Con ed “merchant” charges

Between getting a tenant, we took over the con ed account. We had two months before the tenants moved in and took over the account. The charges were over $1000. How can this be? It was an empty apt with no other usage than the fridge. I will be talking to con ed, but was wondering if this has happened to any other folk with an owner occupied two or three family house.

lafayetteloruren

in General Discussion 6 years and 11 months ago

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RobertGMarvin

in General Discussion 6 years and 11 months ago

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Randolf,

A complaint to the Public Service Commission just might get that $5,000 overcharge reversed – – nothing to lose

randolph | 6 years and 11 months ago

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when we were doing our reno ConEd changed the 2 meters (2 family) but they did not link one of the new meters to my account so for over a year we got estimated bills that were wildly off (estimating LOW because the house had sat empty for months and that is what they based the estimates on)……long story short I finally noticed the fine print on my bill saying ESTIMATE or whatever, called them and they retroactively charged me more than $5000 but they could never prove actual usage because they did not even know what the meter was set at when it was installed! i tried and tried to demand they prove how much electricity I ACTUALLY used and tried to insist that I was not going to pay them a dime otherwise, but ultimately I realized they had me by the ballz and they were going to turn off my service.

after spending about a month on the phone with them I was able to work out a payment plan to spread the money owed over 2 years. NIGHTMARE!!!! lesson learned – read your electric bill very carefully!

lafayetteloruren

in General Discussion 6 years and 11 months ago

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But for the future, are you saying I should just let the account lay there and not take it over and when I get a tenant, let them deal? I didn’t want to not have power. We were showing the place + we needed to keep a dehumidifier running (no meter in the lower apt. – another sad story that thankfully has a happy ending.).

lafayetteloruren

in General Discussion 6 years and 11 months ago

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Thanks! I talked with ConEd who said that the meter had not been read in over a year and that the amount was also based on estimated usage. They are not billing me for more than the 2 months, but that is a very high sum for a basically empty place. I also challenged the EL2 classification. We will see what they say and if they don’t back off, I will contact the PSC. I would never have though of that! Thanks again.

RobertGMarvin

in General Discussion 6 years and 11 months ago

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no-permitz,

But OF COURSE; not that ConEd has improved in the last 40+ years. I regret that they duped me into insisting that the family selling the house to me pay thousands of $$s at the closing for unpaid electric bills on the house, which has been unoccupied for a couple of years.

yudashasom | 6 years and 11 months ago

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Hmmm Bob , when you say “many years ago” do you mean 40+ years or 1972 lol. Just kidding.

I agree with Bob – call PSC and it will be quickly resolved. I guess you learned your lesson about putting the account in your name and won’t be doing that again. Con ed may have not got a reading in a while or the prior tenant never set up an account, or disconnected early.

RobertGMarvin

in General Discussion 6 years and 11 months ago

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Something similar happened to me many years ago, when my house was still empty, before I moved in. I got nowhere with Con Ed, but a phone call to the Public Service Commission got VERY rapid results.