Delmarva Power

DPL, does not have a flat rate for determining the customer's deposit, the calculation of the deposit is based on 2 months of  the customer's average bill over the last 12 months; therefore each customer will billed a different amount based on their usage at their property. The deposit and the...

calculation is part of DPL's tariff which is approved by the Delaware Public Service Commission. Mr [redacted]s was assessed a $605 security deposit due to his late payment history.   Based on his late payments, 2 disconnect notices were generated and mailed to the customer. Mr. [redacted]'s deposit is warranted and is not eligible to be waived. DPL is willing to offer a 3 month installment plan for his deposit balance of $367.08 of $122.36 in addition to his current bill.   Once Mr. [redacted]'s has re-established a good or excellent payment history by paying his balance to zero and has paid his bill in full by the due date for 12 consecutive months, his deposit will be refunded.

A thorough review of the customer’s account
shows the $200.00 deposit was paid in full on 09-02-14. The deposit is eligible
for refund after twelve consecutive payments from the time the deposit is paid
in full. The deposit of $200.00 plus $.19 interest was applied to the customer’s
account...

showing on her October bill, billing from 09-15-15 through 10-14-15. The
normal procedure is to transfer the deposit to the customer’s account unless
otherwise requested. Account documentation shows the customer did request a
refund rather than the credit on her account, on more than one occasion. Unfortunately,
the refund was not processed and for this we apologize. The full deposit amount
of $200.00 was applied to her account and paid the bills for October, $42.64,
November, $60.88. The two bills totaled $103.52 which left a credit balance of
$96.65. A refund check for the $96.65 was processed on her account 11-18. Her
current account balance is $76.19 due 1-4-16. Although we apologized for any negative
customer service the customer feels she received, as a regulated utility we
bill customers for the service they used and are unable to provide her with a
credit or an additional refund of $50.00.

After reviewing multiple accounts, I did find incorrect mailing addresses for following:50009818019. MA was updated and bill copy sent after late payment charges of 0.89 and 0.30 waived50010277700. MA updated, sent bill copy. 50010546641. MA updated, waived 550.00 deposit, sent corrected bill. Voice message left for customer with my contact information if any issues moving forward.

I spoke to Ms. [redacted] and advised that I have waived the $565.00 as she should have been advised on 1/11 when she called in to report the payment that the account would need to be set up on a payment arrangement to avoid future collection activity.  Had that been done, the account would...

have never generated the disconnection notice which in turn generated the security deposit.  I advised that I would waive the security deposit of $565.00 reducing the total balance to $489.42.  I advised her to pay $249.59 (the current gas and electric charges) on or before 4/11 (current due date of bill) then the remaining balance of $239.83 would be split in two installments.

The security deposit has been removed from the account.  All payments previously applied to the security deposit have been applied to the electric charges.  There is currently a zero balance on this account now.

Left voice message for customer. Delmarva has had many months of estimated readings at property as device is not communicating remotely. Customer gave us reading of 1236 on 12.28.15 which is why her January bill was high. If read is correct, then it is catching up on underestimated usage. If...

reading is incorrect, we can adjust with a new reading if customer can provide. We would ideally like access to check on gas meter to see why not communicating so estimated reads are not a problem moving forward.

Ms. [redacted] contacted our Customer Service Department on 8/5/16 and processed a payment over the phone for the amount of $220.93.  Ms. [redacted] called in later that day and advised that the payment was deducted from her account twice.  After further review a Supervisor did contact her and...

advised her that there was an issue with our credit card processing system and that only one payment of $220.93 has been taken from DPL and applied to her DPL account.  She was advised that a hold was placed on the other payment of $220.93 by the processing system and that Western Union would be refunding the money back to her bank account.  Our records show that only one payment posted to her DPL account for the amount of $220.93.  Because the second payment was not sent to DPL we are unable to refund the amount.  The payment was to be returned by Western Union.

I spoke with the customer and she said everything had been rectified. She currently has gas service. The delay was due to the gas service being previously disconnected in the street and a crew was needed to connect.

Service at the requested address has been connected since 2/2017. Review of account shows customer has order now scheduled for service in her name as of 4/28.

Left voicemail message for Mr. [redacted].  Final disconnection notice was sent on April 20 advising of the past due amount of...

$271.22 on account and advising that his service was subject to termination on or after May 5.  Due to late payment, services were disconnected on 5/10.  Payment of $221.22 was made on 5/10 and services were restored.  As a one-time courtesy, Delmarva Power will waive the $30 reconnect fee.

10/12/16  -  I have reviewed Ms. [redacted]’s filing.  Records show she called on 8/29/16 requesting
a disconnect of service as of 8/31/16. 
Service was disconnected as requested on 8/31/16; however, we received a
call from a woman identifying herself as [redacted] saying...

that service
should not be off and that the original caller on 8/29/16 was not [redacted].  Once we confirmed identifying
information from the 8/31/16 caller we issued an order to reconnect the
services.  The electric and gas service
was again disconnected at customer request on 9/27/16.
Ms. [redacted]’s balance as of 8/23/16 was $577.58.  Her final charges from 8/24/16 through
9/27/2016 were $95.83.  A $200.00 deposit
was credited to her final bill and the total balance due is $473.41.  Delmarva Power is very concerned about our
customer’s personal information and takes all necessary measures to ensure this
information is protected.  When a
customer calls us we also ask them to verify specific information, such as
account number, social security number, and address to verify their
identification.  Customers must also take
proper precautions and protect their personal information from others.  While we regret this situation happened, Ms.
[redacted] is responsible to safeguard her personal information and accounts.  [redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.I am concerned that they only adjusted 1 months bill but yet they charged me incorrectly for almost 2 years.  Why am I not getting an adjustment for those months?  I did notice that they changed my billing to residential heat so I don't get the gas charges.  I also understand that I was mostly impacted in the winter months from a higher fee admitted by Delmarva.  Why am I not getting any credit for the winter months since I held my lease at [redacted]?  A Delmarva employee was out a few months ago to ensure I had no gas and he confirmed that there were no gas meters installed at the complex.  I am glad that the rate is finally correct but why am I not getting reimbursed for the 2 winter seasons that I paid a higher rate?

Ms [redacted] was assessed a deposit of $505 with her September bill due the delinquency of her account in accordance with DPL's tariff that is approved by the Delaware PSC.  Customer's deposit was waived on 9/9 as a one time only courtesy.  Customer must continue to pay her bill in full each...

month and on time or the deposit will be assessed again and will not be waive. the deposit is determined by 2 months of the customers monthly averaged usage.   [redacted]

The January billing period was extended to a 42 day period due to an internal billing system change and therefore that bill may appear to be higher than prior history...

bills. The meter was exchanged on February 13, 2015.  The attached statements have been emailed to Ms. [redacted] to help her better understand the recorded energy usage.

Attached, please find the letter and statements sent to Ms. [redacted].  The account was initially assessed two deposits in error.  Both deposits were waived in full.  As a result of the correction to the deposit the bills were all reversed and rebilled thus causing duplicate...

invoices.  I have provided Ms. [redacted] with an accounts receivable statement and a usage history statement of her account to assist her in better understanding her account and balance.

Customer [redacted] stated branches and debris was left in his back yard from tree trimming. I called the customer but was asked to call back at a later date. Delmarva Power would need to know additional details for proper follow up. If tree work was done as part of storm clean up or outage...

restoration, Delmarva Power would not be able to remove branches and/or debris. If part of scheduled tree trimming, Delmarva Power would chip and remove smaller branches. If larger branches, they would be cut to manageable size and left on site for customer use. I will be contacting customer on requested date (8/3).

The customer's gas meter was exchanged October 2015. The bills were estimated at zero usage based on prior history up until April 2016. At that time a reading was obtained remotely. April's bill then included usage from the time the meter was installed up until the reading in April. The customer...

confirmed a reading in April which showed the reading was accurate. The current balance is accurate and Delmarva is willing to establish payment arrangements on the balance.

Our records do not indicate that Mr. [redacted] was set up on the Direct Debit program so his bank account would not have been deducted for Billing without his authorization to process a payment or unless he scheduled on from his My Account profile.  I reviewed all of the notations on the account and I could not locate any notations indicating that Mr. [redacted] had authorized an agent from Delmarva Power to process a payment for the final billing amount. 
Collection notices are system generated and based on the address listed on file at the time they are printed.  Attached, please find the copy of the notification letter that was sent for this outstanding balance prior to it being directed to collections.

This customer was affected by a billing issue that affected the Peak Energy Savings Credit showing on their bill. Our billing department had to manually review several bills before being released to the customer. Delmarva understands the delay can affect our customer's ability...

to pay, and can offer payment plans if there is a need. We apologize for the delay, but upon review the customer's bills are now available. I have contacted the customer at the given phone number and left a voice message with my personal contact information.

I have reviewed Ms. [redacted]'s filing.  Unfortunately, Delmarva Power has no record of her calling requesting a disconnection of service for [redacted] until 3/30/17.  When a customer calls the account is automatically tagged showing a call was made even if the csr...

fails to make an account notation.  In addition, we can search for calls using the number the customer dialed from.  A phone number search was performed by a supervisor on 3/30/17 and there were no calls made from the phone numbers she provided until 3/30/17.  I have repeated the search and have confirmed no calls from [redacted] or 302-[redacted] were received from 1/1/17 through 3/29/17.  In addition I ran a search using 302-369-5601, which is the incoming number from her 3/30/17 call and there are no prior calls from Ms. [redacted].  Regretfully, based on the evidence we have Ms. [redacted] is responsible for service until 3/30/17.