SCORE ONE FOR JCP&L

Hey, now, I’m not a totally unreasonable person. As my faithful readers (reader?) already know, I’ve had an ongoing issue with JCP&L and their billing practices. But it is not my intent just to throw shit their way for the sake of it. I’m just being diligent. Hey, I’ve been frugal since before it was cool and I strongly believe that people need to be on top of these things, not just JCP&L but ALL your bills…I’ve discovered discrepancies in my T-Mobile bills, hospital bills, bank statements etc. I think it is just sound financial policy to analyze any bill before paying because it’s a hell of a lot easier to verify the correct amount than to try to get a refund on an overpayment. That being said, I am not a blowhard for the mere joy of blowhardiness and so I present the conclusion of this particular episode:

I was contacted by Lisa, who as it turns out, has the position of “Consumer Advocate” for JCP&L. I wasn’t aware the position existed, and although it may be a mandated position and she obviously has a vested interest, I am nonetheless cautiously impressed. So, Lisa offered to come out and read the meter and then discuss it with me. In the meantime, my son Remy and I did a bit of brainstorming regarding the possibility that our electricity consumption had risen by 77% … the main possible culprit being the humongous computer he brought back from MIT for the summer and the mitigating factors of my being off work (thus consuming electricity during a period of time I would usually be at work) and the round the clock consumption of the crazy waking/sleep cycle of your typical teenager in the summertime (ie. Up all night). He did a few calculations as he often does and concluded it was unlikely, yet possible. Turns out it’s not as unlikely as we thought.

Unfortunately, I was tied up in jury duty at the time of our appointment and wasn’t able to meet with Lisa. However, after several attempts we finally connected on the phone and Lisa explained to me that she personally read the meter and it as it turned out, it was correct. She also identified an issue with the utility’s access to the meters which is apparently the source of why there are so many estimates, and she stated that she would work with the Housing Authority to obtain the access…the lack of which is most likely an oversight as they generally do have access to various Housing Authority property utility rooms.

So, the conclusion is, as follows: The original estimate WAS off but not as crazily as I originally concluded. The second estimate was an actual reading although that was not presented clearly in the re-billing. The reason the estimate was made was not due to bad staffing policy but miscommunication between the Housing Authority and JCP&L regarding access to the meters. Mystery solved, nefariousness disproven….THIS time.

That’s a relief because I don’t ‘fight the man’ for the pure joy of fighting…although the joy does sometimes exist. It’s refreshing to NOT have one’s sense of paranoia reinforced at every turn, especially after the zeitgeist of the W years, and to add a little bit more trust to these public relationships. And I come away from this particular exchange with JCP&L impressed with their handling, or more precisely, Lisa’s handling of the situation. She really did go out of her way to get to the bottom of it AND she persisted in contacting me until she was successful and I find that rare. So…score one for the Man in their employment of Lisa, who apparently takes the term ‘advocate’ in her job title to heart. Until next time!

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.

RACISM REDUX: ANGLO (steve) KING, NO WHITES ALLOWED and TEXAS CURRICULUM

Aaaah.....yes.
I have been described as an angry person once or twice, this is true. But I make a concerted and conscious effort daily to redirect my anger, and generally I do this by calling to mind the Monty Python lyrics; "Always look on the bright side of life." Indeed, it is a personal rule of mine that for every negative thought or sentence I must, MUST find some positive spin. This is really nothing more than a survival technique. Anger builds upon anger and negativity indeed feeds upon itself like the out-of-control snowball barreling down the mountainside gathering momentum and mass along the way. This shit cannot be good for a person. So I choose instead a Sisyphean course of action, eternally attempting to shove the boulder of positive thoughts to the top of the mountain despite the fact the anger and negativity will always push it back down to the valley. Luckily, life is so vast and intricately complicated that it does indeed provide plenty of positive fodder: my kids, my relative health, my family, a comfortable couch, etc. etc. Okay, that being said, if a person has even a scrap of sensibility for their fellow man and pays even a modicum of attention to what is happening in the world around them, how the hell can they avoid being Pissed the eff off??? In the last week or so, we have been handed several incidents that could set our blood to boil. Therefore, I present to you after a blissful hiatus of smiley faced unicorns and rainbows, the revival of Damn the Man. Dammit!

Right-o, then: Exhibit A:

Steve King, Congressman from Iowa.

Okay, I already knew this guy was an asshole. My mother lives in Northeastern Iowa and last spring, after Iowa's Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal, she was plagued with robo-calls from his office begging for assistance in overturning the decision. It mattered little that his district is clear across the state from her, she is not his constituent and she called his office several times to tell them to stop. They kept a-coming, and not just to her, several of my friends in Iowa suffered similar harassment. My mother finally got the calls to stop by calling his office in DC and, because she somehow got a hold of one of his aides cell phone numbers, calling said aide after each robo-call.

And now, he rears his crazy face again in his Quixotic fight to retain the status of the white European christian man,this time by voting against a symbolic measure to honor the slaves that, well, ... slaved... to construct the Capitol. His rationalization? "And of the 645,000 Africans that were brought here to be forcibly put into slavery in the United States, there were over 600,000 people that gave their lives in the Civil War to put an end to slavery. And I don't see the monument to that in the Congressional Visitor Center, and I think it's important that we have a balanced depiction of history." Ok first of all, that sentence doesn't make sense. Is he saying 600,000 of the 645,000 slaves kidnapped from Africa gave their lives in the Civil War? Well, yeah, he is saying that, literally, but what he means, we can safely assume, is that 600,000 (presumably) white Union soldiers 'gave' their lives, yadda yadda. Dude, learn to speak your native language. And, of course, had he done a quick Google search on Civil War soldier memorials in the DC area, it would have taken .024 seconds of his precious time to find 226,000 results of sites with information about such memorials.

He originally claimed his opposition was simply a result of his policy to vote against purely symbolic gestures. Until he was reminded of his resolution from December of 2007, "Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian Faith." Oh. Oooops. Then He backtracks and explains that his no vote was actually; "...a bargaining chip to allow for the actualy(sic) depiction of "In God We Trust" in the CVC". Yeah, whatever. It's becoming increasingly difficult for him to hide the fact that he is, simply put, a racist ass and he is up against the wall with the fact that his kind is going down, GOING DOWN. About time. No mas, asshole.

Moving right along, then...Exhibit B: The Valley Swim Club

A private pool in Philadelphia kicks to the curb a group of Black kids. Because the kids are black and the pool's management are racist. This is pretty much unambiguious and indefensible. Really, I just include this to illustrate the fact that the recent popular mantra of 'Racism is Dead' is, unfortunately, laughably premature. What really kills me about this story are the kids and the fucking boulder created in their stomachs when they fully realized what was actually going on. Goddammit.

Our final exhibit, Exhibit C:
Texas' Desire to Bleach its State Curriculum Standards

Sigh. A committee to provide curriculum recommendations to the Texas State Board of Education wants to blacklist historical figures such as of Thurgood Marshall and Cesar Chavez with the rationalization that they can't hold a candle to Ben Franklin. Nice try, assholes. You know, I'm not even going to detail their rationalizations, suffice to say they stand behind Congressman King with their backs to the wall of their declining status. Aaaah, but here's the positive spin: Steve King, Texas committee assholes? Their backs ARE against the wall. Business as usual for Whitey is slowly yet undeniably fading. What we're witnessing is kind of a cultural 'Fight or Flight' reflex-the primordial response to the threat of extinction; all emotion and devoid of reason. Makes me wonder, in the words of Bob Dylan; "How does it feel? To be on your own? With no direction home? A complete known..."

Aaah, Karma. It's a beautiful thing.

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.

Three More DAYS!!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Barack Obama: Path to the Presidency

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

A Little Bit of the Best and Worst

Damn The Man's Take on a Few Things that Come to Mind at the end of the Catalysmic Year of 2008:

Biggest Assholes

1. King of all Assholes For Life: Dick Cheney

Aptly named, Cheney is the epitome of the white, European Male’s peculiar version of Machismo, does what he wants when he wants and is never, ever wrong-My Way or the Highway, The Buck Stops Here, I’m the Decider, etc etc. Most assholes who embrace this personal dichotomy are merely annoying but Cheney, oh man! Somehow, when the majority of the country was neck deep in the national consume-fest orgy, their corneas replaced by dollar signs, this slimy motherfucker slipped in the back door. Utilizing his sock-monkey puppet Bush, (Moron of the Century), Cheney then hi-jacked the reins of the most powerful country of the United States. He then proceeded to reshape it in his odiferous image which, of course, resulted in his COMPLETELY. FUCKING. US. UP. Oh, it’s epic, it’s historical, it’s completely insane! As if single-handedly orchestrating the dismantling of the power, wealth and respect of our great country wasn’t enough of an achievement, he goes out as he came in: The very definition of Arrogance; rationalizing that he did nothing wrong because, by virtue of being the Vice President, everything he does is right and he leaves the country nearly choking to death on the toxic fumes of his flatulence. I often joke around about one person or other being the anti-Christ but honestly, if I actually believed in such a thing? Cheney quite likely is the real deal. Good Riddance ASSHOLE.

2. Matt M. Dummermuth, the United States attorney for the Northern District of Iowa

The man behind perhaps Iowa’s biggest travesty of justice, the Postville Immigration Raid.

3. Sarah Palin

If I went to high school with Sarah Palin, undoubtedly, I would have kicked her ass.

4. Rush Limbaugh

I really wish this cretin would just shut the fuck up already.

Coolest Dudes Around

1. OBAMA

Thankgodthankgodthankgodthankgod!

2. Paul Krugman

Nobel-Peace-Prize winning Economist telling it like it is! Congratulations MR. K-you the bomb!

3. Erik Camayd-Freixas

Certified Spanish Interpreter for the Federal Courts employed during the Postville raids and who wrote the true, sad and repulsive story of what really happened at the Cattle Congress grounds.

4. Dude who Threw His Shoes at Bush

Thank you for doing what any other person in the world with any semblance of cajones would jump at the chance to do.

Best Editorial Comic

although I guess, technically in 2009. By Drew Sheneman of the Star Ledger

Favorite Conservative Columnists

1. Paul Mulshine of the Newark Star Ledger

Dude hates SUV’s, Neo-Conservatism, Bush, Corzine, pretty much all government and loves surfing and beer. Recently, he had the balls to out Caroline Kennedy as equal to Sarah Palin in her abysmal grasp of English Grammar which, sadly, I have to agree with. Although he sometimes pisses me off, ya gotta love a guy who hates SUV’s. Come on!

2. Kathleen Parker, syndicated columnist

Kathleen Parker pisses me off a lot more often than Mulshine but she stands by her word. When she called for Palin to gracefully bow-out of the presidential race, she received an avalanche of hate-mail, some of it threatening from the Conservative Right with whom she has always aligned herself. She had the honesty to write that in all her conservative column writing she had never experienced such vitriol from the left side of the spectrum. I may not agree with nearly anything she says but I enjoy her columns nonetheless.

Favorite Liberal Columnists

1. Fran Wood of the Star Ledger

Clear and concise and right on target, alas Fran has recently announced her (probably forced) retirement. Fran! Don’t Go!

2. Matt Taibbi, Political Contributor the Rolling Stone

Quite possibly THE most cynical and sarcastic voice of my generation and folks, that is saying a LOT. He unsparingly exposed life on the campaign trail, undercover as a minion of Hagel’s mega church, and amidst the 9-11 conspiracists. Not for the faint at heart.