Help with a Billing Dispute

[Peanut]

Long story short, Enmax has been billing me incorrectly for 8 months and as a result has overcharged me by about $400 - $500 (in my approximation). I've called the customer service line numerous times and every time there is a new story as to why the problem is not yet resolved.

Since my bills are wrong and have been for quite some time, I'm asking the wise masses of CP if I have any recourse here? Can I stop paying my Enmax bills without my credit rating getting trashed (and my power turned off), since the bills are incorrect?

This morning I did contact the BBB and the AUC and filed complaints with both of those organizations, so maybe that will get things moving finally.

[Sample00]

sounds like Peanuts to me!

[ken0042]

Have you looked at your meter, and sent corrected readings into them?

[Jimmy Stang]

What about going to the media? Consumer Watch or whatever that segment is.

If your current route hasn't seen much success, I would be willing to bet that it would get resolved within a day of a story going to air...

[yads]

small claims court?

[Frank MetaMusil]

Are you renting or do you own the property?

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Have you looked at your meter, and sent corrected readings into them?

Yeah. I've given them 4 readings since June.

Originally Posted by Frank MetaMusil

Are you renting or do you own the property?

Own.

[moncton golden flames]

this exact thing happened to me last year. they had been undercharging me for about the same time period. come december, after a meter reading, they decided to charge me for the full amount at decembers rate. decembers rate just happened to be the highest rate of the year. i called their customer service and complained on how they charged me. i know i used the utility, but the way they went about it was sketchy at best. after a few weeks of going back and forth on the phone, they finally agreed with me that the billing at the december rate was wrong, and i demanded they charge me at the lowest rate over that time period, simply because they couldn't prove when i used the utility.

long story short, check your bill and see what rate they charged you for the undercharged utility you used. if you're on a flat rate, you may just have to pay it. if you're on their variable rate, ask for the whole thing to be charged at the lowest rate over the time period in question.

edit: they told me that they are required to come to do their own reading twice a year. even after my situation, they still come less often than that.

aside from the few 'buttwipes' who feel cool to berate people, there is some useful info in this thread. luckily, you're a female, so you'll get all their help. it's not often some of these guys actually have contact with the opposite sex. so when they do, they'll do whatever they can.
http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthr...+golden+flames

[Peanut]

I should clarify that the dispute is over their water & sewer billing... I have a water meter and they're still billing at flat rate. (the original rant I had about this situation is here).

So I guess my argument is that they're billing me for utilities we're not actually using.

[You Need a Thneed]

What exactly do you think they've been doing to over charge you?

I have my own beefs with Enmax billing, though I don't think it's incorrect.

Back in May, I called Enmax to got on Easy Max. They are supposed to take care of everything. I go through the entire summer, no electricity or gas is showing up on my bill, at all. Knowing that there will be a huge payment due in the future if I don't at least estimate what those numbers are supposed to be, I pay extra every month.

Finally, a bill comes where the electricity and gas are on it, I've underestimated the electricity and gas, but it's not too bad. However, I look at the bill closely, and the Easymax savings that are supposed to come off every month's bill are nowhere to be found. So I call that in to customer service. I also think they have double billed some months, since their practice is to credit the invoices that were wrong, and then just bill the entire amount on the new bill, and of course taking off the amount that you paid the whole time.

Because of the billing error, I called in again, after having paid what I thought the bill should be, and at least got them to hold late fees until the matter was figured out. They should at least be able to do that.

Anyway, now I got my current month's bill, and they've YET AGAIN, credited all the bills back to May, Credited all my payments to the account, and stuck all of the usage onto one bill. This isn't in and of itself a problem, it just makes it extremely difficult to actually check to make sure they've done everything right. My current bill is something like:

Total usage this period $2780
Balance forward $2300 CR
You owe $480

I'm probably going to call them again before the bill is due and get them to send me revised individual bills, so I can at least check them over.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

What exactly do you think they've been doing to over charge you?

We have a water meter (installed in 2007, apparently) and they are still billing based on flat-rate usage. Judging from our water/sewer usage at our previous house (which was metered), the flat rate for water & sewer is about $60/month higher.

[Boblobla]

Leave all of your taps on for a month. Might not solve anything but you might feel better.

Maybe even run a hose from the house out to the street and make a pond hockey rink for the culdesac.

[You Need a Thneed]

The 2009 unit price for water on my Enmax bill is $1.254 per cubic meter, plus it looks like about a $0.3585 per cubic metre "Water Basic Service Charge."

The 2010 rate is $1.3067 per cubic metre with a $0.411 per cubic metre service charge.

The service charges I've divided per metre, since the bill doesn't divide it that way, so I don't know if it is in fact, linear.

I hope that helps.

[FFR]

I've been having huge problems with Enmax's billing department as well. In August I called to switch our natual gas rate to the floating rate from the fixed rate. My husband paid the bills until October when I opened the mail and noticed that they had not adjusted our rate so we had been paying too much since August. I called them and they said that they could see when I had called into to request the change and that it hadn't been done but they would do it right away and credit us the difference. Well - now it's January. I have called after receiving every bill since October asking why it hasn't been changed and why we are continuing to be over charged. I have been given the same answer every time - there is a note on file and we are working on it, check next month.

I'm not sure why it takes 5 months to simply change a rate but it's starting to get ridiculous. They now have to not only change the rate but credit us the difference for the past 5 months. And I figure it will be a big difference given the price of natural gas right now.

I don't really have any solutions for you as I am having similar problems but if anyone has any suggestions, I would also appreciate them.

[Shazam]

Sounds like Atco took over their billing...

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by FFR

I've been having huge problems with Enmax's billing department as well. In August I called to switch our natual gas rate to the floating rate from the fixed rate. My husband paid the bills until October when I opened the mail and noticed that they had not adjusted our rate so we had been paying too much since August. I called them and they said that they could see when I had called into to request the change and that it hadn't been done but they would do it right away and credit us the difference. Well - now it's January. I have called after receiving every bill since October asking why it hasn't been changed and why we are continuing to be over charged. I have been given the same answer every time - there is a note on file and we are working on it, check next month.

I'm not sure why it takes 5 months to simply change a rate but it's starting to get ridiculous. They now have to not only change the rate but credit us the difference for the past 5 months. And I figure it will be a big difference given the price of natural gas right now.

I don't really have any solutions for you as I am having similar problems but if anyone has any suggestions, I would also appreciate them.

Yes! This is pretty much my experience except with water billing. I've gone one step further than you though and called the Utilities commission, which you might want to try? Here is the info:

Complaints Group
The AUC’s Utilities Complaints telephone line is for customers who have been unable to resolve a dispute with the natural gas, electricity or water utility provider or Albertan's who have questions or concerns about utility services in general.
Phone: (780) 427-4903
Email: UtilitiesConcerns@auc.ab.ca

[4X4]

Did somebody say Bell?