JCP&L...AT IT AGAIN

ORIGINAL BILLING

REBILL

UPDATE:

received a call yesterday from JCP&L rep who seemed to think the latest billing was an actual read. However...the bill reads "estimate...re-bill". Looking through all the bills from the past year (except the last re-billing in April which is no longer available ??) the ones that were estimates say estimate and the ones that were actual readings say reading. So....I was confused. Out of what I assume to be frustration, the rep offered to come out personally and read my meter. I asked if she could then stop in and discuss it with me. So....we are on for Wed. Stay tuned!!!....Some of you may recall a few months back when Jersey Central Power and Light overestimated my bill by 82%. Well...here they go again. I received a bill about two weeks ago for $146.53. The average fees for my last three months of usage amount to $62.94. That's a whopping 132% above my average actual use of electricity. Now, believe it or not I do not enjoy continually making complaints to the governing boards of various public service providers. I find it boring and dull and I HATE numbers. Figuring out percentages and fractions is what I get PAID to do-not what I do for fun. So...I first called the utility hoping this could solve the problem. I requested that an actual person be sent and actually (actually in this sense being the direct opposite of virtually) read my meter. The customer service representative assured me it would be done, and, when as an aside I asked WHY, this time, an estimate was made to begin with, she told me that it was probably because so many meter readers are on vacation. Apparently JCP&L has never heard of staffing software...any of you poor slobs out there that have ever asked for a day off and been told 'there is no time available', well, you know what I'm talking about.

So, I'm thinking, "Great. Case closed." No need to bother the Board of Public Utilities this time.
Hmmph. Not so fast, Ria. I get an email this morning with a 'new' bill, a re-bill to be precise which, like the first bill is AN ESTIMATE!! In the amount of $111.35. Ok, so they are going in the right direction but that is STILL 77% MORE than the average of my last three months of usage combined. Nice try. So...even though I COULD have been reading my Sunday Times, I filed yet another complaint with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities...(see below-short and sweet).

REMEMBER FOLKS! READ YOUR BILLS CAREFULLY! You may be getting overbilled. And if so and you live in NJ, here is a handy link to the on-line complaint form at NJ BPU.

And here is a sample (mine), complaint letter:

I continue to have a problem with JCP&L overbilling me based on their estimates of my service usage, Most recently I was billed fee of $146.35 for the billing period of June 4th through July 6th based on their estimate. In the previous month to this billing, my usage amounted to a total fee of $69.27. The month previous to that, $65.52. Those bills were based on actual usage. I called the utility and requested that they do an actual reading. Today I received an email billing me $111.35 which was AGAIN, based on an estimate of usage. This is listed as a 'rebill', indicating that in response to my request for an actual reading, they simply re-estimated my usage. I don't understand this and I don't find it acceptable. It creates suspicions about the ethics of their billing practice and makes me question why it is so often that the company relies on estimates for billing. I live in public housing and the meter reader always has clear access to the meters. Thank you for your assistance.

JCP&L: Baaaad Estimators

See below: my latest complaint filed with the Jersey Board of Public Utitlies after JCP&L overestimated my electricity usage by 81.29%...and then sent me a shut-off noticed when I paid only $37.00 less than what my actual usage amounted to:

Dear BPU:
My electricity bill for the period of January 01, 2009 through March 04 of 2009 was estimated by JCP&L at $329.29. When I protested and they sent someone to read my meter, the actual usage proved to be $181.80. This means that they overestimated a total of $147.49; in other words. a 81.29% overestimation. I understand why they have to sometimes estimate but am questioning their method of estimation. My problem with them has been resolved but I would like this gross overestimation to go on record on the chance that others similarly overestimated may also complain and perhaps JCP&L can be persuaded to reanalyze their estimation methods. Because I knew I had not used that much electricity I paid by my estimation, which was under by $37.00, a 21% underestimate-quite a bit more accurate than theirs. Yet, my $37.00 underestimate still earned me a shut-off notice. Thank you for listening,
MFD

If you are receiving 'estimated' bills that seem a little high-call JCP&L (1-800-662-3115) and request an actual reading!

This just in:
Received today:
(click on the image to read)

JCP&L: Showing their true colors

JCP&L denies full pension to former employee's widow

by Karin Price Mueller/The Star-Ledger

Monday April 06, 2009, 9:00 PM

How much is 17 hours of your life worth? It's a question widow Brenda Slutter has been wrestling with for years.

Her husband, Ron Slutter, worked for Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) for nearly 36 years. He died of cancer at age 58. Knowing his death was imminent, Ron made arrangements to retire, a move that would allow his wife to receive the largest possible company pension benefit after his death. He was told by JCP&L, his widow said, that his official retirement date had to be on the first of the month -- but died 17 hours and 40 minutes before the paperwork was finalized.

Bruce Winter/Express TimesBrenda Slutter, widow of Ron Slutter, who is being denied full pension benefits by Jersey Central Power and Light because her husband died shortly before the paperwork was finalized.

Thanks to a tangle of bureaucratic rigidity, legal fine print and the timing of her husband's death, Brenda, 59, receives only half the pension benefit her husband meant for her to receive.

"If January only had 30 days, he would have made it," Brenda said.

BUREAUCRATS AND TECHNICALITIES
Ron Slutter was a popular guy at JCP&L, working up the ladder until he was in charge of teams that buried underground cables. His personnel file is decorated with letters thanking him for exceptional service. He had 165 unused sick days on the books when he died.

"He was a good employee," Brenda said. "The day I took him to the hospital, he didn't want to go unless he could get in touch with his foreman to let him know he'd be out."

In 1998, Ron was diagnosed with asbestosis, an incurable lung condition caused by long-term exposure to asbestos. (In medical reports, his doctors said they believe it was contracted after asbestos exposure on the job, and the Slutters filed a worker's compensation claim in 2000. That case has not yet been resolved; JCP&L declined comment, citing employee confidentiality concerns.)

Ron worked through his illness until late 2005, when he was diagnosed with colon, stomach, spleen and pancreatic cancer, which his medical reports indicate commonly follow asbestosis.

By January 2006, knowing he was dying, Ron took steps to maximize the pension he accrued during his 35-plus year career with JCP&L, his wife said.

He knew if he died as an active employee, Brenda would receive only a 50 percent payment option on his pension -- a loss of more than $7,200 a year. So on Jan. 24, 2006, he informed his benefits department he wanted to retire immediately.

A portrait of Ron and Brenda Slutter.

The Slutters were told Ron's official retirement date would have to wait until Feb. 1 because the company processes retirement dates only on the first of the month.

Ron completed all the necessary paperwork from his hospital bed, electing a pension payout option -- known as the 100 percent spousal option -- that would continue to pay 100 percent of his pension to his wife for her lifetime.

Ron died at 6:20 a.m. on Jan. 31, 17 hours and 40 minutes before his official retirement date and 54 days after his cancer diagnosis.

As Brenda grappled with the death of her husband of 36 years, she thought her financial future was secure. But then JCP&L gave her unexpected news: because Ron died as an active employee, his retirement was never official. Therefore, his wife was due only a 50 percent benefit rather than the 100 percent pension payout she would have received had Ron held out a few more hours.

Three years later, Brenda Slutter is still fighting. She's talked to the benefits department, sent letters to JCP&L executives, tried going through her husband's union and submitted appeals to the company's Retirement Board -- to no avail. She's now retained an attorney.

"I'm not trying to sue them for anything. I just want what my husband wanted for me," Brenda Slutter said.

Brenda was already retired when Ron died, but to make ends meet she takes occasional cleaning jobs. She hasn't been able to tap into her retirement savings without facing penalties because she's not yet 59 1/2.

"They said to me, 'Well, we gave you his full life insurance,' because if my husband had retired, the company would have only given me $30,000 of his $98,000 life insurance," Brenda Slutter said. "Mind you I paid the policy premiums. They did me no favor."

Bamboozled contacted JCP&L to talk about the case, but the company wouldn't discuss any particulars.

"We respect the privacy of all of our employees and do not publicly discuss or disclose any personal information," said Ronald Morano, spokesman for First Energy, the parent company of JCP&L. "We work diligently to ensure that our employees and their families understand their benefits and the options available to them."

THE LEGAL SIDE OF THINGS
JCP&L isn't legally bound to pay Brenda Slutter the full benefit, but it could choose to work around the letter of the law because Ron's intent was clear.

"Look aside the technicalities of the law," said Edward Cohen, the attorney for JCP&L's labor unions, including Local 327 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, to which Ron Slutter belonged. "The company knew in reality that he wanted her to have the 100 percent benefit."

Ron Slutter filed all the right forms. He just didn't live long enough.

If JCP&L didn't want to let the pension law slide, it could have assigned Ron an earlier retirement date. Even today, nothing but company policy is stopping JCP&L from making that date change retroactively.

"The reality is there's no one who would complain if they gave her the pension," Cohen said. "Can they say they're not supposed to do that? Yes. But who's going to complain? Nobody."

After investigating Brenda Slutter's story, Ron Slutter's work and benefit history with JCP&L and the 17 hours, Bamboozled asked the company to once again reconsider Brenda Slutter's pension payout.

"That's a discussion between the company and the family," said Morano, the JCP&L spokesman.

Brenda Slutter isn't surprised by the company's response, and she's not giving up her fight.

"This is not how you reward someone for doing an excellent service for your company," she said. "I guess First Energy needs half of my husband's pension more than I do"

Yeah, just like they needed my electricity payments in advance.

What is Driving Up Electricity Prices???? (advertisement tucked in obscure page of the newspaper)

"WHY has the energy supply cost gone up so much??"
OF COURSE....how silly of me, it's the fault of China and India!! The gall of them, thinking they have the right to suck up all of that energy to develop their economies-energy that rightfully should be going to the good ol' Red, White and Blue ...(them countries is full of small brown foreigners, dontcha know!)

Course it wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that the total combined compensation for PSE&G's top five executives comes to just a smidge under TWENTY FOUR MILLION DOLLARS!!!!!

$24,000,000

That's right, while I'm entertaining an excruciating inner debate as to whether or not I can afford having the oven on all day to bake a (free) ham these mofos are bringing in 744 times my salary!!! 'Course that don't have nuthin' to do with my electricity bills rising nigh on 300% in 5 years (60% a year, folks!)

Nope, it's all them uppity brown folks' fault. Wait, oh yeah and them left-winger green radical granola freaks!!

"Making electricity cleaner also adds costs"

Damn commie liberals!! They're probably in cahoots w/ them foreigner chinks....oh, let's not forget, Corzine, one of them commie liberal democrat leaders!! They're always somewhere behind the scenes in these travesties of the natural order.

dudes.....

How 'bout this? How 'bout when you're 'debating action to combat climate change' and 'factoring in the cost of different alternatives on electric prices'...hows 'bout bringing the CEO compensation to the table. Eh? I mean, really what in TARNATION do you need $13,000,000 a year (the top JCP&L CEO salary) for?? WHAT???

One more little bit of money saving advice: save yourselves some effort and dump the PR campaign...do you think anybody is reading these little ads (other than obsessed angry freaks like myself?) . I could have undoubtedly covered three months of electricity bills with the cost of that ad.


Pleeeease....why must you add insult to the injury.

(and some news..)
unsolicted lightbulbs
Seeking lower energy costs not worth it?
(I've actually looked into this...you almost have to have an MBA to figure it out

coming soon....latest on my bill ....

JCP&L PART DEUX

OK FOLKS...back to JCP&L....if you go back to my earlier posts you can read the text of my complaint to the BPU (Board of Public Utilities). Of course the JCP&L Representative was unable to 'touch base' with me. But she did leave this lovely voicemail:



WAIT just a minute....OBSERVE (my most recent bill): Now, as you can see....last January I used 18 killowatts per hour....and this year I used....28??? That's an increase of 55%!!! WHA???? How is that 'in line' with my usage of last year? Are you trying to tell me Guitar Hero uses 55% of my total usual monthly electrical usage??? If that DOES turn out to be the case yeah well, sorry kids, you gotta get jobs....but I seriously doubt it. Stay tuned for my next reading next week....

DAMN THE MAN #1

welcome to the inaugural post of DAMN THE MAN!!!

A quick overview and then I am off to work for the Man.....yes, on a Saturday.....we'll get into that later. This is an undertaking I have contemplated for quite some time and then, finally, this morning I saw this headline:

Electric rates going up for third consecutive year

That's it. I've freaking had it-thats right, folks, I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!

Look now, I'm no socialist (although I probably would be if I didn't have such a strong genetic tendency towards hatred of authority-barring my own, of course) but SHIT has gotten OUT 'O CONTROL, FOLK!! I mean, COME ON!

In the interest of brevity this morning, let me just say this....I don't have a high-rise to throw my TV out of (which I never watch anyway) so I am taking my revolt to the cyberworld. I'm posting my comic 'Damn the Man', or 'Is PNC the AntiChrist?' and the complaint I filed this morning with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, just to get things warmed UP. All comments and suggestions are welcome albeit subject to derision (gotta put that disclaimer in just in case).
No more "Yassir Yassir", no more "Thank you sir, may I have another?"
To quote Howard Dean, as he was heard to utter one fine day around four years ago in that great home state of mine:

"AAAAARRRRGH!!!"

Read my complaint

against JCP&L filed this morning (02/09/2008) with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities:

When I received my bill this month, the usage that the company had calculated for my household was 65% higher than usage the same month of the previous year-despite no changes at all in my habits or appliance usage. When I asked them to do a new reading of my meter, I received a voicemail stating that I needed to provide them with a key to access the meter. Because I live in a federal housing project, this presents a major obstacle for me as I work full-time (I have tried to obtain access to the electric room before for cable installation so I know it is a nightmare). However, I have never had to provide the meter reader with a key before and yet they do not seem to have a problem billing me each month. Now I read that our rates are expected to rise in the double digits in the coming year due to 'prices'. I also see that the CEO of firstenergy, in FY06 (most recent year available) made well over $12 million dollars. My complaint is this: In the last five years, my electricity rates have risen hundreds percent...something like 150%-therefore it stands to reason that the CEO's salary should be reduced by an equal percentage amount and that money should be put towards lowering the monthly rates. Obviously this man has not been doing a $12 million job. Why am I (and you and all of us poor working people) paying for this man's life of luxury when his performance is so dismal??

'Damn the Man', or 'Is PNC the AntiChrist?'