DEPEW, N.Y. (WKBW) — NYSEG remains eager to address the hundreds of concerns that customers have brought up regarding rising energy bills.
On Thursday the utility hosted more public meetings, in Depew and Alden, to review bills one-on-one with customers.
The first two meetings were held on Tuesday in Clarence and Cheektowaga. You can watch our report from Tuesday below and read more here.
"There's nothing we can do about it," said Diane Lewandowski who was at the Wednesday meeting with her husband Joe.
The Cheektowaga couple said their electric bill went from $77 to $295.
A lot of customers noticed their bills starting to go up after NYSEG installed smart meters on their homes. More than 80% of North American households have smart meters, which are designed to take the guesswork out of billing.
"You're the first ones who started reporting on it," Donna Gardner said to me. "I've been following it all along."
Throughout the summer I have been looking into this issue and have spoken to multiple customers and NYSEG representatives. NYSEG has told me that there is no correlation between the smart meters and higher bills.
Gardner and the Lewandowski family were not satisfied with the answers they got after Wednesday's meeting.
The Lewandowski family said they were told that their meter was read wrong before a smart meter was installed on their home, but the new charge is correct.
NYSEG remains clear that smart meters are not the reason why bills have increased. Since last year NYSEG delivery charges have gone up. Those rates were approved by the New York State Public Service Commission.
“We need to know exactly what each customer's situation is, and then we can help them work on a solution," said NYSEG's CEO Trish Nilsen to Schwartz in August.
NYSEG will host an open house on smart meters at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the West Seneca Public Library.
You can watch all of our previous reporting and find links to read more below.
After receiving so many questions and concerns from viewers, I brought them directly to NYSEG's Communications Manager Shelby Cohen to get an explanation. You can read more here and watch our report below.
I then went to Depew and spoke to Cathy Sunderlin. She voiced her concerns about an increase in her bill since a smart meter was installed.
"Somebody needs to get to the bottom of this because bills are outrageous," explained Sunderlin. “How am I billed so much?" You can read more here and watch our report below.
I also went to Alex Efthemis' home in Clarence. NYSEG installed a smart meter on her home this summer. On July 24 her NYSEG bill was $108. Just 29 days later on August 22, the bill jumped to $327.
"There is no way this could be right whatsoever," said Efthemis. "We have never had a bill this high." You can read more here and watch our report below.
After our first three reports, the questions and concerns persisted and we were able to have a sit down with NYSEG President and CEO Trish Nilsen. You can read more here and watch our full conversation below.
