News10NBC Investigates: RG&E VP of customer service says utility is rebounding
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – RG&E says more people are behind on their bills than ever. There are 77,000 local customers who are 60 days or greater in arrears, amounting to about $80 million in debt.
“This debt is going to be absorbed by the rest of the paying customers of RG&E, right, because ultimately we will collect it through that,” said Christine Alexander, VP of customer service at RG&E/NYSEG. “What we would like is for folks to pay the bill when it’s rendered. If they’re having an issue paying the bill, give us a call.”
The sooner customers reach out, the better.
“If you ignore the bill, you ignore our notices, if you ignore all of that and you let the bill get too high, then it becomes a little harder for us,” she said.
However, some customers don’t trust the accuracy of the bills they receive given the repeated billing issues RG&E had in the past. News10NBC Investigative Reporter Jennifer Lewke asked Alexander about the concerns.
Jennifer Lewke, News10NBC: “Is it possible there are people who just don’t trust that what you’re sending them, the bill that you’re telling them they owe, is accurate?”
Christine Alexander: “Folks should be confident in the bill that they are receiving. In RG&E alone, we send about 5 million bills a year. Are all of them absolutely perfect? I don’t think there’s perfection in anything; however, if you see something on your bill that you don’t agree with or that you may not understand, that’s what we’re here to do, that’s what our call centers are here to do.”
Jennifer Lewke: “You say that and I think under normal circumstances people probably would, but they have seen the repeated billing issues of the past and they say, ‘I get this random bill, it seems very high, I don’t know if I can trust it.'”
Christine Alexander: “Customers should trust the bill, they should trust the bill. Not only trust the bill, but if there’s a question about the bill, that’s what we’re here to do.”
Although the volume of complaints in the News10NBC newsroom has slowed, we continue to hear from customers who have received surprise, giant bills that they do not believe are accurate.
Jennifer Lewke: “Is there something in your system that says, ‘Hey, we’re about to send Joe Schmo a bill for $10,000, maybe we should check it 1) to make sure it’s right and 2) get in contact with him before he gets a $10,000 bill in the mail and says, What the heck is this?’”
Christine Alexander: “Yeah, we have checks in our systems and that’s what the exception is, we have an exception management team that works in our billing area and that is their job. They don’t need to reach out to you, they could call us directly.”
Jennifer Lewke: “Well, many of them say they do and when they don’t get an answer or when they’re being told, ‘yeah, it’s right, it’s right, trust us it’s right,’ they’re having that trouble trusting because of the errors of the past.”
Christine Alexander: “Understood, Understood. But I think for us, what we do is we have an exception team that looks at these bills, we also have robotics in our system, it pushes out the bills that look like they’re not correct or the reading may not be correct, so there are several steps in the process. In general, we send out 5 million bills a year, all of them are not going to be absolutely perfect but the majority of them are and if there is a problem, just let us know.”
If you’re behind on your bill and need help, several programs and payment plans may allow you to keep the lights on. For more information, go to https://www.rge.com/account/waystopay/help-with-bill