LOUISVILLE, KY- Officials with Kentucky Utilities have released a statement in regards to the billing issues many customers have faced in Muhlenberg County recently. Last week customers began to notice exorbitantly high bills in their mailboxes. Customers quickly took to social media to voice their displeasure and ask questions. Kentucky State Representative Rebecca Raymer has spoke on the situation and been in contact with officials from Kentucky Utilities. She has proposed a "Town Hall" meeting moderated by her. It would allow Kentucky Utilities a chance to explain, in person, their processes and hear their customers concerns. She and the radio station have not heard back regarding the proposed meeting as of publishing of this article.
Kentucky Utilities has been in the process of changing out meters from the old analog technology to a new digital meter. The new meters are better at calculating the total usage each month and allow homeowners to monitor their usage via a website. www.lge-ku.com/mymeter
Chris Whelan is part of the Corporate Communications department at Kentucky Utilities. She took time out on Thursday to speak with Michael Davis about the situation here in Muhlenberg County. Below is her statement.
We realize that there have been some high bill issues, and we appreciate how unsettling this can be. We take this issue seriously. We understand the pressure high bills may create and are working with each customer as quickly as possible to setup payment plans.
We have suspended disconnects to impacted customers and are reaching out to them to listen to their concerns, research the situation and establish payment arrangements as appropriate.
While our advanced meters are recording customers’ usage, there was a technical issue between the meter and the billing system, impacting a small number of customers resulting in their bills appearing as if they used zero electricity.
The error was uncovered once the true-up occurred and customers received a bill for the electricity they used for more than a single month. The technical issue has been resolved and went into effect March 26.
Additionally, as we near the completion of meter exchange project -- in which we will automatically receive energy usage data and no longer manually read most meters -- our contract meter reading partners are pursuing other employment opportunities. As a result, we estimated some customer bills. To mitigate this, we have trained and deployed our field personnel to perform meter reads until the meter exchange project is complete.
We encourage customers experiencing difficulty with their bill or who receive a bill with unusually low usage to contact us immediately.
Customers have been encouraged to reach out to Kentucky Utilities officials if they have questions or may have difficulty paying the full amount. Kentucky Utilities has reassured that customers who have reached out will not have their power disconnected and they will work out a payment plan that both can agree on. Many customers have reached out to the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) to voice their complaints with the governing authority over public utilities in Kentucky. On Thursday, Angie Hatton, Vice Chair of the Kentucky PSC, spoke with Malcolm West and assured him they are aware of the issues here and encouraged customers to continue to send them their information. The Kentucky PSC can be reached online at www.psc.ky.gov
We are continuing to follow this story and will update as new information comes out.
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