|
Posted on 11/24/2012 11:20:04 AM PST by Dallas59
LIPA customers who spent weeks without power got zapped with their normal electric bills — as if the outages never happened.
The clueless utility charged Sandy-soaked Long Island residents an estimated rate that covered the entire billing cycle, and the statements made no mention of potential refunds to account for the prolonged blackouts.
Jonathan Saporta was slapped with a double whammy by the Long Island Power Authority — a $649 bill for the Long Beach home he left in October and a $281 bill for his new Great Neck pad.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I’d send it back, sans check, with a note that their union can pay that bill with all the overtime they got for turning out-of-state linemen away.
There have to be many better places to live than at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. There is no guarantee that this can’t happen again next year.
it’s the computer, not my problem mon...
Based on last months usage. Duh, you pay for what you use
Of course they are estimated bills. They are too busy to send out meter readers.
Hey if they don’t like those high electric bills, maybe they can get a solar blanket to keep warm and a windmill to generate the electricity they need.
GO GREEN, GO OBAMA!
All my life I've heard about New York minutes and New York haht attacks .. etc.
Did Giulini wipe out all the bad boys?
Are the first responders tough on fires but not willing to tar and feather politicians?
No shit, New York ... let us know you GOT a pair and the rest of us will be there beside you .. but we ain't gonn'a go to jail, die or get our asses kicked if YOU don't think it's that important.
You’d think their billing system would have some kind of extended disaster proration algorithm in it. From their point of view it’s like, wait till the meters get unearthed, then we’ll send you a refund, that is if all the refunds don’t put us into bankruptcy
There are 2 possible solutions to NYC violence
(1) let everybody pack
(2) have penalties as draconian as Singapore’s
I think this is proof that they do not read the meter, they just send you something similar to last month’s bill with seasonal adjustment.
That’s normal if they can’t read the meters, however it’s hard to believe that nobody at LIPA or ConEd saw the train wreck. Their arse is grass when this goes to court.
I’m guessing these people are on what PG&E calls a “Balanced Payment Plan.” We pay the same amount monthly, regardless of actual usage. Every three months, PG&E does a true-up and we pay the overage or get a credit for the underage.
I’ve worked on utility billing systems. They are staggeringly complex and not easy to change. These companies aren’t exactly like Amazon when it comes to billing prowess and flexibility.
Giuliani
“I’d send it back, sans check, with a note that,,,”
A note that gives the reading on the meter. Or call/email in the correct meter reading. Ask for a “corrected” bill based on actual usage.
They are so smart that they are stuck in the past. They like it. Well, they are comfortable. No idea what goes on in the rest of the country, or the world, wxcept how it affects $.
They live with their pro abortion politicians and froce this on the very red part of the state- Upstate.
They vote in family legions - Cuomo, Kennedy even Cuomo-Kennedys.
They think Catholicism is a democratic system, so they say they’r Catholic while they criticize it like they are preparing their vote.
And there are quite a lot who live in enemy territory for the sake of being home - and it is a wonderful place in so many ways.
They are more antiquated than some Southern states in their being set in their ways about accepting politicas as usual.
Long Island Power Authority is a government entity with a Board of Trustees appointed by various elected officials. The Authority is basically another government bureaucracy. The question is why anyone would expect more accountability or intelligence than any other government run entity.
Duh, last month was when the storm hit. This bill is set to be DUE by the end of the month. They don’t bill for October at the END of November. But even if it was in the middle of the billing period, it shouldn’t be the SAME. Even one week would shave a 1/4 off.
I have no sympathy for these Obama voters who apparently turned out en masse and voted for Obama in a statistical impossiblity. No sympathy. Go ask Obama.
What power company actually comes out and READS meters anymore? Heck, I just moved from the middle of BFE, literally one red light in the whole COUNTY and we were updated enough for the usage to be read from the office of the electric company.
Draconian, ideed.
Rudy G. (as libertine personally as he is) set up such measures when he was mayor. When 9/11 happened he went out and acted quite in character. The New Yorkers expected it, as they should have.
RG cleaned up Times square (or allowed it by allowing capitalists to come in and do it) he had draconian measures against graffitti, panhandlers, window breakers,the mafia (which he’d cleaned up as local federal prosecutor) even jaywalking.
The City ran very well and people could eat and smoke what and wherever they wanted to.
They hated him. Hate.
Just because it’s the first time they’ve ever experienced this doesn’t make it new or special.
Every power outage I’ve ever had that lasted more than a day resulted in higher electric bills. That climate control has to reheat a thoroughly cold house, or cool a very hot one. That makes the meter spin.
The squawking and complaining might be a cultural thing but it doesn’t come across very well to those of us who deal with this every year to some extent.
Deal with it, pick up the mess and get on with your lives.
And as for pacing, see the “Bernard Goetz” case
And as for packing, see the “Bernard Goetz” case
What power company actually comes out and READS meters anymore? Heck, I just moved from the middle of BFE, literally one red light in the whole COUNTY and we were updated enough for the usage to be read from the office of the electric company.
AMENDMENT:
Although I have to admit that was only about 7 years ago. Before, when you got your power bill, you went outside and wrote down your new reading. Yes, electricity on the honor system, LOL. I said, rinky dink town. However, you did get ‘audited’ with a meter reader once a year and were billed the difference if you lied.
Truthfully, I don’t really care about their problems. They can ask Obama.
mine does.
If they are on the budget plan, it makes sense then. You are paying the same amount every month, regardless. With a credit, or bill at the end of the year. This works in your favor for high cost months, but also can bite you in case of a mega-frankenstorm.
we’re talking about properties with STILL-DEAD power, chum.
A reasonable assurance of getting slapped on the wrist isn’t really draconian. I mean caning.
The New Yorkers deal with power outages more than anyone I’ve ever seen.
There are tens of millions (10,000,000+) people affected and how many complaints have you heard? The folks in Breezy Point? They lost their entire village to a fire (the whole village - the only thing left standing was a statue of the BVMary) and the only thing I’ve seen of them is from the inside of St. Thomas More Church listening to the words of their pastor.
Long Island Newsday came out in favor of Romney (first time in an extremely long time endorsing a GOPer).
We are mad at them for voting Dem, but let’s give them credit for self reliance.
Equal payment plan means what it says. Any prorating of the bill as a result of protracted outage would occur with the next year calculation.
But, never mind that, squawk away.
Well us “antiquated Southerners” need to start spending our disposable income only in the South.
Sure, but either way, they hate law and order guys who make things livable.
they love stupid Bloomberg doddering about taking away sugar and salt and planning a marathon which starts IN Staten Island the same week that 19 Staten Islanders died (not counting the bodies of mob hits uncovered after the flood)
They wont’ put up with a law and order guy.
However, although we regret the physical losses and human suffering the victims of hurricane Sandy have endured, we feel that people who (a) choose to live next to an ocean and, (b) routinely elect and support leftist Democrat politicians decade after decade are not exactly objects of great sympathy from those of us who consider their choices as foolish and misguided. Still, sending out utility bills to Sandy's victims that have been without power for weeks on end was incredibly stupid.
Whoops, was referring to those I’ve known still hating Yankees like me for invading during the War of Northern agression.
Forgot there were those unaware of such.
When you talk about squawking, you are projecting.
That isn’t what applied here, as witness the man who tried to call in a discrepancy, which WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED AT ALL (not just be denied for being too great) on an “equal payment plan.” You not only project, you set up an exquisite straw man.
Never mind what the original article said (yes, it is still on line). “SQUAWK AWAY.”
I roflol at you.
Please see #35.
They’re probably on an even-pay system where the estimated use is the monthly average bill and they end up with a debit or credit at the closeout of the billing year. Their utilities, however will up their bills because they took in less money while power was out and they have to pay the overtime for all of those union local linemen whose unions turned away free help from out of state non-local-union linemen. The free help would have cut into the windfall profits (overtime) of the union linemen.
Estimated bill, meet estimated payment :)
GFY
They won’t issue “refunds”; they’ll just issue “credits” against future bills. ‘Course, you can appeal to the PUC, but that’ll get you nowhere, very slowly. Their billing system is pre-archaic.
I didn’t hate him. I voted for him. Although - sorry - the jaywalking stuff was really dumb.
Read the original article please, not just the excerpt. One customer tried to submit an adjustment online and was not refused due to not being on an appropriate payment plan for that; he was refused due to the system blindly estimating that his adjustment was too large.
Me too. I do usually remind people that there are about 40% of NYers who not only don’t vote Dem but who are conservative and living in a liberal culture, and deserve our regard.
The jaywalking stuff WAS dopey-I like to cross the street when and where I want to when I see an opportunity.
Forgot about that.
You’re correct. they were estimated bills. it says so on the bill. The numbers will be adjusted in january when the meters are actually read and the usage and lack of it for the two weeks will be be measured. This seems a big story and the Post and local TV and radio are making a big deal about it. Funny though. none of the media bother to inform the public that LIPA is a state agency. Wonder why?
You’re correct. they were estimated bills. it says so on the bill. The numbers will be adjusted in january when the meters are actually read and the usage and lack of it for the two weeks will be be measured. This seems a big story and the Post and local TV and radio are making a big deal about it. Funny though. none of the media bother to inform the public that LIPA is a state agency. Wonder why?
It was the way their system blindly reacted to the inability to read a lot of the meters. Instead of issuing NO bill, it issued a (very stupidly, in this case) “estimated bill.” These were NOT fixed-payment plans as two here have already asserted without reading the linked article.
Oh, they always lump us in with the rest. Not much we can do about it!
I’ll never forget a poor cop stopping me from crossing the street to Saks Fifth Avenue. “Da mayor doesn’t want ya crossin’ in de middle of de street.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
