Nor does the agreement struck Tuesday to end protests over gas shutoffs stop the crusade to reform the utility's billing practices that is being led by former state Treasurer Patrick Quinn. Also, the gas company agreed to give its disconnect list to the city's Public Health Department and to participate in three town hall meetings on meter-reading accuracy and estimated bills. That's a step in the right direction. But we're not there yet. Despite embarrassing billing blunders, gas company officials have not been required to explain why an alarming number of customers received bogus bills.
Ordinary people keep insisting their bills are wrong.
When a manual read is done, the problem is corrected. An automated meter reading was responsible for the unbelievable billing error, said Karyn Pettigrew, a spokeswoman for Peoples Energy. Essentially the meter was changed at the address. Fortunately when the customer called, the account was marked as a dispute. Unfortunately, the next step to remove that amount from the bill was never actually completed.