Utilities shut off, company screwed up my payments

[jessicajager]

What is the name of your state? Minnesota

I moved last January to a different town, and I called my gas company to let them know that I was moving ahead of time, so that they would take the bill out of my name at my old address. A month after I moved to my new place of residence, I started receiving bills from my old address. I called them once again to tell them that I did NOT live there and that I did not want the billing to stay in my name, and they told me that no one had taken it out of my name but that they would do so when I called them the second time.

A couple of months later I received yet another bill from my old address, all the while receiving new bills for my new address. I have been sending them payments for my gas bill, but now they have shut off my gas service at my current residence, supposedly because I hadn't been paying on my account. My accurate guess is that they have been applying all my payments to my old address and kept billing me current for that address, and didn't apply any of the money to my new account so now it looks like I'm a dead beat. When in fact, they're the ones that kept screwing up and wouldn't take my old address account out of my name and made me keep paying on a gas bill that shouldn't have been mine!

Do I have any legal remedies at all here? I have been making payments and they still shut off my gas service, I am a single mother and even though it's summer it's still cold in the house (Minnesota cold weather) and I have no gas to keep the house warm. I don't think it's fair that they shut off my gas service when I had been paying on it but they screwed up my account and kept applying the money to my old account, when I called them at least 4 times to tell them that I don't live at the old address anymore.

 

[dequeendistress]

So you were making payments on an old bill which still had a balance on it and the utility company turned on service at another location, correct?

Assuming the above is correct and you still owed a balance on your old bill, of course the payments you are making will apply to the oldest balance and since you still had an outstanding balance your service was terminated. You did not state that you were making the mutual agreed upon amount or that you had paid off any past due balance in your post.

Please clarify: if you owe any past due balance for this utility service.

Do you have a "final bill" for your previous residence and proof that any balance due is paid in full?

 

[HomeGuru]

Velly good kestions.

 

[jessicajager]

I did have my old bill paid up in full. I received a final bill of about $30.00, which I paid off, then after I moved to my new address, I kept getting new bills for the old address anyway, and I'll clarify, that they never took my old billing address out of my name. The apartment is still sitting empty since I moved and they left the bill in my name all these months and continued to bill me month to month for my old address.

 

[You Are Guilty]

I did have my old bill paid up in full. I received a final bill of about $30.00, which I paid off, then after I moved to my new address, I kept getting new bills for the old address anyway, and I'll clarify, that they never took my old billing address out of my name. The apartment is still sitting empty since I moved and they left the bill in my name all these months and continued to bill me month to month for my old address.

If the old place is empty, how is it using any gas and creating a bill?

 

[dequeendistress]

The statement "the apartment is vacant and still has utility in your name" is irrelevant. Due to your statement that you have a FINAL BILL and the balance is paid.

So, what did the utility company state when you brought up the material fact that you have a final bill for the old address?...: what is the date of the "finalized billing" by the way?

 

[jessicajager]

If the old place is empty, how is it using any gas and creating a bill?

Simple. If (and when) the temperatures drop below 60 degrees, the gas (furnace) will kick in to keep the place at least 60 degrees.

 

[jessicajager]

Ok, I'm confusing myself here. I never received a "final bill." Just that the last bill I received before I moved stated $30.00 and I paid it.

This last bill that I just received has a billing date of APRIL 5, 2004. Which means that they still kept billing me for my old address until I kept calling them and calling them, and I finally put my foot down and told them that I was NOT going to keep paying on the old address.

I told them over and over for 4 months that I did not live there, and they did not take the billing out of my name until April.

 

[dequeendistress]

So you are 4 months delinquent in that old billing and is your current billing ~current? The utility service is with the same company....something simply does not sound right.

 

[jessicajager]

So you are 4 months delinquent in that old billing and is your current billing ~current? The utility service is with the same company....something simply does not sound right.

I agree with you. I know it sounds weird, but it happened. I kept calling and calling within the months after I moved and every time I called, they said my old billing address was not taken out of my name, but that they would get it out of my name when I did call (if that makes sense).

I just called them today, and asked them why I am still getting bills from my old address. They claimed they took the bill out of my name as of December 31 of 2003, which I know is wrong because I had to keep calling after I moved. I kept badgering her and told her that every time I made a payment that I was billed for another month and charges were added to my old address. Then she finally fessed up and admitted that they did bill me wrong at first but finally credited the amount that I didn't owe for the 4 or 5 months that they kept billing me.

The problem is, all the payments I kept sending to them kept going to the old account anyways, and they still did not fully refund the amount that I should not owe on. So all my payments kept going to the old address all the while they never credited the money to my new account.

I don't know, I just thought it was rather weird, not to mention crappy that they wouldn't help me work it out and just kept applying the money to the wrong account, and they billed me wrong for the first 4 months after I moved. I fought and fought for them to take the old bill out of my name and now the new bill that should have been paid up to date by now is way out of whack.

 

[dequeendistress]

Did you send copies of your billings stating final bill and a copy of a receipt showing that the final bill was paid: something referencing the account number for that address on both. That should clear up the problem if the fact that your current payments were being applied to a bill that was not yours. Is the account number for your old address and your new address the same?

 

[jessicajager]

No, I have noticed that the old address and the new address have completely different account numbers.

The sad and crappy thing about this situation is, if they would have just taken the old account out of my name when they were supposed to, then all the rest of my payments would have applied to my new account like they should have been and everything would be current.

I will try sending them copies of the billing from my old address. I still don't think they'll turn my utilities back on though until I pay up my new address account in full, which would be paid current if my payments had been applied to the right account.

That's why I was hoping to find some legal remedy to all of this. It's their mess up that caused this situation in the first place and if they would have just taken my old address out of my name everything would be fine, but now they've shut off my gas and won't turn it back on, and I just don't think it's justified when it was their screw up to begin with.

 

[dequeendistress]

Contact the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission I have pasted an overview below:

Utility Regulation

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) regulates three cornerstone service industries in Minnesota's economy, i.e., electricity, natural gas, and telephone. It is the Commission's responsibility to ensure that vendors of these services provide safe, adequate, and reliable service at fair, reasonable rates (M.S. Chapters 216A, 216B and 237).

The PUC employs three primary strategies to accomplish this regulation:

Providing disciplined decision-making for resolving party-to-party disputes and establishing broad industry policies
Providing a public forum for examination of policies pertaining to regulated industries
Conducting investigations, holding hearings, prescribing rules and issuing orders regarding the provision of utility and telephone services
The primary duties of the PUC regarding the regulation of energy:

Setting rates and regulation of service quality for large electric and natural gas companies

Approving resource plans for large electric utilities, including consideration of environmental affects of energy use

Granting Certificates of Need for large energy facilities, including power plants and transmission lines

Establishing depreciation and accounting procedures for electric and natural gas utilities

Approving appropriate financial incentives for energy conservation

Serving as board of appeals for the Conservation Improvement Program

Setting appropriate incentives for gas purchasing programs

Encouragement and approval of co-generation and small power generation resources

Handling complaints related to stray voltage and currents in the earth; has included a large study by an independent board of scientific advisors

Approving mergers, acquisitions and transactions between affiliates

Approving securities issuances, stock purchases and other major financial transactions with rate impacts

Administering assigned service areas

Administering the Cold Weather Shut-off Rule

Mediating consumer complaints regarding energy utility services

Please follow this link :http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomf...house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/issinfo/pubutil.htm
or

http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomf...Test=1&remove_url=http://www.puc.state.mn.us/

to ascertain the party to call.

Best of luck.

P.S. Have you contacted the Salvation Army or Department of Human Services: they may have a program to assist persons regain utility service in emergency and other situations: Some States/counties have special utility assistance available thru special programs, your DHS office can probably direct you to the organization applicable for your area if they do not disburse the funds directly.