Condo Owner Paying Neighbors’ Electric Bill For Over 15 Years/ Refused Refund

Looks like this guy was paying high electric bill for 15 years, the electric company told him his house was inefficient, so he did tons of improvements.

An Indianapolis man is asking for compensation from the Indianapolis Power & Light Company after he says they have been charging him for his neighbor’s electric bill for more then 15 years.

Ron Renforth said he’s lived in the same home for a decade and a half (that’s 15 years). He was first informed by the electric company that his bill was so high because his home was not “energy efficient” so he put 18 inches of insulation in his attic and installed a new furnace and air conditioner and still saw no change in his electric bill.

He lives in a condo, and the meters were installed incorrectly. The electric company was willing to refund 12 months of the over charges.
Should he get his money back? Maybe no bill until they are even? A mess and good luck dealing with the electric company.

Renforth tells RTV6 he doesn’t want to take legal action, but he says he will do what he has to in order to get fair treatment. He said he’s also concerned that other residents in his condo complex may have been paying their neighbor’s bill.

wearechange.org...

a reply to: seasonal

Hell with that. I would find out what the total is for the overage, and take the jerks to court. If they installed the reader incorrectly, they are to blame 100% and a total refund should be given. Hell, if you are behind in paying your bill for 2 months, they have no problem shutting off service, they should have no problem returning over charges.

I hope he takes 'em to court and gets triple damages.

Damn utility companies charge too much to begin with. Can you imagine the anger after fifteen years of financially suffering an uncaring brick-and-mortar screw up?

They should reimburse him for all the upgrades he paid for too.

a reply to: Snarl

He did the upgrades because if their mistake, your right, seems like the electric co should be held accountable.

originally posted by: Snarl

They should reimburse him for all the upgrades he paid for too.

Yeah seriously. Sounds like they egged him on because he was "inefficient."

But knowing life, pretty likely the power company has some loophole to avoid taking any responsibility for this sheet.

If it were me I'd explode with rage and shop for legal representation. The power company's offer is a total insult.

It seems the condo owner has a lawsuit against who ever installed the meters(or the wiring), or who sold him the condo. Might be super difficult and expensive to sue the utility company. Though I believe they are at fault for not realizing the error themselves after 15 years.


ETA: I am surprised he didn't get a 'friendly' visit from law enforcement for an illegal grow operation due to the excess power usage.

First, make sure this goes public. Make Some Noise. Call the company out by name.
2nd. Get a good lawyer and sue the living sh** out of them. Damages, negligence, cost of improvements and anything else he can think of.

a reply to: DAVID64
This is the only way they will pay up. Anything else will cost you too much time and money in court.

a reply to: seasonal

the very first energy use audit - SHOULD have instantly spotted the problem

a reply to: ignorant_ape

yes but doing a job correctly is difficult

I`m sure a newly graduated eager lawyer would take this case on a if we don`t win you don`t pay basis, he`ll win .

he should sue for all the upgrades he made, plus all the extra charges he paid the electric company, plus interest on all that money.

if worse comes to worse he could call the electric company everyday and have the electric company send someone out to check out a non existent problem with his electric service.naturally it would be good to call them after 5 oclock with an emergency non existent problem so that the electric company will have to pay overtime to the guy who comes out to check on the problem.

kind of on topic:
many years ago the electric company got cheap and saved money by replacing the glass globes over the electric meters with plastic globes,my neighbor drilled a small hole in the bottom of the plastic globe and stuck a small piece of wood up in the hole in the evening so that it wedged against the spinning metal plate and stopped it from spinning and recording how much electric he was using.when he left for work in the morning he would take it out. when they came to read the meter they never noticed the small hole in the bottom of the plastic globe.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: Snarl

He did the upgrades because if their mistake, your right, seems like the electric co should be held accountable.

How about the people who Took Advantage of this guy/shouldn't they be ashamed???Uh gee honey, it didn't say in that there rental agreement the electric was included!!!!

a reply to: seasonal

Dear Indianapolis Power & Light,

You could go a long way in customer relations and good karma by adequately compensating this man. He's not at fault for installing the meter incorrectly. It's time for a memo to double check correct meter installation.

What of the neighbor(s) who had a partial free ride?

wow. Incompetence and they won't stand up and take the blame.

I had a similar situation with AT&T. Apparently we were paying the DSL bill for another company.

Of all companies AT&T refunded us our money. And promptly billed the other company for the past due amount.

This company should refund. Any good lawyer will win this.

This is a very common occurrence, especially in small shopping Center and strip malls. Each time the property is rentavated the prospect of incorrect metering rises. I am an electrical contractor and I see this kind of problem a dozen times a year.

a reply to: Nickn3

I was just wondering about that I wonder how many times this happens and we never hear about it.

a reply to: grey580

AT&T huh, wow, good for you.

a reply to: kurthall

Good point, that didn't cross my mind.

How about the people who Took Advantage of this guy/shouldn't they be ashamed???Uh gee honey, it didn't say in that there rental agreement the electric was included!!!!

I just thought of something, what happened to the neighbors electric bill??? Free electricity for 15 years is hard not to notice...

originally posted by: jappee
I just thought of something, what happened to the neighbors electric bill??? Free electricity for 15 years is hard not to notice...

He was just super efficient. They never even had to bill him for usage ...clearly the envy of his neighbors