebilled the account based on those meter readings.
In this particular case the first two disputed meter readings the customer called PNM about were rebilled at the insistence of this customerHowever, after further review of the readings the customer called reported, we have determined that those readings given to us over the phone were in fact confirming that the meter readings our readers obtained in the field to originally bill their account were correct. The readings the customer called in were actually higher than the readings our meter readers recorded, which confirms’ that our records were accurateWe should not have rebilled the customer’s account on the first two occasions.
The third disputed reading we used to bill the customer’s account for one of the three months in question was an estimated reading that happened due to a system upgrade issue which prevented us from using the actual reading we obtained in the field to bill the customers account. There are sometimes circumstances that are beyond the control of PNM that occur that require us to estimate a customer’s usageAn estimated reading is not “made up”; PNM calculates an estimated reading based on historical consumption that occurred during the same time frame in the previous year. We have found this to be the most accurate way to estimate a customer’s usage; though it is not perfect and if we can get a customer to call in their own reading when we have had to estimate we will cancel their estimated bill and rebill the customer based on the reading they have called in. The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC) allows all electric utility companies to estimate a customer’s reading up to two months in a row if needed
To be sure there was no issue with our meter recording the usage at the customer’s property, we placed an order to have the meter exchanged and testedThe meter has been accurately recording the usage consumption that has been happening on the customer’s property. The NMPRC has set a standard for accurate recording by electric utility meters: a meter must be measuring usage that registers between 98.0% and 102.0% of in order for the meter to be considered accurately recording usage. PNM will test the accuracy of the meter’s measuring by testing a large flow of electricity flowing through the meter, a medium flow, and a small flow, assuring that the meter is accurately recording usage no matter how much electricity is being used. The large flow tested at 100.14%, the medium flow tested at 100.11%, and the low flow tested at 99.99%. These test results confirm that our meter has accurately measured the amount of electricity that has been used at the customer’s property
To address the customer’s allegation that PNM was trespassing on her property; PNM has a right to egress/ingress our customer’s property to access our equipment. PNM Rule 13, which has been approved by the NMPRC, states: “An identified representative of the Company shall have the right of ingress and egress to and from the Customer’s premise and the Company’s equipment for the purpose of inspecting, maintaining, testing, reading, installing, removing, of changing its meters, wires, and equipment…” This rule allows PNM to access a customer’s property, though we will respect the customer’s private property as much as we are able to do. It is sometimes necessary for a PNM meter reader to try to obtain a reading for a customer from a neighboring customer’s property, especially when direct access is not possible due to circumstances beyond PNM’s control. In this particular case we have setup instructions for our meter readers to not use this customer’s property to try to obtain reading for other neighboring customer’s and vice versa. As long as the customer gives PNM access to our meter on their property every month, it will not be necessary for us to attempt to read their meter form a neighbor’s yard. PNM still retains the right to enter this customer’s property for any reason stated above in Rule as is considered necessary
To address the customers concerns regarding the high usage occurring at her property: PNM’s meters are only able to read the amount of electricity that is consumed in total through the meterThese meters cannot “see” what electrical equipment or appliance(s) that are causing the consumption. The customer would need to hire an electrician in order to be able to truly determine that cause of the high usage. An electrician has tools that they can use to pinpoint the exact cause of the un-expected usage. Much like you would hire a plumber to fix a leaky water pipe instead of calling the water utility; the same concept applies to electricians and electric utility companies
In summary, PNM has billed the customer correctly based on the meter test results, the meter readings the customer has called in to PNM, and historical usage at this property under this same customers account. Please let us know if you need any further information.
PNM Customer Service

The attachments contain customer proprietary information, so I would ask that they not be made public, or at least be heavily edited if they need to be made public
Please see
attached Statements of account. As you
can see, both statements have the same customer code. The customer has stated that we transferred a
balance from a tenant to his account. This
is not the case. The customer’s account
was active at the *** *** ** address from August 6th, through
February 2nd, 2010. On Feb 2nd
another party put service in their own account, so a final bill was issued for
the customer’s account. Since the balance
continued to go unpaid at *** *** **, we transferred the balance on March 31st,
to his active account at *** ***.
The unpaid balance was then applied to the credit on his account.
If the bill
at *** *** ** was supposed to be in a tenants name from August to Feb
2010, then that is something that he would need to bring up with the tenant
that was living at the property at the time, and is a third party dispute that
does not involve PNM.
PNM has
properly billed the customer’s account and have only transferred unpaid usage
from other properties under this same customer’s number, as listed on the
statements of account attached. We have
not transferred any unpaid balances from any other customer’s accounts to this
customer’s account at any time. We have
only billed him for usage that occurred when his account was active at a
particular property, and we only had his
account active at those properties at his request.
Please let
me know if you need any further information.

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:No where did we see or sign to that so call regulationthe account information is the same information that has always been entered. I do not have cash and am charged just to take cash from my payday cardI do not have bill pay because it's not a bank, and money orders are an additional charge that my low income family can not affordPNM does not want to work with customers to help them at allBottom line
Regards,
*** *** [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the responseIf the consumer does not provide a reason the complaint will be closed Answered]

I had tried to attach the final bill sent to the customer in previous reply. I am attempting to upload this attachment again. Please let me know if the attachment is not received. The Final Bill was sent on November 12th, the day after service was stopped as requested by the customer. This was sent to the same email address listed in the details of this complaint, and the same email address that all of the other bills issued to the customers account were sent too.

The monthly meter reading PNM took on Jan 23rd, showed a reading of on the meter. The next monthly meter reading taken on Feb 21st, showed a reading of 10049. PNM then issued a bill to the customer for 3,927kWh worth of usage for this day period. The meter was test according to the standards set forth by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. As stated in our previous reply, the test results will be provided to the NMPRC, but cannot be sent in response to this particular complaint due to PNM proprietary information in the test results. The test results show that the meter accurately recorded the customer's usage.The customer's own meter readings taken after Feb 21st confirm that this jump in usage occurred. As an electric utility company, PNM is required by the NMPRC to provide electricity to our customers, and provide a way to accurately measure the electrical usage (this is what the meter does). We are then required to bill our customers monthly for the usage recorded on the meter. This is what we have done. PNM has no way of know what electric appliance(s) are causing this unexpected usage. This is something the customer would need to hire an electrician to determine. PNM has correctly billed the customer for the usage that occurred at the property while their account was active. There was no error caused by the meter, the bill was issued correctly and the charges on the bill are correct.

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:Thank you for investigating for me. Although what PNM states in their response is true as far as the phone calls, etc., neither I nor my granddaughter were informed there had been a problem with this apartment before. The customer service representative, although polite, did not inform ME that an electrician was needed. My granddaughter called a couple hours after I did (that was MY fourth or fifth call to PNM) and was finally told the apartment complex needed to have an electrician check the wiring. I realize that whatever regulations are involved may have prevented PNM from actually helping me, I am frustrated that I could not have been advised correctly on my first phone call instead of several phone calls and two enormous bills later. I face a third enormous bill soon. It seems to me that a public utility could me more helpful to the consumer. I am a senior citizen and to tell me to unplug one appliance at a time, then go out and read my meter, which isn't just outside me door, is completely non-customer friendly. The maintenance person at the apartment complex proved to my satisfaction that it was not one single appliance causing the issue. But, of course, I am not trained or knowledgeable about electricity. As an example, in my previous home I got an exceptionally high water bill. When I called them, they gave me a number to call for an expert to come and evaluate the cause. This was completed within days. It proved to be a faulty toilet, the expert fixed it, and my only cost was the toilet repair. That is what I expected from PNM instead of getting the run around and have me do the work of discovering the error. The apartment complex has agreed to bring an electrician here and if they don't I will have to bring my own or move again. My income is fixed and cannot withstand this sort of expense. Sincerely, *** ***
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the responseIf the consumer does not provide a reason the complaint will be closed Answered]

Good afternoon,
Pursuant to NM State Statute, PNM is restricted
from giving out any customer information without the customers express
permission.?
62-8-Consumer information; disclosure prohibited
A.? ? ? A public utility, as defined pursuant to
Section
62-3-NMSA 1978, or its employees or agents shall not sell or disclose
consumers' nonpublic personal information without the customer's permission or
unless it is in accordance with standardized credit reporting practices,
pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 56, Article NMSA or the federal
Fair Credit Reporting Act or other reporting requirements imposed on the public
utility.? ?
B.? ? ? Exempted from the provisions of this
section are:?
(1)? ? ? the public regulation commission pursuant
to the Public Utility Act [62-13-NMSA 1978] and the Public Regulation
Commission Act [8-8-NMSA 1978] and rules adopted pursuant to those acts;
or?
(2)? ? ? an action by a government agency or an
officer, employee or agent of an agency acting on behalf of the agency to
obtain telephone records in connection with the performance of the official
duties of the agency
Because of
the above mentioned statute, PNM is unable to disclose any customer
specific? account information? regarding this complaint.PNM Executive Customer Relations?

Good afternoon,
?
Ms*** has recently contacted PNM regarding her high bill.? Our investigation has shown that this high and unexpected? usage
did? occur at her property, and has been accurately billed to her account.? When troubleshooting large bills a
customer might
receive there some steps we can take to help try to determine the cause of
unexpected usageHowever, PNM is
limited in the ways we can troubleshoot this type of complaint.? This is especially true when the complaint
involves an apartment complex
?
When a customer calls us about a high bill, we want to check to make
sure their most recent meter reading was correct.? While our meter readers are experts in
reading these meters, they are only human, and occasionally make errors.? We will ask a customer to get a reading from
their meter if possible, and determine if we have read the meter correctly.? In this case the reading we got over the
phone confirmed the most recent reading as accurate
?
Another troubleshooting step we will use to try to help understand what
appliance(s) a customer has that may be causing the unexpected high usage is to
do what we refer to as a ‘breaker test’.?
A breaker test works by having the person turn off all of their breakers
at the property, and then to check the meter to see if usage is still
occurring.? Then, one by one, we have the
person turn the breakers back on, and then check the meter to see which breaker
is connected to whatever is causing of the high usage.? While this will help determine where the
highest usage is happening on the property, it may not make it 100% clear what
the cause for the unexpectedly high usage is.?
To determine the exact cause of the usage, a customer or property owner
would need to hire an electrician to run tests to find the exact issue.?
?
In this particular case, the customer called us back after doing the
breaker test, and stated that the meters usage had recorded kWh worth of
usage while the breakers where off.? This
tells us that there is possibly some sort of electrical connection that is
connected to the meter, which is not also connected to the breaker box.? In a house this can usually be easy to locate
and is usually something like a pool or hot tub that may be on the property but
has a separate breaker on a dedicated electric connection that may not be
connected to the breaker box.? However,
this can be much harder to determine at an apartment complex without the help of
an electrician
?
With the exception of the electric meter, all of the electrical wiring
and equipment on any property is owned by the property owner, be it a home
owner, or the property owner of an apartment complex.? This wiring was not installed by PNM or owned
by PNM.? If there is something that is
connected to Ms***’s meter that is not connected through the breaker
box in her apartment, then this is something that the property owner would need
to hire an electrician to find
?
Prior to Ms*** moving into this apartment, PNM was contacted by
the apartment complex management to investigate a meter mix up between the
apartment she moved into and an apartment next door.? The investigation showed that the two meters
were mixed up, so PNM swapped the meters and correct this in our billing
system.? However, this was not a PNM
error that caused the meter mix up.?
Because all of the electrical wiring is owned by the property owner,
when PNM installs our meter at the property, we rely on the customer’s
electrician to properly label each meter box and make sure it is connected to the
right apartment.? PNM cannot tell if the
meter box is improperly marked
?
Our meters can only measure the amount of electricity that flows
through it; they are unable to ‘see’ what appliance(s) are using the
electricity.? If there is an issue with
something that is causing unexpected high usage at her apartment, then the
property owner must hire an electrician to be able to determine the cause of
this usage.? This is an issue that the
tenant and property owner must work out between them.?
?
Please let? us know if you need any further information