ComplaintsforCommunity Utilities of Pennsylvania

• Initial Complaint

  06/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Senior being ripped off. Utility company is not working to reverse charges from pipes that burst between February and March and now has billed me for $4,000 and then now $7480. They refused to make the adjustment. The **** program of Pennsylvania was responsible for the damages. Came out, gave me a shadow notice said that they were going to come out again and read the meter. My usage has never been high. ACOUNT # ********** ADDRESS: **** ********** **** TAMIMENT PA ***** DEAR MY UTILITY CONNECT. CAN YOU PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT MY ACCOUNT AND CORRECT AND ADJUST THIS BILL? I ONLY WANT TO PAY THE CURRENT CHARGES FOR APRIL, MAY AND JUNE. YOU’RE STILL BILLING ME FOR CHARGES THAT OCCURRED WHEN WATER WAS LEAKING FROM MY CRAWLSPACE FOR 3 WEEKS UNKNOWN. THE PIPES BURST ON THE COLDEST DAY AND WAS SPEWING WATER BY THE GALLONS FOR WEEKS- AFTER THE WARM PROGRAM OF PA CAME OUT TO THE HOME. THEY CAME OUT ON 3 TIMES. THE 3RD VISIT WAS INSULATION OF THE ATTIC, CRAWL SPACE AND REPAIR OF THE ROOF. THE SUBCONTRACTOR DID NOT CLOSE THE DOOR TO THE CRAWL SPACE UPON LEAVING. THEY RETURNED 3 WEEKS LATER, DISCOVERED THE DOOR OPEN, TOLD PIPES WERE FROZEN AND TO BUY 2 HEATERS AND PLACE IN THE CRAWL SPACE, WHICH WOULD THAW OUT THE FROZEN PIPES. INSTEAD THE PIPES ‘BURST’. AFTER YOUR BILL OF $4,000, I WAS JUST FINDING THIS OUT. THE PLUMBER WAS CONTACTED, AND FIXED THE PIPES. HIS DETAILED BILL WAS FAXED TO YOUR OFFICE. THIS NEEDS TO BE FIXED. NEVER BEEN THIS MUCH, FOR 2 PEOPLE. WE ARE NOT USING GALLONS OF WATER. PLEASE ADJUST THIS BILLING TO MY REGULAR CHARGES. IT WAS DUE TO THE PIPES ALTHOUGH THE BILLING IS OFTEN LATE, I AM A SENIOR ON A FIXED INCOME,. YOU CANNOT KEEP IGNORING THE BILL AND NOT DOING ANYTHING, BUT KEEP BILLING ME MORE AND MORE EACH MONTH. PLEASE REVERSE THE CHARGES PRIOR TO FEBRUARY INCIDENT.

  Business response

  07/18/2023

  The customer called after hours 2/4/23 to report no water. The customer had frozen pipes in the crawl space. When we arrived, the crawl space door was wide open and and there was no space heater or heat tape to prevent freezing. We recommended that the customer put a space heater or heat tape in until winter is over.  When the pipes thawed out, the pipe burst and the customer called on 3/7/23 to dispute the bill. Customer said for 3 days between 1/27 - 2/24 she had no water because her pipes were frozen.   Total amount of water loss was 264,900 gallons.   Customer was told that once the **** was repaired, we could review for a courtesy **** adjustment.  The **** adjustment was approved and credited to the customer's account on 6/22/23.  We made a courtesy **** adjustment of $5,186.13 for water and wastewater and $291.25 in late fees.  The customer states the WARM program is responsible for causing the pipes to freeze.  The WARM program is the electric company, not Community Utilities of PA.  The customer is responsible for leaks on their side of the curb stop, but we applied a **** adjustment as a courtesy. If the customer feels the **** program caused the leak, she should contact the electric company to see if she can get any further relief there.  The customer also filed a complaint with the PA Public Utility Commission that we responded to on 6/26/23. 

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩