I am having an incredibly difficult time working with Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) to resolve a billing dispute. I tried reaching out to the Florida Public Service Commission but was told that they do not provide regulation or oversight for the utility and that I needed to go through the city commission. I'm emailing you as the GRU Authority in hopes that you can either help or point me in the direction of someonw who can help. 

We received a bill for $831.05 in August of 2023 after receiving a bill for $-931.46 dated July 7, 2023. I called GRU on 9/1/2023 and spoke with Soesbe about this bill and was told there would be a 30 day lock put on the account and they would refer the case to the solar department and someone would call us back. The person I spoke with said they couldn't make sense of what was happening on the bill and no one could give us any kind of answer for why we suddenly went from being owed $931.46 to owing $831.05. I am including those bills so that you can see the documentation that they sent us, which is not interpretable, even by GRU staff.

We never received a call back, so I assumed the matter was resolved. Then I receive a delinquent notice 7 months later. We paid all of our bills on time from January - July 2023 for roughly $300 each month and the bill for $831.05 appears to indicate that we owe roughly an additional $150 per month backdated over 6 months, which is ludicrous. We did not use that much extra power (I don't even know how that would be possible) and should have seen a reduction in our bill because of our solar panels producing energy.

I submitted an email to customer service (I was concerned when previous phone calls went unanswered) on 3/18/2024 stating these exact things in the email and indicating that I needed this resolved immediately and that I'm prepared to file complaints with the proper authorities.

I received an email on 3/22/2024 indicating they forwarded it to the solar department and they would respond immediately.

I received a final bill notice dated 7/6/2024 on 6/19/2024 stating that they would send me to collections for the $831.05 if I do not pay this amount by 6/21/2024. I have never received a call, email, or any contact from the GRU to explain these charges and adjustments. I contacted GRU on 6/20/2024 and spoke with Shanteria, who again, could not make sense of the adjustments on our bill or provide any explanation as to why we would owe an additional $831.05. She tried to get in touch with the solar department and a supervisor, but was unsuccessful. She stated that she would put a lock on the account until July 30^th so that it would not go to collections. She provided the number to the solar department (352-393-1413) and indicated I might be able to get some help there.

I called the solar department on 6/20/2024 and reached Wendy, who stated she would start investigating what was happening with my bill and agreed that this all didn’t seem right. She called on 6/21/2024, but I missed her call. Wendy called back on 6/24/2024 and indicated she was working on the bill, had notified the billing department that I had attempted to receive an explanation and was never given one or called back, and stated that it appeared we were overcharged at Tier 3 consumption and that was why there was a refund in July, but that she couldn’t figure out the adjustments made to the bill in August. She said it would take a couple more weeks to figure it out.

I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and they reached out to me to indicate that they had not received any communication from GRU. I shared my conversations with Wendy in an email to the representative there (see attached).

On 7/11/2024, I received the following message from GRU through the BBB website:

Good Morning:

GRU will attempt to contact the customer by phone to review their concerns. Ultimately, a billing adjustment was completed on the account and that requires the reversal of payments if any are made on the bills that required adjusting. That is why there was a credit on a bill of $900 in July because the charges were held up in reposting due to the amount of the outstanding balance after the rebilling of charges. This is why her final bill had the $831 balance, because the previous bills were reposted with their payments, the adjustment was made as needed and outstanding charges to the stop date on file were posted. 

Unfortunately, the balance is correct and due and payable by the customer, and we will attempt to explain by phone the details as outlined above. 

Later on 7/11/2024, I received a call from a GRU representative who did not identify themselves indicating that we owe the $831.05 and stated that they were relying on estimated readings and needed to rely on actual readings, that rates had went up, and that there was no Tier 3 usage and the $900 credit was a refund of our previous bills. I have not received any explanation or printout showing how we could have consumed $150 more in energy each month of this time period. I also have concerns about the readings. During this time (Jan-July 2023), GRU was short on meter readers and we received emails and notices that they had not been consistently reading our meter. Our bills from the dates in the unreadable rebilled amount also all say "ACTUAL" instead of "ESTIMATED" on the paper copies of the bills I've saved, so this just doesn't make sense. I asked for a detailed breakdown of our estimated vs. actual consumption for the rebilled months and the rate adjustment to substantiate this amount. The representative said it would be coming by email, but I have yet to receive an email with any information. I rejected the company's response through the BBB, as I again requested a detailed summary and description of how it could be that we owe almost $1000 more for electricity.

On 7/16/2024 I called back as I have not received an email with the detailed breakdown and explanation I requested. I spoke with Shaqueria (sp?) who directed me to Wendy in the solar department, who I had been working with previously. I left her a message to call me back to discuss. 

Yesterday, 7/22/2024, I received an email from BBB indicating that they were closing my complaint as unresolved and provided some additional organizations to contact for potential help getting this figured out. 

Today, 7/23/2024, I received another message from GRU through BBB that states the following: 

Good Afternoon:

We contacted the customer by phone and advised we would provide them the details of the unpaid balances. This material was just completed Friday July 19, and we have yet to set a secondary call to go over our findings. She will be getting details of an outstanding balance of $817.13 reduced from $831.05 due to recharging a single line item at the incorrect rate creating an overcharge of $13.92. We are also going to provide the customer with 3 months to repay the balance, which is the standard amount of time we would extend a final bill balance. If the customer advises they'd need more time, due to the extent of the time they've spent trying to understand the balance due, we would be happy to provide more time the customer would just need to state the amount of additional time they'd need.   

Sincerely, 

GRU Customer Service

What is going on here? I'm told I owe the whole amount, then that I was overcharged on one line item, but owe basically this whole amount. What if I would have accepted the first message from GRU? They obviously had not done a thorough review of the account at that time, so thankfully I rejected it until I received some kind of documentation. 

I'm patiently waiting for the opportunity to go over these findings, but I again, find it very hard to believe that I somehow wasn't paying enough, to the tune of $150/month, for electricity when I also have solar panels generating electricity for me. 

I do not want to speak to representatives on the phone anymore because I keep receiving conflicting information and no one can provide any kind of substantiation for these charges, which they should readily be able to do. I am very concerned that they messed something up and are unwilling or unable to go back and fix it and keep pushing forward, even though they have not once attempted to explain or substantiate the amount beyond these general statements.

This has been my worst experience with a utility company in the three states I’ve lived in and every representative I’ve spoken with cannot give a detailed explanation of why we owe this much more money. Our budget is tight and I need substantiation before I’m going to send another $800 to a company that cannot provide any documentation, that is understandable by even their own staff, of what I owe. I'm holding my breath that I'll actually receive something in writing that substantiates this amount. GRU seems unwilling to provide documentation (I have been waiting for over a year), which makes me concerned that other consumers have experienced these same delay and evasion tactics, were overcharged, and just paid it out of frustration/lack of time to deal with this. I have included all PDF documentation of my communications and bills around this issue.

Please let me know if there is additional documentation that would be helpful in this matter and if you can assist in resolving this matter. 

Thank you for your time!

Sincerely,

Dr. Melissa Fenton

2814 Outrigger Way

Fort Collins, CO 80524

Phone: 402-770-1146

Email: mfenton919@gmail.com