Some bills don't list distribution charge
JARED MILLER Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Saturday, March 15, 2008 12:00 am
CHEYENNE-Natural gas provider SourceGas revealed Friday that the billing issues that have plagued the company since September continue to expand.
In the latest mishap, around 13,000 Casper-area customers received bills in recent days that lacked a line describing a gas distribution charge, company representatives said.
The total amount due on each bill was accurate, but some customers have called to complain that the figures on their bills don't add up.
SourceGas representatives disclosed the problems during a meeting of the Public Service Commission in Cheyenne.
The PSC, which regulates public utilities, initially called the meeting to get an update on efforts by SourceGas to address the earlier billing issues.
Like the earlier issues, the latest problems appear to be a result of the company's decision to turn over its billing system to the international consulting firm Accenture back in September, company officials said.
Shortly after SourceGas outsourced its billing, about 12,000 customers in Wyoming stopped receiving bills for one or more months. Many were shocked to see the accumulated totals when the bills finally arrived.
Some customers who tried to get answers about the missing bills later complained that they were met with poor customer service and an automated system that said they owed nothing, according to reports.
After discovering the latest problem on Thursday, the company stopped printing bills and briefed its customer service employees about the problem.
In addition, the company began calling all 13,000 customers to inform them about the issue and has added new quality-control measures to prevent the problem from happening again, company representatives told the PSC.
SourceGas has already promised to giving customers until October to pay off the back charges from the initial billing problems.
That will allow customers to spread out the payments over the summer months when gas bills are typically lower.
The October deadline n which is negotiable n will assure that the back charges are addressed before higher winter heating bills arrive.
SourceGas has pledged not to charge late fees or interest on the back charges. The company has not cut off service to anyone as a result of the back charges, and they have made no reports to consumer credit agencies, said Len Mize, director of corporate communications.
In fact, the company has pledged to absorb any costs that any of the billing errors generate. PSC members asked the company to provide proof of that Friday.
"Any additional costs, we will be eating those ourselves," Mize said. "We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and we are working diligently with our customers to correct the issue just as quickly as we can."
Company representatives said Friday that they are on target to have the original billing issues cleared up by March 1.
As of Thursday, less than 450 of the original 12,000 customers were still awaiting a resolution to their issues.
It's unclear when the latest billing problems will be resolved, company officials said.
While it may not see like it right now, Mize said, the company is making strides in its efforts to address the billing issues.
"We're gaining ground," Mize said. "It just looks bad now. These are growing pains."
SourceGas serves about 72,000 customers in Wyoming in communities including Casper, Lander, Riverton, Laramie, Gillette, Torrington, Douglas and Wheatland.
Company officials said the billing problem is unrelated to a rate increase for some SourceGas residential customers that took effect on March 1.
The increase of 11.82 percent, or about $9 per month, for the average residential customer is the result of a regular quarterly rate adjustment based on the market cost of gas.
Under PSC rules, SourceGas is allowed to pass on the increase without taking any additional profits.
Roughly half of SourceGas customers receive their gas through secondary providers, many of whom lock in rates for a full year. Those customers will not be effected by the increase.
SourceGas is updating the PSC on its efforts to resolve the billing problems every two weeks.
Reach Star-Tribune capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or at {M7jared.miller@trib.com.