IS IT TRUE? September 23, 2011
IS IT TRUE that a young educated female professional who is moving to Chicago today contacted the City County Observer regarding her Vectren bill which will be her last?…that she has been living in a one bedroom apartment in the historic district for the last year?…that all last winter her Vectren bill was in the $120 – $150 range and that she kept her thermostat at a comfortable 70 degrees?…that she was pleased with this amount as it fit her budget and she was able to keep as warm as she wanted?…that her most recent Vectren bill was a record $380 for a month that she was only home about 70% of the time?…that she thought something had to be wrong and placed a call to Vectren regarding the bill?
IS IT TRUE that the explanation that she was given was that for the entire time she had been living in her apartment that Vectren’s meter had something wrong with it that resulted in her being undercharged for the entire time?…she was told that Vectren discovered that the meter had been incorrect recently and back billed her for all of that time into a single bill?…that if she had known that the bill was really as high as it was she would have turned the heat down to make sure that her Vectren bill was within her budget even if it meant turning it down to 62 degrees and wearing a coat in her apartment?
IS IT TRUE that we are somewhat confused as to how Vectren could have had a broken meter for that long and been able to figure out exactly the number of kWh that they had under billed her for?…that this broken meter was never the less consistent in its readings and that the amount of the bill for all of the winter was about what her landlord had told her that it would be?…that seems like having a car with a broken odometer, keeping no written records, and then declaring a year later what the exact mileage that was driven was?…that Vectren is somewhat clever and may have some way of knowing exactly what was used when a meter is repaired so let’s assume that the number of kWh that she has been billed for is correct?…that even accepting that this young lady was tricked by the bad meter into using more heat than she could afford and that some compromise on Vectren’s part is entirely appropriate?…that without a compromise this young lady who is leaving Evansville will have this memory of Vectren making her pay for their mistake as she gets on with her life?…that this may influence any future decision to move back to Evansville?
IS IT TRUE that she does report that the Vectren customer service representative was courteous and offered to set up a payment plan but was not compromising in the least when it came to the amount of the balance?…that the rate charged seemed to all be at the new rate?…that given this case that the electricity that was used last winter before Vectren’s rate increase went into effect was billed at the current rate?…that some downward adjustment in this young ladies bill is in order?…that in all fairness it was Vectren’s broken gear that sent her the false signal that 70 degrees is affordable so the honorable thing to do is for Vectren to accept what she paid as payment in full, fix the meter, and accept responsibility for their dysfunctional meter instead of sticking a 24 year old with the bill?
IS IT TRUE that we wonder if this was an isolated random occurrence or if this happens often?
