St Croix Electric Cooperative

Review: My dispute is strictly with their electric and internet service. St. Croix Electric takes advantage of people who have no other choices for their electric or internet because they live in the country. My family was renting a home where they were the service provider. Before they would provide service, they required that we put down a $400 depoist because whe had a Bankruptcy 2 years in our past. Since the bankruptcy, our credit was crystal clear...no late payments on anything...yet they hid behind their Board of Directors and policies to protect their shareholders. Bottom line, is we had no choice. They could have asked for $1000 and we wouldn't have any choice. So they sat on our deposit until we moved out two years later.

My main complaint has to do with their internet service. Here again, because we lived in the country, we were very limited with our internet options. While they were the best option from an internet speed perspective, it is substandard when compared to internet that people have access to in town with Comcast/Xfinity, ATT, etc. Not only do they cap the "amount" of internet you use, they charge about 2-3 times as much as those other services. On top of this, the St. Croix Electric internet service is via Sattelite, so it is prone to interruptions with bad weather, electrical storms/solar activity, or technical glitches. We had several of these over a period of MONTHS which caused our service to be down repeatedly. There was never any offer to reduce our monthly payments, and a request I made for a rebate was turned down flatly.

Again, they required that I pay additional deposit money in order to add internet service. They also required a 2 year agreement. I understand that as long as you live at the residence. Fortunately, we were able to qualify to purchase a home in town (if our credit was so "bad" that we needed to put down a deposit, how could we buy a house?) They said we could transfer our service to our new home and so they wouldn't waive the two year agreement. Yet it still made financial sense for us to switch to Comcast for internet. Our service is about 2-3 times faster, there is no usage limit, and we pay less than half as much as we paid with St. Croix Electric's lowest service level.

I believe that St. Croix Electric takes advantage of people that have no choice. They hide behind their policies and their board of directors and their need to protect their coopertative shareholders. Yet they send out monthly reports boasting about how much money they have in reserves and how well managed they are. What they don't say is how it is off the backs of people that - given a choice - would never choose their services because they are subpar and overly expensive.Desired Settlement: All I want and all I ask is that they cancel the service that I no longer use but still have been paying for. It would cost them NOTHING to do this. I have all of their equipment yet, in perfect condition. Yet they would rather just keep taking my money and providing nothing in return. What a business model! They should be ashamed.

Business

Response:

[redacted] sent in a complaint about our electric and internet service, but it seems that his main concern is the internet service. I would like to clarify that our electric services are completely separate from our internet services. Neither one has anything to due with the other. Since [redacted] questioned the $400.00 deposit that was required when he moved onto our service lines, I would like to address that first. The co-op runs a credit risk/identity verification on any person who applies for service with our co-op based on the information provided to us. The information is sent to On-line Utility Exchange and they respond with a percetage number. Based on the percentage number that is sent to us from On-line Utility Exchange, there MAY be a deposit required of up to $400.00. The deposit (if required) is refundable after 12 consecutive on-time payments. On-time being defined as on or before the due date of the bill. If any payment during that 12 months is received after the due date, the 12 month consecutive requirement would start over from the next

payment received on-time.

[redacted] became a member of the co-op on May 11, 2011 and his deposit of $400.00 was paid on May 27, 2011. He would have needed to have 12 consecutive payments after May 27, 2011, in order to get the deposit credited to his account on the earliest possible eligibility date. [redacted]'s payments for January 2012, February 2012 & April 2012 were received after the due date. His 12 month consecutive requirement started over when his May 2012 payment was received on-time. The next 12 payments were received on-time and the $400.00 deposit was credited to his account on May 3, 2013. This just happened to be the same time that [redacted] moved from this account. His final bill was deducted from the deposit amount and [redacted] was issued a refund check in the amount of $386.44.

[redacted] states that the co-op is hiding behind our policies and Board of Directors to protect our shareholders. The co-op is member owned and does not have "shareholders". We are a cooperative and not for profit. I am unclear what monthly reports [redacted] is referring to when he states that "they are sending out monthly reports boasting about how much money they have in reserves and how well managed they are". The only report I am aware of is our annual financial report which is distributed in April to all members/owners of the co-op.

[redacted] entered into a contract on August 6, 2012, for Exede internet by satellite. I have attached copies of the pre-installation checklist & installation completion forms [redacted] was required to initial and sign and a copy of his customer agreement (contract), as well as an email conversation between Murray Lestrud (our internet program coordinator) & [redacted] explaining the options for discontinuing/cancelling/ transferring his Exede service in which he opted to just continue letting the monthly service be billed at the lowest monthly plan. I have put astericks next to each item that [redacted] is disputing, showing that he was well aware of the following:

1. The contract is a 24 month contract

2. The extended protection plan is required

3. The advertised speeds were not guaranteed and actual speeds may vary

4. The service is subject to data usage limits and if the allowance is exceeded before the monthly reset date, the service will be slowed

5. If the service is cancelled before completion of the 24 month commitment, the termination fee is equal to the number of months left multiplied by $45.00 + tax.

All Exede/WildBlue contracts are treated the same. [redacted] still has the option to cancel his contract but the termination fee would still apply. It would be unfair to the others that have had to pay the termination fee, for the co-op to make an "exception" for [redacted].

Thank you -

Billing Coordinator

St Croix Electric Cooperative

PO Box 160, Hammond, WI 54015