[ale] [OT] utility billing errors

[Lightner, Jeff]

In the meantime Georgia Power mad are reportedly (last week's AJC)
planning to request another massive increase on top of the ones they've
already gotten recently including having us pay now for a nuclear plant
they haven't yet built.

 

A couple of months ago I detailed what Commiecast had done to me.   They
finally straightened that out (knock on wood).

 

So of course Awful Telephone & Telegraph decided it was their turn and
suddenly started charging me for a long distance plan on my landline
that I never signed up for then had the gaul to tell me they'd have to
charge me a fee to remove the overcharge.   They said it was signed up
for at the time I moved but couldn't explain why if that was the case it
didn't appear on my bill until 3 months later.   That seems to have
gotten straightened out after 2 months of screaming at them.   

 

Maybe the utilities just take turns and it's a game they play with each
other.  Whichever one of them finally wears you down enough to pay for
stuff you don't owe wins.

 

________________________________

From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Jim
Kinney
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 10:19 PM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux!
Subject: [ale] [OT] utility billing errors

 

In the past 3 months I've been closely watching my utility bills just
get screwier and screwier. Makes me wonder what version of Windows 3.11
they are running their accounting on.

Ga Gas co screwed me over by cutting off my gas when I paid my bill in
full the day before the due date. They issued the cut order the day
after I paid the bill and their records supported my claim they cut
first and queried the payment database later. It took 2 hours of phone
calling and I finally got the consumer affairs dept to credit me back
the reconnect fee which was not on any bill.

Dekalb h2o must be using the same billing process. Last statement bill
was due 4-24. Prior statement was paid in full before the due date. The
statement had a 0 balance carried forward. So they cut me off on 4-20!!!
I paid them _IN_FULL_ and the reconnected me the next day. 

this months bill arrives and it has no record of last months bill being
paid. There is a balance carried forward of an exact $90.00 prior
balance.

Why is it I smell crappy database programming in all of this? Maybe I'm
just jaded with all the financial crap having puked itself to pieces,
but a loud, insistent voice in the back of my mind keeps saying "public
company should be required to use publicly auditable software".  It's
not enough that their "financial records" be available for viewing
(although we all know they all pretty much keep two sets of books) but
every bit of software they use, especially the ones in the regulated
utility realm, should be source code available so anyone who wants to
verify they're not getting hosed by the code can do so.

I caught the power co fudging the bill 10 years ago and yelled at them.
So now I have a internet capable power meter that send the usage to them
automatically. OK. So it saves them the poor slob who had to walk around
and read the meters. Maybe I'm just suspicious, but if they can _read_
it from 40 miles away, what else can they do with it?

-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
Actively in pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness 
Doing pretty well on all 3 pursuits
 
Proud partner. Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
 
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