The New York State Department of Public Service has expanded its investigation into billing problems at Rochester Gas & Electric, and New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG), both of which are owned by Avangrid.
The state agency, which oversees the Public Service Commission, issued a statement on Wednesday saying it has expanded its investigation into the potential mismanagement of the utilities’ billing systems and protocols.
“Ensuring customer bills are accurate is the singular responsibility of the utility, and this expanded investigation of RG&E and NYSEG will determine what went wrong and how will it be resolved,” said Department CEO Rory Christian. “Our bottom line is simple: we hold utilities accountable for any billing errors and we will require the companies to hold customers harmless.”
The state said that problems with the two utilities’ billing systems became apparent when the agency began to see a significant spike in the number of complaints from customers. As a result, staff for the Department of Public Service began a review and an investigation related to a September 2022 change to the companies’ customer information and billing system.
State officials said that complaints range from incorrect bills being sent to consumers or very late bills being sent. In 2022, they said that the number of consumer complaints against the two companies soared to more than 4,700, and officials said that is 60% more than the two previous years combined.
The state agency said that customers having problems with utility bills should first contact their utility for resolution and if they can’t get a satisfactory resolution from the utility, customers should contact the Department’s Office of Consumer Services to file a complaint.
The Dept. of Public Service's Consumer Advocate will host a series of public forums in affected areas starting in January to hear from consumers about their concerns. Dates and locations have not been announced yet.
RG&E and NYSEG released this statement in response to word of the expanded investigation:
“NYSEG and RG&E received notice of the Department of Public Service investigation this afternoon. While NYSEG and RG&E have not been immune from the effects of COVID on our utility, such as a severe staffing shortage, we understand the impacts some of our customers have faced with their bills. In fact, we have already made significant progress in reducing customer issues by hiring new billing specialists and streamlining our billing processes. But make no mistake, along with providing safe, reliable service to more than 1,290,000 customers and responding to and restoring service following historic storms, addressing billing issues continues to be a top priority, and we are committed to ensuring customer bills are sent out timely and accurately. We will fully cooperate with the Department’s investigation.”
