NYSEG CUSTOMER BILLING ISSUES

Recently, some NYSEG customers have received high or confusing bills as a result of previous underbilling. There were two causes of underbilling, and a customer may experience one or both:

1) Underestimating between meter reads, compounded by fewer actual reads

Typically, NYSEG reads the meter every other month, and in the interim months estimates charges based on your historic usage. In the past year, however, they have extended the period between actual readings to anywhere from 3 to as high as 8 months. For households where the previous year’s usage was lower than this current period, there can be an accumulation of a significant deficit. Even though the total paid will ultimately be the same, the high bill that comes when the true-up occurs is often surprising and hard to manage. NYSEG has issued a flyer which speaks to meter reading during COVID, but does not really explicitly note how it may affect billing.

NYSEG is suggesting that customers consider submitting their own readings in order to avoid these discrepancies. Instructions can be found here.

2) Failure to place energy supply charges on the bill

From what we understand, there were approximately 350 customers who received March bills with NYSEG delivery charges but no electricity supply charges. Though on the bill it indicates that the supplier (Eligo Energy) did not provide the billing information in time, that was inaccurate. Eligo did, in fact, submit these through the Electronic Digital Interchange (EDI) system and received a confirmation from NYSEG. NYSEG has confirmed this. The missing charges will be applied to a subsequent bill.

Customers who would like some assistance in understanding their bills are welcome to call the Sustainable Westhcester office 914-242-4725 or email at westchesterpower@sustainablewestchester.org.