Garner woman cut off power, but bills kept coming
GARNER, North Carolina (WTVD) -- When you disconnect a service, you don't expect to keep getting billed for that service.
It happened to Debi Sikes when she moved from her Garner home.
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Sikes said she called Duke Energy to stop their services on August 29. When she got what she thought would be the final bill, she noticed she was still getting charged for services after the disconnection date. She says she called Duke Energy.
"That's when I was informed there were two aggressive dogs in the yard, and they were unable to disconnect the service." Sikes said she had no idea about the dogs as she no longer lived there and she claims the house was empty.
She said Duke Energy would try to disconnect the service again. The next month she got charged for services from Duke Energy again.
"I found out it's still on, and it's still running," she said. "Another bill has come and at this time it's $372.83, and that's when I contacted you and said, 'hey I need the power disconnected, that's all I want.' "
I got in touch with Duke Energy. A rep confirmed they did try to disconnect the service on August 29, but they were unable to get to the meter because of aggressive dogs. She added that they do have to have safe access to the meters.
The rep said a technician returned on Sept. 6 and was able to disconnect the service. She said that while the service was disconnected, the account was not closed out, which is why Sikes received three estimated bills.
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She added that the billing department did receive a manual request to close the account on September 23, but because of a backlog of work from Hurricane Matthew, there was a delay in completing the request.
The good news, she said, is that Sikes' account is now closed, and the account was adjusted to when the service was disconnected.
The Duke Energy rep apologized for this delay and the confusion and frustration it caused Sikes.
Sikes is very happy her account is closed and that her bill adjusted.
"Thank God you were able to get the service disconnected, and you got the bill down from $372.83, to $187," she said.
