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Call Kurtis: PG&E Credit

Now You See It, Now You Don't

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ― "This is my thermostat and it's never on." Beverly Whitsitt is a real stickler when it comes to keeping energy costs down in her Stockton home. "I have been a PG&E customer forever."

But as much as she conserves, she never expected the bill she received in December from PG&E. It showed she had a credit of $4,251.18. "I called them up and said get somebody out here and read my meter. I must have done something wrong."

Beverly says PG&E's customer service supervisor assured her the money was hers, saying based on a state mandate, they had to pay people back for saving energy. "Ok send me a check. Well I never got a check."

But the credit was still there in January with her current charges deducted from it. So she called PG&E again. "What am I going to do just leave it on the books and I won't have to pay PG&E for a w while? They said you can do whatever you want to."

Again Beverly says she asked for a check that never came. "I told my daughter I said I'm not spending that money until I know for sure. I'm not even cashing the check until I know for sure it's legal. Because they can come and say ok, now you spent the money, now you owe us."

Then in February Beverly got a call from a PG&E representative who told her it was a mistake, and now she owes them $132.00 for the prior two months of service. "You said I have no payment, I don't owe any payments, and I'm on a fixed income. How can I do this, how can I pay this?"

Beverly called my hotline. "That's when I got to talk to Chuck." "I told her that I needed copies of her paperwork and her bill. Then we've got a contact at PG&E that I called." PG&E agreed to waive the two months of utility payments. But Beverly was still not quite satisfied.

"They didn't clarify anything. I have no idea why I got it or why it got taken away, and I'm still puzzled."

PG&E sent Beverly a letter of explanation, but we decided to call PG&E spokeswoman Nicole Tam. Nicole told us, "It was human error. Her account was incorrectly identified to receive a refund". PG&E also called Beverly to personally apologize. "I thought it was a dirty trick that PG&E could make such a mistake and not show me why."

We had Beverly file a complaint with the Public Utility Commission. When she said she never heard back from them, we called. The PUC immediately called us back and assured us they would look into this further.

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