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PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The Arizona Corporation Commission is responding to a consumer complaint about an APS billing error that has left dozens of customers facing unexpected charges for electricity that was used years ago, despite being current with payments.
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Cyndee Jago always pays her APS bills on time, but she is on the hook for an extra $500 charge.
“I’m still beside myself that this has even happened,” Jago told On Your Side. “Going back six years. It blows my mind. It’s not customer service.”
An APS spokesperson acknowledged an error that affected a small number of customers who are on budget billing and have more than one property on their account. Budget billing spreads out the cost of energy evenly throughout the year.
Certain properties, including homes with solar, are not eligible for budget billing, but some ended up in the program anyway. For those customers, the monthly budget billing amount was not adjusted, and the settle up amount kept growing.
One viewer, who reached out after seeing On Your Side’s report last week, said her settle-up amount spiraled to more than $3,500 over five years.
As APS pointed out, the amount was listed on customers’ bills, but never factored into monthly payments.
“To be treated this way after three decades of on-time payments is not only deeply disappointing, it is deceptive,” the customer, who asked not to share her name, told On Your Side. “APS was aware of this growing balance and made no effort to alert us.”
She is planning to file a complaint with the Arizona Corporation Commission. Jago already did and was disappointed by the response she got.
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“It is true that APS did not adjust your monthly budget billing amount to mitigate this increase. However, this situation reflects a mutual oversight,” the ACC said in a written response to Jago. “The charges in question are legitimate. APS is in compliance with regulations.”
Doug Clark is the executive director of the Arizona Corporation Commission. He confirmed that about 60 customers are affected by this APS error.
“I absolutely understand the frustration,” Clark said. “Our job is to make sure that whatever the utility did, it was within the bounds of the rules and regulations. It doesn’t mean we can make them forgive your bill because we can’t.”
Of the 60 affected customers, about half are getting money back because their settle-up amount was a credit balance.
“While there’s 30 people who probably aren’t as happy as the other 30, we do have a resolution and going forward, this is not going to happen again,” Clark said. “If you find an oddity, like they found in this situation, we want to help resolve that issue.”
The Arizona Corporation Commission fields about 5,000 complaints every year. Once a complaint is filed, a utility has five days to respond.
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