Arizona Public Service [APS]
Reviews and Complaints

I have lived in my home for 7yrs. I was making monthly online(auto) payments for the first 5 years until I had an issue with my password and it was disabled. Every time they directed me to tech support they'd give me a temporary Password that never worked. Over months of it not working I gave up fooling with online payments and started making automated payments over the phone. I was late twice(2 weeks) making payments this year so they shut off my power. My equalizer payments are $347 monthly so they doubled it and said I needed to pay $694 to have it turned back on. That was just a deposit, not towards my bill. They were gracious (sarcasm) enough to let me pay half now and the other half 2 weeks from now. I thought that was the end of it until the following day I received an email stating I owed $686. I inquired about this new mystery charge as my account had been current even 3 days before shut off. I was told my balance(even though it was paid) was $686 without the equalizer adjustment and I had 2 weeks to pay it. I explained that if that were the case, then they needed to deduct my monthly bill of$347 that was already paid for the month. She told me it doesn't work that way. So in a nutshell they are robbing me of a bill I already paid, then tacking on $339 all because they can. How do you turn someone's power off, turn the equalizer plan off THAT month, not factor in the equalizer payment already paid, and charge the full $686? That's illegal. I told her I can't pay that amount in two weeks as I still have to pay the rest of my "deposit ". Again, she was gracious(sarcasm) enough to roll the $686 into my monthly bills equalizer bill. She told me that once your power is shut off, you no longer have the ability to go back to the equaluzer, but he sternly told me she would put me back on it "this one time". It's a shame that they can't waive or make accommodations for people who have been paying them for YEARS on time. To make matters worse, they do everything online so you can't talk to anyone in person. I am also making a formal complaint at azcc . Gov. APS needs to be held accountable as I've seen hundreds of complaints regarding them.

I recently received a request from APS, to make a deposit of $465.00 in order to continue my service with their company. This would be on top of the $250.00 - $275.00 monthly bill. The reason for the request is that due to 3 late payments with in 12 months. Because of recent financial issues, it has been necessary to set up extended dates to pay my electricity bill ( an option that is on the APS website). This was done to ensure that APS was aware that I was having to make a late payment, but also so they would have advance notice of it. All of these promises to make payment at a later date were met, however; APS has now used these requests in order to impose a required deposit, in addition to the monthly payments.
My issue with this is that usually if there is an increase in late payments it may be indicative of recent financial issues, illness, employment status, etc. Not typically the time to increase an amount to pay. Upon speaking to APS, I was informed that I could have a 30 day grace period, but that there was no alternative, in order to keep my electricity active, it was necessary to pay an additional $465.00 that would be held for me, until I had paid my account on time for 13 months in a row. Because of my history with APS, and the fact that I had paid on time for over 9 yrs, I would have thought that there was some latitude involved, but due to my credit score, in combination with my late fees, the only latitude was the 30 day extension. Because there is no other choice of electric company in the area, this seems increasingly bias against those that can least afford it. It is because of this that I am registering a complaint as I feel that APS (who has increased rates for a consecutive 3 yrs) is not practicing in the best interest of their customers.

I was moving out of my apartment so I called and scheduled my account to be closed. My average bill in the summer was $100. After I thought my account was closed and everything was taken care of I received a bill for over $600 for electricity to an apartment I no longer lived in. I called and tried to resolve the matter, but they refused to take responsibility for not closing my account on the date we had agreed upon. I still, 6 years later refuse to pay this bill, so it is haunting my credit. Luckily it is very close to dropping off my credit report.

aps electric rates are outrageous. how can i say this, well 1/3 of my bill yes 33% or more is strictly fees. a nominal amount r federal regulatory fees. no most are aps fees for instance: 47.52 per month avg/570.24 per year to be given the gift of electric to your home lmao.
24.00 more per year to read your meter even though they do that electronically, to keep bill records 2.24 month/26.88 yr, metering not part of reading of the privilege of using their company 2.88 mth/34.56 so a GRAND TOTAL NON FEDERAL OR STATE FEES PER MTH AND YEAR ARE: DRUM ROLL PLEASE $54.00 MONTH/ $655.68 ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. especially since u r forced to use them and only them depending on the side of the street u r on. isnt that considered a monopoly. where is the fair competition that keeps companies from extorting their customers?

On or about the end of july 2012 I called Arizona public Service because I did not receive my monthly bill and thought maybe it had gotten lost in the mail. I was informed by the aps worker that my bill was joined to my daughter's account and sent to her new address, i explained I did not authorize this. the worker could not help me unjoin the accounts and said my daughter would have to call and straighten this out. My daughter called and she also was unable to resolve the issue. the following week my daughter and I went into the local Aps office in Prescott, Az explained the situation that my account was not to be joined with hers and asked that the two accounts be separated. The aps lady stated it would take a few weeks to straighten out with the headquarters office in phonix, az, On 8/21/2012 finally my account was separated from my daughters account and the joint account was cancelled, everything was fine never heard any correspondence in regard to this matter. Then nine months later I did my annual credit report check and found my daughters delinquent past due bill from aps for $601.13 on my credit report, i called aps in good faith to straighten the matter out, the aps worker told me she would have it taken off of my credit report that it had been put on there and executed improperly, she asked for my daughters address and contact info, I gave it to her and called my daughter to let her know what was happening gave my daughter the aps phone number and the aps worker's phone number to take care of her bill. My daughter called confirming to aps that this was her bill and she was soley responsible for it. The aps worker stated it would be transferred to her current address and put on her husbands account. We had the understanding that this would be taken care of. When aps told me they would take it off of my credit report I asked for written confirmation of that they said they would report it to the credit bureau and send me confirmation. two weeks later I receiev my aps bill with my daughters old account and bill of $601.13 transffered to my account. My daughter and I went into the local aps office in Prescott on May 13, 2013 again to straighten this out, while we were there we again explained the matter to the aps worker, i paid my bill for service which was due of $92.41, my daughter asked that this bill of hers be taken off of my account, I asked aso. My daughter offered to make a payment towards her closed account of $200, offered to pay a payment on may 27, 2013 another $100 and break the reamining 301.13 into two final payments for June and July, the aps worker stated she could not do that refused my daughter's money for this account, instead she gave us a card with a 800 number listed to call aps credit department. We both called and again explained the matter, we were told that because this once was a joint account even though it was not authorized by me that it was their practice to transfer it to an existing account, we explained that they transferred it to the wrong account and explained how we offered money toward this account, ect. Now the matter is still unresolved and I am suppose to move at the end of the month and aps will not transfer my service to my new address until my daughter's bill that I have nothing to do with nor created is paid first and they are asking for an additional deposit of $150 from me. I have been a customer for 19 plus years have always paid my bill, they screwed our bills up back in august of 2012, then fixed it, then messed it up again when it was placed on my credit report and now again with transferring her bill onto my account even though my name and account was unjoined from hers back in august of 2012. I am livid!.

aps shut off my power because i went to switch it into my name parents have passed away aps wont turn us on untill we pay parents past due balance of 1, 360.00 its that high because the equilaer program was taken off i ended up in the ER because the heat in my house got me sick my wifes meds were melted my insulan is bad and they shut us odd on the 20th then 2 days after that we get a notice saying it will be disconnected on the 24th with the heat here in arizona i feel like i will die soon.

I moved into a 450 sq foot, 2 room apartment on July11. I received a bill from APS 12 days later for $232.96. My landlord has had the air conditioner serviced and had an electrician out to check the entire apartment. They found nothing wrong. Meanwhile my meter continues to register huge energy consumption. APS refuses to consider that their "Smart Meter" may not be as smart as they think (or maybe it is -- it's working for them). At this rate my electric bill will be higher than my rent!

I moved into my New home Oct 18 2011, because I had an additional residence withe APS power, turning on Electricity to my new home was quick and had no issues, however by December I had not received my first bill. So I called and they stated "because they were combining my 2 properties, they had to wait till the meter readings coincided so I got my first bill for the two properties January 5th with a Meter reading date of October 18 thru December 5th. My Second property is empty and my monthly bill for the property is $36, so not the concern of my complaint, however, each month thereafter I received a bill on or around the 5th due on the 18th and always paid on time. This is the 7the month and therefore I have received 7 bills this year. My first 5 bills ranged in price from $168-$220 (My home is 3800 Sq Ft and 5 yrs old) - Then my June Bill was $440, I expected as much as I keep this large house Cold, however I knew it would only get worse and could not afford a bigger bill, so I increased my 2 AC's to 78 Degrees each hoping July's bill would be offset by the change and not be too much more. July 6th I received my bill for $788 and about fell over, I immediately turned the AC's to the 80's however I have no problem paying it, I simply intended to buy floor fans and hope to keep it from going any higher. This morning, July 7the I received a "Revised Bill" and the 8th bill in 7 month's, saying I owed $1, 688.43 ($788 of it being the balance of the bill from the day before), I immediately called APS, after an hour and upgrading my call from a regular person to a supervisor I was told "We messed up and were billing you 2 months behind and we simply needed to bring your account up to date, the amount due is accurate, we will give you 45 days to pay it" Now in 45 days my next bill of assumed around $800'ish means I have 45 days to pay $2400, who in this economy has that just lying around for a utility bill. I expressed to them, that if I am late paying my bill I receive a fine but if they are late billing me I simply get screwed, essentially they said yep this is what you used, this is what you owe regardless of when you are told to pay it. I do not dispute Electricity usage, although it is more than I can afford, I went from 1400 sq ft to 3800 sq ft so this has been a learning experience as to what this house costs and I expected that, I simply do not feel it is right for me to have to suffer a financial hardship due to there error. If I make an error and don't pay I am not forgiven, I believe in their error they should be responsible for it and I don't know what avenues I have to make them do their job right.

On 2 different days I had APS enter my yard grab my own shovel and swing it at my dogs. I came home in time to talk to the first one (roommate told me) he got smart with me and I got smart right back. I told him if it was horse property Id shoot him ( see horse thief law). The second time they forced my dogs in the house with the same shovel and blocked the doggy door. I came home to dogs locked in house with no power. Just mix dog messes with heat not good. I have never been told sorry or anything and when I asked to talk to a higher up one wasn't around and never called back. They also over charge me and say I'm lying or was miss led ( customer is always right ?) . On all APS paperwork they show me it says threatening to shoot employee's and they bring APS security with them ( big joke ). Fast to shut it off and take my money slow to turn it on or fix problems. APS changes its rules every day and gets away with what they want. Last time I made them get the police before they stepped on my yard witch police are no help and followed codes that the APS security agent handed her on a card hm mm fake. APS (A$$ PACKING SERVICE

From:
Juan Ortega-Rubio and family
560 N. Somerton Ave, Space #69
Somerton, Arizona 85350
Phone: [protected]
Email: [protected]@yahoo.com

September 15, 2011

Immediately request, reply to vehicle damages
To: APS
Or/and to whom it concern:
____________________________________________________

I believe by this date, (APS) offices are aware about the (incident occurred on September 13, 2011, (at) 560 N. Somerton Ave, Space #69 in at main entrance. Some incident details as follow, extremely explosions, then a electricity wire burning fell in the property causing damages to the home owners vehicle, however minimal damages however, in this extremely explosions with wire in fire, incident occurred at 560 N. space # 69 residents home, involving a 4 year child 6 year child and mother of 31 years old, unfortunately I Juan Ortega-Rubio father of (2) two daughters at that time was not at home.

I believe this incident cause a substantial mentally impact to family which this incident will be reported to appropriate clinics or and agencies for children mentally damages.

I Juan Ortega-Rubio please request immediately (APS attention) and to assumed responsibility for minimal car damages, at this time unknown if children are in mentally damages.

Please reply in the next (10) ten days for legally establish relieves to damages been reported in this request.

Note: pictures has been perform, to car damage and other . Thank You

Very Truly Yours,

Juan Ortega-Rubio

First, I do not understand why it is allowed that people only have the option of 1 power company. Why is that legal? You either have APS or SRP, you do not get a choice. APS is the worst company I have ever dealt with. I owed a small past due, under $100. I paid online, something happened and they did not get my payment, due to THEIR website. They turned off my power in the middle of an Arizona summer. I called and explained that I made my payment but, they don't care. To turn power back on, I had to pay about $800. My current bill, a deposit and if i wanted my power that day, a $75 connection feel. Otherwise they would get to it sometime the next day. This was only after being on hold with them for a total of 6 hours. The first time was 3 hours. ONce you finally talk to someone to find out what you have to do, they will not take payments over the phone, they make you call a seperate automated #, then, call them back with the confirmation numbers. You then, have to be on hold again, 2nd time was 2 hours. Then, they tell you to make your $75 payment and call them back AGAIN with that confirmation number. That time it was an hour. They then, didn't show up to turn on the power until 9pm. Even though, this was their fault, they would not work with me on payments, nothing. They don't care. It's not like you can go anywhere else and get power, you have to use them and only them. Where are you going to go? and they can't work with you? They don't care that it's 115 degrees in the middle of summer, you have kids, elderly parents living in the home, animals, nothing. They don't care, they want their money and until you pay them, they hold you hostage. How is that legal? How is any part of how they do business, legal? Why are there no lawsuits against these people?
All other utility companies in Arizona, at least in my experience will work with people, APS will not, under any circumstances. Doesn't matter what your situation is or even is something is THEIR fault. Someone really needs to look into the business practices of this company and hold them accountable.

I had been out of a job for about four months. The bills still kept coming in and stacking. My electricity during the summer is outrageous. Had called APS multiple times to let them know of the situation and set up payments. All worked well until they decided to add a deposit on top of all of the other charges and NOT notify me of it. My electricity got shut off in a 112 degree weather - not that they cared. Since I have a child and a dog, I had no choice but to pay the full amount of the deposit ($300 plus $80 service fee). Keep in mind I had just made a $400 payment four days before. In addition, in order to get it turned back on you have to pay $80 for the service fee of someone coming out. So I did it and the guy came back out to turn it on. After talking to him, I found out that there are programs set up around town of businesses and non-profit organizations who will help you with electricity costs. Only if I would have known that four months ago. Only if one of the operators had told me that when I was crying on the phone asking them to work out a payment plan with me.
Nonetheless, the company is the worst utility one ever. Instead of trying to work with people and help them out, they charge as many fees as they could possibly think of. In addition, I got charged double for the service fee to turn the electricity back on and two charges of $25 each for door notifications, which I never received on my door. Unbelievable! I can't believe they operate their business in such matter. Instead of helping people, they are making it so much worse. But who cares in the end, that's more money in their profit account.
Be aware! Search for help in your community if you get behind and please do not give them the opportunity to gain more money!

I have searched all night for ASP legal rights, code of ethics etc.. However, I cam across this site and seen similar issues related to mine. I received a bill dated 08/15/11 today stating they were going to shut-off my electric service if I do not have my family memeber call regarding her past due amount of $1100.00 from another address. The stated she is benefiting from utlity service, and if it is not paid by 08/29/2011 my services will be shut-off. First off, it is not my responsibility. Second, I can have anyone I want living in my home based on my lease agreement. Third, this law or term was not read to me prior to starting service. There seems to be some illegal issues going on here. I have never heard of this drama, until I came across this site. There are millions of people who live with people with past-due amounts owed to APS. During my call, I asked several times for a section code to be giving me, and sent to me in writing stating APS has the legal right to obligate me to someone elses debt? Also, stating the reason the terms were not discussed during my enrollment for services? However, the supervisor refused to go over these terms, and told me to use my letter I received. I wanted more proff for an attorney. However, the letter did not state any fine writing in relation to the legal binding they have with shutting off my service for someone elses bill. I simply stated that they were goign to disconnect my services. No legal terms at all! Anyhow, I contacted ACC, and another complaint site to get this so called legal terms in writing. No response as of yet. Also, I have children and no where to reside if my services get shut-off. So with dangerous temperatures outside, I can see that being a lawsuit itself. Last, isn't there a confidentiality law they are not following. Why would they send me private information on my cousin in the same envelope as mine. The information has nothing to do with the address I am living at, and the account numbers are not the same. Can someone comment on their personal experiences in relation to htis matter? What were the results, did you have to pay, did they really shut off your services, and was there any legal terms discussed?

I went online to contact APS to turn off power (after trying on the phone without success) because I was moving from an RV lot I was renting so I went online and saw they have a start/stop service tab on their site, so I used it ... anyway they never shut it off ... I moved and gave no forwarding address to APS, over a month later they find me to bill me $39.51 for service calls to an empty RV lot, they charged 3 trips to read the meter and $5.26 in electric usage! ON AN EMPTY LOT ... WTF

APS is threatening to turn off my electricity if I don't pay on a former roommates bill from a different residency. The roommate no longer lives with me. His name was never on the bill and only lived with me a short while. I have paid all of my bills on time and have a zero balance. He lives in a different state and acquired the bill before I moved in with him. I was unaware that he had an outstanding bill with APS prior to moving in with him. I have called APS several times and told them that he doesn't live with me and they still are requiring me to pay his bill. This company is unethical. It has a monopoly in providing our electricity. My electricity bill last month with them was 789.00. I live with one other guy and we barely use any electricity. No a/c no televisions. They couldn't tell me why the bill was so high, they just said that they had been reading the meter wrong and undercharging us. This company is like the mafia. I know in the end I'll have to pay or have no electricity. The people that run this company are ###.

This comapany has called the house 10 times today. They told us they were APS on one call and then told us they were the State Financial Education Office another time. They refuse to give us an address and the phone number they gave during one call was a Texas number and not the number they are calling from. We have asked them to quit calling the house and to correspond by mail. They have yelled at us and threatened us with a law suite. On one call when I asked the name of the person I was speaking to I was told "Officer Charlie Brown". This same caller told me to "F*ck Off" twice before hanging up. How do I get these people to stop calling the house. They are waking up the baby from his nap and I am worried they will have a call answered by my 7 year old and talk to her the way they are talking to me.

Utility companies should be more regulated. I have always lived in an SRP area and this time I got stuck in an APS home. Boy did they bend me over and make me take it up the a$$ to get electricity for me and my kids. $235 deposit, in advance. Once I paid that they said they would hook up my electric sometime next week. Which gives me and my kids 4-5 days in an un-airconditioned house in AZ during the hottest weekend of the year so far. I was told I could pay an additional fee for same day service and that it was my fault for not starting the process in time. Funny thing is, I signed up, on their website 3 days ago. It took them until Thursday night to send me an email with all the fees and to treat me like a criminal. APS is the criminal. If there is more than one electric company in town, you should have a choice as to who you want to go with so that they cannot stick it to you like this. SRP does make you pay deposits...$150.00, it comes on the first bill, it is refundable and they don't charge extra fees for hookups. They will also work with you on payments. What do you bet me that APS never refunds my deposit whether I am always on time or not. Legalized robbery that is what this is.

My mother now lives in my home and because she owes a back bill to APS they are now threatening me with discontinuing my electricity service even though my bills with them are all current. They are insisting that I am "the same people" as she is because she now has her mail coming to my address, despite numerous letters to their offices they are still sending me letters of threat, I have no alternative service providers in my area so I am stuck with this one.
APS is an evil and greed oriented company, In short they will violate your consumer and civil rights if they believe they can get away with it. I am currently battling this company on its wrongful doings towards myself but I am the little guy fighting a conglomerate giant and its sad how many people get pushed around by companies like this.