Lee County Electric Cooperative acknowledged this week it overcharged some customers for more than two years because of a an occasional glitch in billing software.

“It’s not a widespread issue,” LCEC spokeswoman Karen Ryan said Wednesday after a reporter for The News-Press asked her to check into concerns relayed by a Cape Coral resident.

According to Ryan:

The electric cooperative replaced its billing software in 1999 — mainly to avert a so- called Y2K problem, a situation in which older computer system technology would read only the last two digits of a year. However, LCEC’s new software had another bug affecting some owners of newly built homes.

When homes are under construction, general contractors sometimes are listed as the power customers. Typically, the builder or the homeowner would call the electric cooperative to change the billing details when the home is completed and occupied.

After the new name and billing address were entered into the system, the new software automatically should have changed the rate billed to the lower, residential amount.

In some cases, that didn’t happen. The glitch didn’t occur every time, which is why it took so long to discover, Ryan said.

LCEC’s residential rate for electricity is 7.4 cents per kilowatt hour from Nov. 1 through March 31 — when demand is highest and electricity costs more for LCEC to purchase — and 6.9 cents per kwh the remainder of the year. The commercial rate is 7.6 cents per kwh year-round and also carries the 6 percent sales tax, unlike residential bills.

The problem likely affected fewer than 200 accounts, Ryan said. LCEC serves more than 160,000 customers in a five-county area.

At least one customer was overcharged by about $400, Ryan said. The customer was credited for that amount on her bill this month.

Not all affected customers have yet been notified, however, because billing is spaced out through the month. Those who have been incorrectly charged will see a credit on their statements, Ryan said. The co-op also is attempting to reach affected customers by phone. And Ryan said the software glitch has been fixed so it won’t happen again.

Customers who have questions or concerns may call the electric cooperative at 656- 2300.

news-press.com

-- Anonymous, September 27, 2002