Complaint Against Alabama Power

Complaint Against Alabama Power

July 14, 2006

To Whom It May Concern: I am very much in need of assistance to file a complaint with some authority regarding my local electric company. Unfortunately, I do not know who can help or who I should contact. My problem is that my electric bill has almost doubled in the last 3-4 months. I call the “Alabama Power” for clarifications on why it is so. I was told that my usage is comparable to what I was using this time last year and everything seems to be on target. The only difference is that my bills have seen a 30%-60% increase. By the time a second representative got on the phone, I then received answers ranging from: the rates go up during the summer months, there was a $2.30 storm charge that was added to every customer, rate increase of $.01 per KWH, to maybe it’s something I am doing. Even though I thoroughly explained to the reps that there were no changes in my daily usage of household appliances, they insist that the bill is correct. I told them my a/c unit works perfectly fine, we wash the same volumes of clothes, and our water heater was gas operated. I travel for work and my wife is the only one home ( she also works and is home at night), yet they have no explanations as to how it seemed reasonable for a power bill to go from the averages of $113-$130 to $160-$191. They continue to dismiss it as “normal” even though their own records shows my KWH usage only differ by less than 100 KWH. FACTS: They said the rate increase was $.01 per KWH They added $2.30 to each bill for storm charge They said there were less than 100 KWH in my usage from this time last year versus now. I am no genius, but if those facts are correct, the math would be that I had $3.30 (plus taxes) added to my bills average from last year ($113-$130) and I would still be no where near what they just billed me for ($191.45). In closing, I thank you in advance for any assistance that you may provide. Best Regards, Johnny

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I'm having the exact same problem and they are running a tricky scam.. I say scam because it is ripping off the customers. They base rates on the weather.. I'm from NY. and it gets cold in NY, but ALABAMA the weather to me and my family is comfortable year around. We never used the heat ever, at all not once.. and we have bills ranging from $300-to-$400 for one month.. and the bill jumps the same time of year every year Nov, Dec, Jan, and Feb.. Now they are smart, they can't give a bill and use the excuse that your temp is too high on the heat when it's 65 to 70 degrees out.. They wait until the temp is in the 40's and 30's and they tell me that I'm lying when I say I didn't turn my heater on..

Why would I lie, I lived in NY and never had a electric bill over $170.. ever.. Now in Alabama, I'm paying bills for service I didn't use.

I talked to them many times and they say because I don't turn on my heat it makes my hot water heater and refrigirator work harder.. WHAT!! ?? never heard of that..

2010, my bill in Oct was $113.00 then in Novemeber the temp dropped a bit and now my bill went up to $300.. remember I don't run my heat.. So how did my bill go up? They never explain..

See they run the meters from a computer and they jack the numbers up and use the weather for an excuse to charge you more.. The Board of Commisions don't care because they get a piece of the pie..

I am really considering leaving this state because of this.. how can you sleep when you are cheating people out of money they don't have?

You people will have no fight unless you protest and get the owners out.. If not they will continue to do this and get away with it..

How many of you have gotten your bill reduced.. None I bet..

I heard a lady pleading with Alabama Power that her power has been off for 2 weeks and she has children and they said loud enough for everyone to hear, you must pay the $632 bill plus $50.. That is heartless.. you turn off peoples power in the winter.. after you jack the bill up..

See we can't live without power, so they have the control to do whatever..

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Hi Johnny, my husband and I are going through the same problem except with a much worse bill situation. We live in a house that has two heat pump units (heat pumps are promoted by Alabama Power by the way). We only heat 1875 sq feet and the upstairs unit stays shut off and the unit is manually turned off. Our January power bill was $795, February was $698. We have called and gone thru the same conversations with Alabama Power, instead of summer months problems, we were told about the extreme winter we just had. We have had a master electrician tell us that we would have to run everything we own 24/7 extracting the highest amount of KWH as possible and we still would not have a power bill of almost $800 in one month. We had the guy that installed our heat pump out to make sure it was running correctly, and even faxed a letter to Alabama Power from him stating that our units were running fine and that the heat strips don't even look like they've been used.

However, with everything we have attempted to do to fight this, it is to no avail...we are stuck with the almost $1500 for two months worth of power. It seems that Alabama Power can decide to give themselves a raise at the expense of their helpless customers anytime they wish!

Wish we could get some help from someone.

Terry's

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I too have had the same problems with Alabama Power this past summer. Now I have an even worse problem with the company. I have moved to a new house and tried to set up a new account with them since I have never had power in my own name before. I was told that I would have to pay off my brother's account before I could get service. First I asked "What does my brother have to do with me?" When they said the name of "my brother" it is actually a long-time friend of mine I lived with once about 5-6 years ago. They say because they have me listed as a roommate to him when he left owing $400, I am responsible for the bill as well.

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Hello Johnny, I can tell you that you are not alone. We are having the same problem. Nothing has changed regarding our power comsumption yet our bill has gotten out of control. I noticed that when the meter reader come to my house. He never comes within 10 feet of my meter to read it and when he's done he sits in the truck and babbles on his cell phone in my yard. Talk about no respect. You might first want to find out how close he is to your meter when reading it. Alabama Power has to be the most corrupt pwer company I've ever had to deal with. And I've lived in a lot of different parts of the country. If you or anybody finds a way let me know.

Jeff