THORNTON, Colo. — Hundreds of Xcel customers who received expected new smart meters are getting unexpected bills.
Earlier this month, an Xcel spokesperson admitted "historical customer energy use information was not saved in the exchange" of old smart meters to new smart meters for hundreds of customers on average monthly payments.
Average monthly payments are set amounts that a customer pays. Xcel tweaks those amounts every three months, and then at the end of the customer’s year, there is a "true up" amount that either results in a lump sum charge or credit.
According to Xcel, 609 customers on average monthly payments were underbilled for a time after their smart meters were installed, while 97 customers were overbilled.
LaTrice B. in Thornton thinks she is one of the underbilled customers.
“I think I am. When I tried to confirm with Xcel, I got a very confused customer service rep, so I’m now completely confused also,” Latrice said.
Earlier this month, Highlands Ranch customer Lorrie Grove revealed the letter she received in the mail from Xcel explaining the unexpected credit she would receive because of the error following the installation of her smart meter.
“The letter states that an upcoming bill may show a significant credit balance. So I called Xcel to find out what the story was and was told that we had about a $550 credit,” Grove said.
LaTrice called Xcel customer service after she got her most recent bill with a "true up" amount of $220.
“It’s never been that high before,” LaTrice said. “I did call them. And I mentioned that I saw your original news story, and I wanted to find out if there was a problem with my bill based on ‘historical data not being loaded.’ They indicated that I must have had incorrect information or the reporting was possibly not correct.”
An Xcel spokesperson was unable to get information about LaTrice’s account Tuesday night after "Next with Kyle Clark" reached out to Xcel at 2:15 p.m. seeking details. We hope to get information on Wednesday.
“Based on your last story, I went back and looked at some of my old bills and there was a certain point in time where I was only paying 30-some-odd dollars a month, when they first put in my meter, which I believe would mean they were underbilling me,” LaTrice said.
LaTrice did not get a letter from Xcel regarding an error and to expect an unexpected charge. In March, her average monthly payment was $97. In April, the first bill she received after the installation of her smart meter, her average monthly payment was changed to $32. After three months at $32, it increased to $99.
At the end of her annual billing cycle, she now owes $220.
“I am so confused at this point, I don’t even know, after they do this fix, if I’ll still be billed correctly,” LaTrice said.
In our story from earlier this month, the Xcel spokesperson said that if customers were underbilled, half of the amount would be forgiven.
“Do I think I need to pay half of it? I think I need to pay my bill. But I think that Xcel needs to figure out what my bill is. And then they also need to figure out if they're making a statement to the public, that they honor what they say,” LaTrice said.
Her biggest issue is getting more information from watching the news than from calling customer service.
“The reason I emailed you originally is because I just wanted to thank you for doing the story. I am sure that there are people who have much higher bills than I do that don't know what's going on. And if it weren't for your story, we wouldn't know,” LaTrice said.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Full Episodes of Next with Kyle Clark