All utilities in NY are regulated and monitored by the NY Public Service Commission (PSC). NYPSC includes the Office of Consumer Services. Their mission is “to ensure that utilities fulfill their obligation to provide effective customer service in compliance with the laws, rules, regulations and policies we enforce.” They monitor the number of complaints, response time, and credit adjustments to consumers.
At CHAOC, our electric is transmitted and distributed by ConEdison, but the submetering and billing is provided by a 3rd party, also known as an ESCO (Energy Service Company). NYPSC monitors both. Based on my monthly utility bill, I assume that American Metering & Planning Services is our ESCO and therefore the company responsible for installing and operating faulty meters that are causing everyone the inaccurate monthly bills.
The following complaint filing process is copied from the Oct 2008 Monthly Report on Consumer Complaint Activity published by NYPSC.
Contact the Office of Consumer Services to file your complaint: 1-800-342-3377 M-F 830-4pm, or online 24/7
“After we [the Office] complete entering the details of your complaint we send your complaint to the utility by e-mail or fax. In an effort to ensure that utilities fulfill their obligation to provide effective customer service, we will first ask your utility to contact you and resolve your concern. If your complaint is related to the provision of service, your utility should contact you within two business hours. If your complaint is related to billing or another matter, the utility should contact you by the close of the following business day.
If the utility does not contact you with its initial acknowledgement, does not provide its response to you within two weeks or the matter remains unresolved after you have received a response, you can contact us. We will then further investigate the matter and notify you in writing or by telephone of the decision and the reasons for the decision.”
January 5, 2009 at 7:22 pm
The company that installed the faulty meters is now out of business, which is why the co-op is in such a pickle about what to do about the whole mess. Hindsight being 20-20, we probably never should have submetered the apartments.
AMPS is responsible for sending the monthly electric charges, but if your meter is not working properly it’s not their fault. Their company simply does the readings and sends the bills.
If you think you have a faulty meter, you should start by calling Ed Friedman to have a parallel meter installed. And then be patient. It took us four years to get our meter replaced.
January 7, 2009 at 7:47 pm
I finally received the results of my parallel reading, and my meter is running 2x as fast as it should. I only decided to do this after receiving a $400 bill this past summer, but none of my other bills had seemed that extreme. I urge anyone who questions their bill at all to request a parallel meter!
I’ve been promised a credit dating back to 2005, so we’ll see how THAT goes.
May 2, 2009 at 12:06 am
I was informed last month that my submeter check resulted in an overcharge well over 40%! I have yet to learn how CHAOC plans to resolve this matter; whether I will be reimbursed from the inception of the submetering, or perhaps via another way of compensation.
September 11, 2009 at 5:49 pm
This is helpful. I just received a bill that is 3times my highest bill for a month during which I was partially out of town. Question: was anyone’s problem actually solved and bills reimbursed?