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WV PSC Refuses to Dismiss Potomac Edison Investigation and Orders Monthly Monitoring, Public Comment Hearings -- Punitive Fines a Future Possibility

7/19/2013

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The WV PSC issued an Order today refusing to dismiss the Potomac Edison/Mon Power general investigation of billing and meter reading practices as requested by the companies.

The PSC was unconvinced by the companies' claim that the matter has been resolved and should be dismissed.  The Commission believes the data Staff and FirstEnergy filed indicate the need for further investigation and do not justify dismissing this matter as resolved and therefore FirstEnergy's request to dismiss is denied.

The Commission made the following FINDINGS OF FACT:

1. The Commission opened a general investigation into the meter reading, billing and customer service practices of FirstEnergy. June 7, 2013 Commission Order.
2. FirstEnergy reported that 5.3 percent of its customers received two consecutive estimated bills and a further 2.2 percent received three consecutive estimated bills in the May 2013 billing cycle. July 1, 2013 FirstEnergy Filing at 8.
3.  Approximately 44 percent of FirstEnergy customers in West Virginia were unable to resolve a billing problem in their first customer service call in 2013. Id. at 12.
4. Staff reported that it has received an increasing number of informal complaints regarding FirstEnergy billing practices. July 15, 2013 Staff Reply.


The Commission was unconvinced by FirstEnergy's desperate posturing attempting to show that everything is hunky dory, and tells the company who's boss:

"The Commission also takes this opportunity to emphasize that the purpose of this proceeding is to ensure that FirstEnergy takes the steps necessary to provide reliable service and accurate billing. The Commission will not prematurely rush this matter or
close the proceeding until FirstEnergy demonstrates that its billing accurately reflects customer usage on a consistent basis and has implemented responsive service practices.
"

The Commission intends to stop FirstEnergy's reign of terror, therefore FirstEnergy must now be monitored like a wayward teenager:

"In this case, the Commission believes that it should immediately begin collecting data to allow it to monitor certain aspects of FirstEnergy customer service. This data will assist the Commission and the parties in this proceeding by generating a statistical benchmark for determining improvement or decline in service quality and providing empirical data that demonstrates whether the problems have been resolved as contended by FirstEnergy."

Beginning August 15, 2013, and continuing for one year, the required monthly submissions should include the following information:

1. Current customer contact center metrics collected by FirstEnergy.
2. The number and percentage of customers with two or more consecutive estimated bills rendered.
3. The current number of budgeted meter reader positions and the current number of meter readers employed.
4. The current status of the project to re-number meters and adjust meter routes.
5. The steps taken to adjust or improve the current enhanced estimation algorithm.
6. The number and percentage of meter rereads.
7. The number of complaints handled by the customer contact center with a breakdown by complaint type.
8. The number and percentage of customer complaints resolved on the first call to the FirstEnergy call center.
9. The number of customers placed on a deferred payment plan and note the percentage of those with two or more consecutive estimated bills
.

The Commission also ordered:

"Further, Staff must review the reports FirstEnergy will file and promptly submit an analysis of the new data after three and six months of those filings. The Commission, however, expects Staff to continue to investigate this matter beyond the analysis prescribed by this Order and recommend further steps as needed.

The Commission will monitor the monthly filings and expects FirstEnergy to demonstrate improvement consistent with its representations in the July 1, 2013 filing that the underlying problems are resolved. The Commission will determine the need for further action after approximately six months of statistical filings and will issue a subsequent Order that may either call this matter for an evidentiary hearing or prescribe an appropriate alternative. The Commission will also hold public comment hearings in the FirstEnergy service areas after it receives and reviews the first two monthly reports."


The Commission reasserts its authority and hopefully strikes a little fear in FirstEnergy's flippant little corporate heart by reciting possible future outcomes:

"The Commission cannot at this time conclusively determine what future action might be necessary if
current trends continue, possible future interventions may include (i) requiring more costly monthly meter reading instead of bimonthly readings, (ii) fixing minimum meter reading staff levels and practices, (iii) creating financial rate penalties tied to statistical performance or (iv) requiring FirstEnergy to retain a consultant to revise its integration process."


The Commission has even issued a press release.


It's time to stop playing around now, FirstEnergy, quit denying there is a problem, and get down to the serious business of making amends with your customers.
0 Comments

Barbie Isn't Happy

7/17/2013

0 Comments

 
"FirstEnergy Moves Up In Market Cap Rank, Passing Mattel" says the headline.

Barbie isn't happy.  She wants to punish FirstEnergy.

Maybe she's the anonymous person who made this suggestion in today's Martinsburg Journal:
From Jefferson County:

Potomac Edison/FirstEnergy has a public image to restore. In fairness to the customers, the ones who recieved overwhelming bills of a 120-day usage for one month's billing period should be shown restitution. That would be the first step to restoring their reputation and consumer confidence in their customers.
Lesson for today:  Don't mess with 54-year old fashion dolls.  They're mean.
0 Comments

WV PSC Smells a Potomac Edison Rat

7/16/2013

1 Comment

 
The staff of the West Virginia Public Service Commission filed their comments and initial staff memorandum yesterday regarding the general investigation of Potomac Edison's and Mon Power's billing and meter reading practices.  You may read the memo here.

The staff gets really, really close to determining the probable cause of the most recent problem. 
Of particular note is that on about April 1, 2012 MP and PE changed over from the prior Allegheny Power billing system to the billing system of FirstEnergy. 
Within the eleven months prior to the initiation of the general investigation, customers of the Companies filed  approximately 750 Requests for Assistance (RFAs) related to billing practices in addition to nearly seventy formal complaints.
Staff noted a significant increase in RFAs concerning the Companies' billings beginning in January 2013, particularly RFAs directly related to estimated bills.
Ut-oh, FirstEnergy!  Maybe the company should tell the PSC what happened now, before the staff figures it out for itself?  Maybe the staff needs just a little help?  The longer this goes on, the harder it's going to be for FirstEnergy to admit to the real problem and create a story for why it's being covered up. 

The PSC isn't convinced that all the problems are "in the rearview mirror."
A major Staff concern is the future impact on MP and PE customers affected by recent problems whether storm related, related to meter reading staffing problems, or route renumbering projects that have been unreasonably billed. Since both estimation methods generally rely on historical usage data, how is MP, in the customer example of Attachment 3, going to produce reasonable usage estimates for that customer in the forthcoming "winter heating season" given the obviously bad usage data that has been generated? How for all other similarly affected MP and PE customers?

Staff is very concerned that the unreasonable billings sent to  customers who previously received bills based on unreasonable estimates will be  self-perpetuating. As both the estimation methods generally rely on historical usage data, it seems likely that MP and PE will produce unreasonable usage estimates in the future because they are relying on historical bad usage data the utilities based on bad estimates. Staff does not currently agree that the Companies' recently implemented initiatives, set forth on Page 14 of its report, are sufficient to resolve this proceeding without further investigation.
The staff isn't buying FirstEnergy's storm-related excuses for not reading customer meters:
The Companies report that it reassigned meter readers to assist in storm restoration after Super Storm Sandy caused damage on October 30, 2012, which would account for MP averaging 27% of customers receiving consecutive estimated bills in November 2012 and PE averaging 23%. In December 2012, PE
continued to average 23% of customers receiving consecutive estimated bills and MP
averaged 31%.  While Super Storm Sandy went through West Virginia on October 30, 2012 FirstEnergy's responses and responses to individual complaints indicate that meter readers were reassigned to assist in storm restoration which presumably accounts for the November 2012 27% for MP and 23% for PE, but fails to explain why December 2012 was even greater for MP at 31% and the same for PE at 23%.
Technical Staff believes the trends shown on Attachments 1 and 2 are indicative of problems with the Companies' billing practices and cannot be attributed solely to the Summer 2012 Derecho and Super Storm Sandy.  The foregoing table and Attachments 1 and 2 indicate that MP and PE have current billing problems that are not likely to  disappear because the causes of those problems occurred in the past such as from the Derecho and Hurricane Sandy.
The PSC staff wasn't convinced by FirstEnergy's billing fish story, so the investigation will continue.
After reviewing the Companies' report and their responses to discovery requests, Staff believes it requires additional information in order formulate final recommendations in this general investigation proceeding. Staff is  seeking this information through a separately filed second set of discovery requests. Staff will continue to review this matter and submit final recommendations in accordance with a procedural schedule to be established by the Commission.
Don't miss your opportunity to help the PSC staff out by submitting your own comments!
1 Comment

And The Survey Says...

7/11/2013

3 Comments

 
A recent article in Greentech Media says that 76% of consumers don't trust their utility.  
Two years ago, Greentech Media asked if utilities could rebuild trust with customers. According to a recent study by Accenture, it appears that it hasn't happened yet.

Less than one-fourth of consumers trust their utility, 9 percent below last year and the lowest figure since Accenture began the annual survey four years ago. Globally, customer satisfaction also dropped 12 percentage points to 47 percent in the past year alone.
But, but, but... Potomac Edison and Mon Power insisted to the WV PSC that 73% of their customers rate their satisfaction with the company a 9 or 10 out of 10.  How do you suppose a company that is under general investigation in two different states due to hundreds of complaints about their meter reading and billing practices is getting such stellar marks in customer satisfaction?

Denial. 

FirstEnergy clutches its phony customer satisfaction statistics tightly and pretends nothing is wrong.  That's great -- a whole bunch of nice folks will keep their jobs for the time being.  But because none of them want to tell The Emperor that he's naked, they only facilitate the demise of the company and put their personal financial situation in jeopardy over the long term.  How badly run is FirstEnergy that its employees are terrified to make suggestions for improvement?  How long has it been since anyone at FirstEnergy's Fairmont call center went home at the end of the day feeling like they made a difference and helped someone?  Or, more likely, how often do they burn rubber out of there in order to get home to the liquor cabinet as quickly as possible?
The result is that people are increasingly looking past the utility for energy-related services. Home services providers, security companies and commercial retailers are all taking a piece of what could be new revenue streams for utilities. More than 70 percent of consumers surveyed by Accenture said they would consider a provider other than the utility for energy services if it were available.

“Utilities need to consider radically rethinking their customer satisfaction investments with a targeted approach to simplifying the consumer energy experience, addressing the concerns of dissatisfied consumers and closing the expectation gap,” said Greg Guthridge, managing director for Accenture Energy Consumer Services, in a statement. Increasingly, consumer engagement cannot just be a panel topic at smart grid conferences, but instead must become a core undertaking for utilities.
When asked recently, dozens of Jefferson and Berkeley County, West Virginia, residents overwhelmingly gave Potomac Edison a vote of non-confidence.

When asked how likely they would be to select a FirstEnergy company if given a choice, 19% said they would be somewhat unlikely, 31% said very unlikely, and an another 31% said "never in a million years."

This isn't shaping up as a bright future for FirstEnergy in West Virginia, as the utility industry remakes itself over the next decade.

It's been one screw up after another in Jefferson County, and since FirstEnergy couldn't be bothered to listen to its customers when given a chance, it has absolutely no concept of just how hated it is.  Overall, the utility's satisfaction rating has been hanging around 3.8.  Yes, that's on that same 10 point scale where FirstEnergy claimed it was receiving a 9 or 10 from 73% of its customers.  Maybe FirstEnergy is holding their statistics upside down, because it sure looks like they've got things backwards?

And if you think that's bad, FirstEnergy's "Customer Service" call center gets a rating even worse than that.  It's at an all-time high of 3.3 this morning.  It's been as low as 1.98 (also using the 10 point rating scale).

Just a few customer complaints about their call center experience:

"They state that the increase was do to square footage. When we read our meter they told us we were wrong. They refused to read our meter and continue to charge us based on estimated bills."

"Even the staff couldn't answer why my bill was so inconsistent. They have no idea how to average the use without the actual reading. It made it seem like something in my house was consuming electric at an alarming and dangerous rate."

"Horrible customer service, erratic bills (one month $170, the next month $500), not reading the meter every month instead relying on "estimating."


"As I noted above, they could not explain my bill and because I was unhappy with the inability of the customer service person, she hung up on me. I had to call back again and that person could not explain so I was given to a supervisor and while she was nicer, she could not explain it either. Unacceptable."

"Put on hold for so long I gave up."

"Got "stock" answers to questions about billing. Would not really answer questions."

"Long delays before a person answers."

"Very hard to get to the right person to answer my question. I was passed though 8 people in 1 hour to get to the person that I should have gotten in the first place, not someone in a different state who did not have a clue about what I was taking about."

"15min wait timed on hold. Don't return calls as promised. Wrong phone numbers on website."

"Would not help with payment. Resulted in loss of service."

"Rude, rude, rude."

"Promised calls back, never happened. Rude customer reps who cannot/will not answer specific questions about billing/meter reading. Ridiculous!"

"Placed on hold for over an hour, I finally gave up and hung up. My time is too valuable to sit on hold."

As long as FirstEnergy employees keep making excuses for their own laziness and failure, customer trust will continue to deteriorate.  As long as FirstEnergy keeps lying both to the WV PSC and the public, the situation will not improve.  You know what they say... trust, once broken, can never be fully repaired.
In the next few years, utilities will not only have to build out those platforms while also maintaining and upgrading an aging electrical grid, but also do it all while providing a level of customer service many have never had to provide before.

“Many utilities are at an inflection point at which they should redefine their role in consumers’ lives and refocus on building a base of trust,” said Guthridge. “The first step is making interactions simple, and in particular, getting the basics right the first time."
What do you think?  Take our Potomac Edison customer satisfaction survey.  There are only six questions.  You'll be finished in less than 2 minutes!  It's way past time to burst FirstEnergy's customer satisfaction fantasy bubble!
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.
3 Comments

FirstEnergy is Trying to Make  Monkeys Out of Us!

7/2/2013

4 Comments

 
Not a day goes by anymore without an email, phone call, or website comment from an unhappy Potomac Edison customer.  Yesterday, I found this in my email (and it's by far the funniest complaint I've heard to date!):
Just how hated must FirstEnergy/Potomac Edison be for sassy seniors like Martha to do something like this?  Do busy ladies usually pose with apes holding derogatory signs when they're happy?  I don't think so!

After reading FirstEnergy's response to the WV PSC's initial twelve General Investigation questions, I gotta admit, Martha has a point!  Among other spurious responses that I'm just not going to deal with here (Potomac Edison can figure this crap out on their own without my help this time), FirstEnergy assures the PSC that:

1.    There were only 420 complaints about billing/excessive estimates from 522,882 customers in 2013.  Only 420 customers were unhappy enough to complain to the company.

2.    Potomac Edison/Mon Power have 5 more meter service personnel now than they did back in 2011, before the Allegheny/FirstEnergy merger.

3.    Mon Power and PE obtain actual meter readings, in accordance with their tariffs, on a bi-monthly
basis.

4.    FirstEnergy believes that the short term integration issues have been remedied and that customer complaints should decline over the remaining part of 2013. FirstEnergy is continuing to investigate all customer complaints and proactively contacting customers with known concerns.  (How does a "concerned" customer make himself known?  Is there some special mental telepathy signal distressed customers emit that can be picked up by company equipment?)

5.    Customer satisfaction:  A combined 73% of WV customers rated FirstEnergy with 9 or 10 with 10 being the highest. (Scale is 1 to 10).

Say what??  73% of FirstEnergy's West Virginia customers give the company a 9 or 10?  Where are these folks?  I could stand on any sidewalk in Jefferson County and ask 10 people if they've had problems with their electric bill, and if all 10 of them don't say yes, the ones who haven't had a personal problem know someone else who has.  I think FirstEnergy needs some new customer satisfaction statistics.  Can you help them out?
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.
4 Comments

Taking Charge of Your Electric Bill:  Citizens' Groups share ways ratepayers can protect their wallets while WV PSC investigates Potomac Edison

6/28/2013

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CHARLES TOWN, W.V., June 28, 2013 -- The Jefferson County NAACP and the Coalition for Reliable Power are pleased that the WV Public Service Commission has opened a General Investigation of Potomac Edison’s billing and meter reading practices following the Citizens’ Public Hearing we hosted in Charles Town on May 22.  The West Virginia Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Government Organization also has announced its own independent, parallel investigation of electric utility billing practices in the state.  These investigations are the direct result of community action.

The investigations are expected to take many months to complete and will examine company business practices on a system-wide level, but they will not address individual customer complaints. In the meantime, many in our community are wondering what they can do about inaccurate electric bills, or how they can most effectively participate in the PSC’s investigation.

“We are providing guidelines for ways that Potomac Edison ratepayers can seek help when they receive excessive bills. We also have suggestions for ratepayers who want to share their experiences with the PSC as its investigation gets under way,” said Keryn Newman of the Coalition for Reliable Power. “The direction and outcome of this investigation is up to each one of you. Please take a few minutes to participate and assist the PSC in its fact-finding. Help the PSC help you.  Every customer voice matters,” she added. 

One protective measure moving forward is to check your own electric meter once a month, to keep an eye on how closely Potomac Edison’s estimates track actual usage.

“Ratepayers should learn to read their own meters,” said Mike Nemec, a retired Pennsylvania utilities commission judge who now lives in Charles Town. “I understand that it’s the utility’s job to read the meter, but the analogy would be to checking your monthly credit card statement or bank statement for any errors.”

Potomac Edison or Mon Power customers who would like to sign up to receive periodic email news updates from the citizens’ organizations as the investigations progress, as well as other recommended customer actions, may contact the Coalition via email at [email protected]


How consumers can get assistance and relief

We encourage every Potomac Edison customer to familiarize themselves with the location and operation of their electric meter so that they may monitor the company’s accuracy monthly. Instructions for reading your own meter can be found on the back of your monthly bill. Just as you review charges on any bill to verify its accuracy, customers can compare monthly usage printed on their bill to actual usage recorded on their meter.

Potomac Edison customers who have received an inaccurate or troublesome electric bill and need immediate, individual relief should take the following steps:

1.     Call Potomac Edison at 1-800-686-0011.  The company encourages customers to call to clear up disputes and/or set up a reasonable payment plan.

2.     If you are not satisfied after speaking with the company, contact a WV PSC Consumer Affairs Technician at 1-800-642-8544 to begin a formal or informal dispute process.

3.     In the event of a large discrepancy or successive estimated bills, customers should call the company at 1-800-686-0011 to report their own meter readings and request an adjustment and re-billing. You do not have to wait for a certain day of the month to ask the company for an accurate bill. This method is not a long-term solution, but being a proactive consumer can be your first line of defense until the investigations are completed and the PSC orders improvements to the company’s meter reading practices.

For those who have had excessive estimates, larger than normal bills, and/or poor customer service, and are not looking for individual billing relief, we ask that you take part in the PSC General Investigation:

1.     For online comments, select case number 13-0830-E-GI from the “High Profile Cases” drop-down list at http://www.psc.state.wv.us/scripts/onlinecomments/formalDisclaimer.cfm. Online comments are limited to 2500 characters and may not include attachments.

2.     Submit written comments via fax or U.S. mail.  Be sure your comments and any attachments are marked with case number 13-0830-E-GI.  Send to:

By mail:
Public Service Commission of West Virginia     
P.O.Box 812                                                                        Charleston, WV  25323

By fax:        304-340-0325

3.     Tips for composing comments: The PSC investigation is focused on Potomac Edison’s and Mon Power’s meter reading, billing and customer service practices. You should focus on these topics.

a.     Tell the PSC if your electric meter has not been read every other month as required by the company’s tariff. Your monthly electric bill contains a graph in the bottom left corner showing estimated and actual reads. If you can, send the PSC a copy of this graph, being sure to copy the entire left hand side of your bill that shows your name and address and the billing period dates. (see sample here)  One graph contains a 13-month history, so you don’t need to send multiple copies. 

b.     If you received a bill that was much higher than normal, let the PSC know when and how much. Include copies of bills that show the problem, if possible.

c.      If you are not happy with the customer service you received from Potomac Edison’s call center, tell the PSC, providing as much detail of the situation as possible, including dates and names, if you have them.

d.     Any other related problems or issues.

Be as concise and factual as possible; avoid getting bogged down in too much detail.  Remember, your individual issue won’t be solved or noted in the investigation, you are providing the PSC with a general example of your experience with the company, to be combined with other customer examples and considered as evidence.
1 Comment

Potomac Edison Spokesman:  "We Blew It!"

6/27/2013

8 Comments

 
...and by the end of FirstEnergy's little inquisition before the Jefferson County Commission this morning, Sammy was looking a little gray.

The real Jefferson County small town community "family" turned out this morning to defend their community and their wallets against FirstEnergy's stuffed suits from elsewhere pushing the company's plan to increase rates by 6% to pay for the purchase of the Harrison power station.

First item on the Jefferson County Commission's agenda this morning was a presentation by Charlene Gilliam of FirstEnergy intended to provide the Commission with more information regarding the carried over agenda item known as "First Energy Resolution regarding opposing the "Intra-Sale" of Harrison Power Plant for possible adoption - Discussion/Action.  Charlene either wasn't prepared, or simply wasn't permitted, to present anything to the Commission because she never said a word.  Instead, Charlene's two corporate suit "daddies" (Charlie Friddle, Director, External Affairs at FirstEnergy Corp. and Sammy Gray, Manager State Affairs, WV, FirstEnergy Corp.) were clearly making a desperate attempt to bamboozle the Jefferson County Commission like they were an easily handled gaggle of insipid rubes.

However, before Charlie took the microphone to demonstrate his complete cluelessness about Jefferson County and its citizens, the public was allowed to make comment.  At least five people spoke against the Harrison plant transfer, and no one showed up to speak for it.  Also at issue was Potomac Edison's lack of concern for its customers in Jefferson County, and the sad fact that despite a whole lot of lip service from the company about how its merger with Allegheny Energy would provide benefit for West Virginians, and that we're all just one big, happy "family," customers have experienced nothing but insult and injury since the merger.  The community, and the Commission, is a long, long way from forgiving FirstEnergy for blowing off the Citizens' Public Hearing in Charles Town on May 22.

Charlie told the Commission that the invitation the company received only mentioned billing, and that billing is an individual issue that can't be solved at a group meeting.  Charlie also told the Commission that the company knew well before the May 22 hearing that the PSC would be opening an investigation.  Then he tried to point the finger at the PSC in order to take the heat off himself in a most juvenile manner -- "But the PSC didn't show up either!" *whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiineeeeeeeeeeeeeee*

Let's dissect this LIE.  The invitation mentioned both the billing AND Harrison transfer.  But FirstEnergy couldn't be bothered to send a representative to explain it to the community until a resolution from the Commission opposing the transfer was imminent?  FirstEnergy just doesn't give a crap about any of you unless you reach over and grab their hand that's worming its way into your pocket to steal you blind.  As well, revealing a customer's personal billing information publicly is okay when it suits FirstEnergy's purposes.  And finally, the PSC had emphatically stated that it would not open an investigation prior to the public hearing.  If the PSC was in cahoots with Potomac Edison attempting to head off an imminent investigation before the May 22 hearing, I'm sure we'd all like to hear more about that, Charlie.

Next, Charlie told the Commission that there wasn't enough time to explain all the facts to them and insinuated that they were too stupid to ever understand the transaction anyhow, and therefore, *pat, pat, on the head* go away and let the experts at the power company and the PSC handle the matter.  Charlie feels that FirstEnergy's PSC testimony proves that the transaction is needed.  (Did Charlie watch the same evidentiary hearing the rest of us did?  Because I saw FE's case and witnesses getting shredded).  Charlie basically told the Commission that it's up to the PSC to make a decision, and the Commission should mind their own business.  Last time I checked, West Virginia was still a democracy, and if Jefferson County has an opinion on a matter before the PSC, they are free to express it.  The PSC does not have to clear their decision with Jefferson County, so I'm really not sure what all the hoo-haw was about this morning.  Why did FirstEnergy waste all that time and money this morning trying to prevent a simple resolution from Jefferson County opposing their proposal before the PSC?  Have we lost sight of the prize, Charlie and Sammy?  News Flash!  Next week, I'm thinking of passing my own personal resolution against your plant transfer.  Why don't you three stooges come on over and we'll have a party?

Charlie informed the Commission that his company was "pursuing excellence through quality" and attempting to increase business and economic development.  Charlie assured the Commission that "everything has a cost" and proceeded to go on a crazed rant against energy efficiency programs in Ohio.  Yes, we know FirstEnergy has been trying to kill efficiency programs in Ohio, but why should we care?  Charlie said that Ohio consumers have been charged half a billion dollars for a 2.3% reduction in consumption and that energy efficiency is too expensive.*  The only problem is that nobody who spoke really belabored the fact that energy efficiency should be an important part of a properly prepared integrated resource plan, and is always the cheapest resource when compared to buying or building new generation. 

Charlie also called the Commission's attention to the handout he had given them before the meeting showing that West Virginia's electric rates are lower than those in surrounding states.  I'm not really sure how this bolstered his case that West Virginians should support unnecessary increases, such as the 6% increase this transfer will cause to their electric bills.  Charlie whined that nobody who spoke mentioned the 5% rate decrease that went into effect on January 1.  Would this be the same decrease that FirstEnergy proposed that the PSC not approve, and instead let the company keep as a promise payment on the Harrison scheme that had not yet been approved?  The 5% decrease only came about because the PSC turned down FirstEnergy's proposal to steal your 5% decrease.  That decrease, Charlie?

Charlie finished up by telling the Commission that lots of groups supported the Harrison sale, and so should they.  Charlie was proud to share that the WV Coal Association and Consol supported the proposal.  Just where in West Virginia did you think you were this morning, Charlie?  Brilliant!  I'm proud that our Commissioners were polite enough not to laugh in his face.

And then it was time for the Commission to ask FirstEnergy questions and make comment.  Every one of them chewed Charlie a new one for the company's failure to show up for the citizens' public hearing and complete and utter failure to address the billing and meter reading issues.  Commissioner Pellish went on a particularly vicious rant (although Pellish didn't bother to show up at the public hearing either!).  He called FirstEnergy's decision to blow off the hearing a "public relations disaster" and opined that "someone should have lost their job" for making that decision.  That's okay, Walt, I hear Sammy is a short-timer now anyhow...

Charlie finally admitted what I know a lot of you have been waiting to hear... "We blew it!"  But then he turned right around and started again with the computer system malfunction and storm excuses, which he characterized as "the perfect storm" for which the company should be held blameless.  Look, Charlie, this isn't a couple of teenaged geeks blowing up an old useless microsoft laptop in the garage, ooops!  This is the careless incompetence of one of the largest electric utilities in the country that has caused severe injury to its customers. OOOOPS!

So, let's get to the vote.  There wasn't one.  The resolution got tabled until the next meeting because some of the Commissioners still didn't have enough information to approve it as written.  The Commissioners will consider revisions to the resolution before trying again at the next meeting.

Charlie said that his frustrated little trio would be present at the next meeting, although when asked if they would be better prepared next time, he stomped off like he was mad or something.  Do have a nice trip back to wherever you drove in from and be sure to visit us in Jefferson County again soon, fellas!

*Addendum:  A friend of mine in Ohio has identified a verbatim match between Charlie's energy efficiency rant today and the April 2013 Testimony before the Ohio Senate Public Utilities Committee of Leila L. Vespoli, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, FirstEnergy, entitled "Revisiting Ohio’s Energy Efficiency Mandates":

"I’m sure your constituents would be surprised to learn that since 2009, Ohio’s electric customers have paid more than a half-billion dollars in monthly charges for energy efficiency programs. And so far, this mountain of customer charges has only achieved a 2.3 percent reduction in usage..."

This has got to be today's ultimate insult to the Jefferson County Commission.  FirstEnergy didn't even think enough of them to spend the time preparing an original presentation for today.  They just recycled old material and called it good enough.  No wonder it struck me as odd, disjointed and irrelevant.  Thanks for the heads up, D.!


8 Comments

FirstEnergy's Game of Truth or Consequences

6/19/2013

5 Comments

 
On February 25, 2011, Allegheny Energy was merged into and swallowed up by Ohio-based, investor owned utility, FirstEnergy.  As a result, the "Allegheny Power" dba company name West Virginia and Maryland customers had gotten used to ceased to exist.  FirstEnergy reverted the operating companies to their historical legal names.  Maryland and West Virginia's eastern panhandle became known as "Potomac Edison," which is a name old-timers may remember from the 1980s.  It's still the same company.  Nothing much has changed, except for the company's top management and profit goals.

Just two short months after the merger, Mark Clark, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, had this to say about the "benefits" of the merger to the company's shareholders during a May 3, 2011, earnings call with investment analysts:
Merger benefits increased significantly from '11 to '12 to '13. As I said, Gary's going to speak more to that, but this is the pretax earnings impact associated with those and you'll see that, that's in excess of $1 billion.

We're also targeting O&M reductions beyond the synergies of between $75 million and $175 million in 2012 and 2013. We expect asset sales in the range of $800 million to $900 million per year, and we expect to reduce debt by $1.5 billion to $2.2 billion over this time period.
Let's translate this out of "1% speak" and make it understandable.  The benefits of the merger were expected to provide shareholders with earnings in excess of $1B in the first 3 years after the merger.  The company was also looking to reduce its "O&M" between $75M and $175M.  O&M is the acronym for operations and maintenance expense.  Operations and maintenance expense is the company's cost of operating and maintaining their systems.  In the case of a regulated electric company, like Potomac Edison, this means expenses for things like maintaining their distribution lines, operating their customer service center, sending you monthly bills, and reading your electric meter in accordance with their legal obligations as a regulated utility in the state of West Virginia.  A regulated utility is permitted to recover its cost of service, plus a reasonable return on its investment, from its customers.  A utility's cost of service includes O&M expense. 

Now let's take a look at how this amount is recovered from you and why a reduction in the amount spent would be a benefit to shareholders and increase their earned dividend.  A utility recovers its fixed costs through its base rate.  Fixed costs are the costs that remain the same year after year, such as the company's investment in a power station like Harrison.  O&M is a fixed cost.  The amount Potomac Edison is collecting from all of you for O&M was set in its last rate base case in 2007.  A base rate case also sets the company's rate of return, the amount of interest it is permitted to collect from you on its fixed costs.  Potomac Edison's rate of return in West Virginia is 10.5%.  A company is not required to file base rate cases on a regular basis.  A company will do so when it can financially benefit from doing so.  The rate set in 2007 will continue to be collected until the company takes the initiative to file a new base rate case.  A new base rate case will trigger a new battle over the current 10.5% return, most likely setting it lower.

The utility is collecting a fixed amount from you to be used to operate and maintain its system.  If it doesn't spend all it collects in one month, it can set it aside to spend later.  Conversely, some months it must spend more than it collects.  It's supposed to roughly equal out eventually, however, there is no true up mechanism that ensures that the company actually spends every penny on actual O&M expenses.  If a company ends up with a positive O&M balance at the end of the quarter, it adds that amount to its profit (dividend).  Therefore, whatever Potomac Edison can save on operating and maintaining its system is a direct profit.

So, FirstEnergy's first order of business after the merger was to cut O&M to produce more profit from the combined business.  During a subsequent earnings call on February 29, 2012, Mark Clark had this to say:
...we continue to look for opportunities to reduce O&M. I just want to give you one, very quick example, of what we're doing on the O&M side.

We closed the transaction February 28 of last year. There are roughly 75 major applications that have to get integrated between the 2 companies. For some of the operating savings to occur, those systems have to be integrated. I'm pleased to say that our IT folks are basically going to integrate all of those applications in record time, and they'll make their cut-over shortly. They've had 5 test runs, so you'll see that some of the synergy has been accelerated and some of the synergies too, become, as we integrate our systems. And we're quite pleased with where we are. We'll continue to look for incremental costs. It's kind of our nature. But we're not going to do anything simply for a short-term benefit that puts the company at a longer-term risk. That's just not something we are going to do. Everything we are doing is to place FirstEnergy in the best possible forward position.
Right, Mark.  Don't do anything crazy like reorganize and cut your meter reading positions because something like that could have unforeseen consequences that squander Potomac Edison's community goodwill and put the company at a longer-term risk.  After all, an unhappy customer base could do something unexpected, like turn out in record numbers to oppose a proposed generation transfer that was planned as part of the company's strategy to "...expect asset sales in the range of $800 million to $900 million per year, and we expect to reduce debt by $1.5 billion to $2.2 billion over this time period."  Remember, you must always place FirstEnergy in the best possible forward position!

Fast forward another year.  The company's penny-pinching has reduced/reorganized its meter reading staff to less than half of its former level.  The company is still collecting the same amount of O&M, but now they're spending half the amount!  The extra gets added to the dividend to show the shareholders a profit.  Shareholders are the only ones who truly matter.  Its not about responsibly providing a needed service in a monopoly construct.  Because the company has reduced its staff by more than half, meters are only getting read less than half as often as they should.  This means that the company is relying on more estimates to calculate monthly bills.  Perhaps the company thinks that it can train its customers to read their own meters and call it in to the company, allowing for more accuracy while also maintaining the meter reading staff cuts.  But that's not what happens... oh, no.  Some customers simply refuse to do the job they are paying the company to do, and the inaccurate usage estimates continue to pile up.  You all know what happens when you add too many inaccurate numbers to an equation -- the answer becomes hopelessly skewed.  And that's exactly what has happened to customers' bills.  Depending on the number of actual v. estimated readings currently in the queue of averaged billings, bills can swing wildly from month to month, resulting in some customers receiving outrageous bills for thousands of dollars that they simply cannot pay.  Potomac Edison's customer service staff simply doesn't care.  Pay up or be cut off.  And then the service shut-offs begin...

And the community took action.


The WV PSC opened an investigation into the company's business practices on June 7.  The West Virginia legislature announced its own parallel, independent investigation of the company on June 13.

All of this stemmed from the cost of a very small staff of meter readers?  How much did they save?  How much does a meter reader cost?  Recently, Potomac Edison placed a help wanted ad on Craig's List for temporary meter readers.  Yes, Craig's List!  Always my first choice when job hunting...anyhow... I guess they're even too cheap to advertise in more mainstream venues, or perhaps they don't really intend to actually hire anyone.  They certainly don't intend to hire anyone to solve the problem long term, after the regulators quit breathing down their neck.  The fewer people who see the ad, the fewer applicants Potomac Edison has to blow off.  Potomac Edison is offering a starting wage of $12.31 per hour for a meter reader in Frederick, Maryland.  That's about $24K per year.  Frederick's average per capita income is $36K per year.  Compare the meter reader's salary with the recently approved annual compensation of FirstEnergy CEO Tony Alexander of $23M for 2013.

Meter reader:          $12.31/hr.
Tony Alexander:    $11,454.18/hr.

I think we've found the place where cuts can be made to place FirstEnergy in the best possible forward position.  More meter readers, less Tony Alexander.

But will the company turn a corner and put sincere effort into righting its wrongs?  Or will it continue to make excuses for its failure, and continue to lie to regulators and the community?  What's it going to be, FirstEnergy, truth or consequences?

Image courtesy of meme-master Joe Solomon.  Share it on Facebook and show your solidarity with other Potomac Edison/Mon Power/West Penn Power customers who are being victimized by this giant Ohio-based energy conglomerate!
5 Comments

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

6/18/2013

3 Comments

 
Put on your hip waders, Potomac Edison customers, the fertilizer is getting mighty deep!

Today, Potomac Edison's Director of Public Relations, Charlie Friddle, told a concerned customer that "...they had provided sufficient information that they were involved in an ongoing investigation and could not participate" in the Citizens' Public Hearing in Charles Town on May 22.

LIAR, LIAR, Pants on Fire!
But, wait a tick... the investigation was not announced by the PSC until May 31.  How was Potomac Edison "involved in an ongoing investigation" on May 22?

According to Cagey Charlie, the company "was investigating billing practices themselves" on May 22, so technically, Charlie believes his statement was correct.

Not even close.  Potomac Edison just plain old blew you all off.  The company's scientific estimate of how many citizens with genuine problems would show up, and who would show up to listen to these irate customers, was about as accurate and their monthly electric usage estimates. 

Why not just admit that you severely screwed up, Potomac Edison?  We'd be a little more forgiving of a company that admitted its mistakes and put forth an honest effort to right its wrongs.  Instead, Potomac Edison just keeps piling up the lies and flimsy excuses.  Nobody's buying it, and this dishonest company is only digging its hole deeper and deeper.

Potomac Edison's excuse for not attending the Citizens' Public Hearing prior to May 22 was:

"We appreciate the invitation to participate in the public hearing scheduled for May 22, regarding billing practices and future generation, but respectfully decline.  Should you have individual questions regarding your service, please feel free to contact me or our customer contact center at 1-800-686-0011."

Do you see anything in there about conducting an internal investigation, Charlie?  Yeah, me neither.

Liar, liar, pants on fire!  Next time we invite you to an event, you're going to show up, right?  We'll be sure to invite you personally, Charlie.
3 Comments

WV Legislature To Begin Second Investigation of Potomac Edison

6/13/2013

0 Comments

 
The West Virginia Legislature is not satisfied that the state's Public Service Commission will get the job done with its general investigation of FirstEnergy subsidiaries Potomac Edison and Mon Power, and has announced its own independent, parallel investigation of electric utility billing practices in the state.  The Joint Standing Committee on Government Organization's investigation will give the hairy eyeball to all electric utilities in the state.  So, other companies, like Appalachian Power, can give a great, big "thank you" to their compatriots at FirstEnergy who made all this possible.

Read breaking news by Pam Kasey in The State Journal.
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    About the Author

    Keryn Newman blogs here at StopPATH WV about energy issues, transmission policy, misguided regulation, our greedy energy companies and their corporate spin.
    In 2008, AEP & Allegheny Energy's PATH joint venture used their transmission line routing etch-a-sketch to draw a 765kV line across the street from her house. Oooops! And the rest is history.

    About
    StopPATH Blog

    StopPATH Blog began as a forum for information and opinion about the PATH transmission project.  The PATH project was abandoned in 2012, however, this blog was not.

    StopPATH Blog continues to bring you energy policy news and opinion from a consumer's point of view.  If it's sometimes snarky and oftentimes irreverent, just remember that the truth isn't pretty.  People come here because they want the truth, instead of the usual dreadful lies this industry continues to tell itself.  If you keep reading, I'll keep writing.


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