HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Conserving energy is supposed to lower your bill.
Turn down your heat or don't use your air conditioning, and your Xcel bill should drop.
“I have been a customer for, like, 31 years,” Highlands Ranch Xcel customer Johanna Benink said.
In the last few years, Benink found her bill was going up even when she has not been using energy.
“In August, I was gone on a cruise, and I was gone for about 28 days, and I came back, and my bill was higher than when I was here,” Benink said. “I was gone for the entire time from August 8 to September 6, and my A/C was turned off. My television and my computers were unplugged.”
The serial number on the electric meter that is labeled as her unit’s electric meter matches the meter number on her bill. She just does not believe the amount she is charged matches with her usage.
She compared bills with her neighbor, whose unit is 500 square feet larger. Benink found that her bill was consistently higher than her neighbor.
“That’s when I decided to turn off my main breaker for eight hours,” Benink said.
She and her neighbor tracked the kilowatt-hour (kWh) numbers on both of their Smart Meters while Benink had her main breaker turned off.
“We watched for the numbers, and sure enough, even though my main breaker was off for eight hours, my numbers were accumulating and my neighbor’s was not going at all,” Benink said.
She created a spreadsheet notating the kWh numbers.
“This is me. The kilowatt hours was 4421. And then it went up to 4422 even though my breaker was off,” Benink said.
Her neighbor’s meter did not move.
“For the eight hours, the numbers stayed the same. 2049. 2049. 2049. And then, as soon as I turned on my breaker and the air conditioner, it went up to 2051,” Benink said.
She wrote a note that she taped to her Smart Meter, alerting any technician to what she is dealing with.
“So, I wrote, Dear Xcel Person,” Benink said. “Then, I explained here what I did, turned off my breaker for eight hours and confirmed that these two [meters] are switched.”
Smart Meters, however, do not have to be read in person.
“That’s all in this letter that I have taped to my meter to help whoever came in to see that something’s jacked up,” Benink said.
Based on her contact with Xcel, no one is going to be coming by.
“They said I would have to hire an electrician to come in here and check out the wiring because it has nothing to do with Xcel,” Benink said.
An Xcel spokesman essentially said the same in a statement to Next with Kyle Clark.
“If customers believe their meter wire is connected to the wrong unit, and they live in a multi-unit property, like a townhome or apartment complex, the HOA or landlord needs to hire a licensed electrician to investigate and provide their findings to us. We cannot perform this work on the customer’s side of the meter,” Xcel said.
“I emailed Channel 9 because I have had it,” Benink said. “What I want them to do is come here and realize that the meters are switched from my next-door neighbor’s, and then they can verify what I have confirmed 100%, so that they can reimburse me what I have been paying for three years.”
Policy requires a utility company like Xcel to reimburse a customer for two years’ worth of overbilling. Xcel can also back charge a customer for six months’ worth of under billing. Xcel said that because this is a customer issue, that policy would not apply.
Why is this a customer issue?
Xcel is responsible for infrastructure from the meter out. That means a power line or anything outside of a home up to the meter, including the meter. A customer is supposed to be responsible for the meter block and everything into the home.
According to Xcel, the wiring of the meter was confirmed as accurate when the townhome complex was under construction in 2012.
Benink suspects that the wiring is crossed with her neighbor’s meter.
A spokeswoman with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) said that if a complaint is filed, then customer support staff would work with the customer and the utility to make sure the utility addresses the issue and honors the reimbursement policy.
Do you have a complaint about a utility company?
Let the PUC know by using this link: https://www.dora.state.co.us/pls/real/CCTS_oWEB.complaint_form
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