March 1, 2001

BY MARY MITCHELL SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

Well, it's still cold outside.

That means that most of us still must stand guard over the thermostat. I stuck a note on mine that warns my shivering brood not to touch it unless they are willing to pay the bill.

Wish that were enough.

Unfortunately, turning down the thermostat may not help to reduce heating bills. Besides coming under attack for charging customers outrageous amounts for delivering gas, Peoples Energy is apparently doing a poor job keeping its billing records straight.

In January, Venus Norfleet received a bill for $6,109.54.

And the West Side homeowner doesn't even use gas to heat her home.

"We only cook with gas," she told me. "I went downtown to their office and spent the whole day at Peoples Gas. I talked to a customer service lady. She gave me a manager. He told me I must have a gas leak. I would have blown up by now if that were true."

After several phone calls, including one to me, and missing a day from work, Norfleet finally received a corrected bill in the amount of $21.00.

Sarah Patton sent me a letter about a similar problem. Apparently, her gas usage had been estimated for nearly a year. She almost fainted when she received her bill, Patton said.

"What I need to know is how can they read one meter and not read the other meters in the same building? How can they not read the meter for 10 months?" Patton asked.

"If I owed $561.52 as of March and I have paid $824.04 since that time, how can I owe $1,121? I am a working single person and I don't make a lot of money. I need help in understanding this."

Me too.

Despite the many explanations offered by the gas industry about why gas prices skyrocketed, it is still difficult for most consumers to understand how their bills got so out of hand. All they know is it is costing a heck of a lot more to stay warm, and they haven't raised the thermostat in years.

When I contacted Peoples Energy, a spokesman admitted both customers' bills reflected errors.

Because of the error, Norfleet was exonerated, said Luis Diaz-Perez, manager of public relations.

"In both cases, it was a matter of bookkeeping errors. We have a million customers. It is regrettable, but errors happen."

Diaz-Perez said a "miscalculation" resulted in Norfleet's whopping $6,109.54 gas bill. "The information was definitely entered wrong in our system."

A different error resulted in Patton's jolt. Although meters are supposed to be read at least every two months, somehow Patton's meter was overlooked even though the company uses automated meter reading equipment.

"In her case, there was a number of bookkeeping errors involved related to her arrearages," Diaz-Perez said. "There was confusion in her billing. She wasn't billed for a long time. That made it a bigger problem."

Both consumers contacted me because they were frustrated with Peoples Energy's initial response to their plight. Diaz-Perez suggested that when consumers don't get answers, they should contact a supervisor.

I'd like to think that strategy would work, but apparently it doesn't.

Beth Casey, president of the 655-657 W. Bittersweet Condo Association, recently fired off a letter to Peoples Energy's CEO complaining about an estimated bill that turned out to be $7,000 too high.

If Casey understood how such an error could occur, she certainly didn't understand the lack of customer service she received when she tried to straighten out the matter--and she claims to have talked to several supervisors.

"If I'd encountered one or two problems in the course of trying to straighten out this mess, I wouldn't be writing you today," Casey said. "The fact of the matter is that I saw wholesale incompetence from your people at several levels."

It's bad enough to hit customers with heating bills that have tripled since last winter. But when bills are wrong and consumers are given the runaround, it shows a total disregard for consumers.

Casey was so upset, she sent copies of her correspondence to the governor, mayor, senator, the Illinois Commerce Commission and several other journalists. That's serious.

"How can you in good conscience treat your customers this way?" she asked. "I'm trying to pay my bill, but I won't pay it unless it's correct."

Given the hardships this gas crisis has caused, that's the very least consumers should be able to expect.

Sun Times

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2001