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I live in a small town in CO located on the Eastern plains. The only gas company that can deliver service to this area is Black Hills Energy. Up until about 2 months ago, I never had a problem. My payment is due on the first of every month. I paid my payment for November at 6:00 in the morning on the 1st. When I went to leave my house at 9:00 am, there was a disonnect notice on my door. I called and I was told that I should have called them to let them know that I made the payment. I asked how I would know to do that and the customer service rep said I should just have known...? I was then told that in order to get my gas turned back on I would need to pay another deposit (obviosuly the $197 deposit I paid when it got turned on was not enough) I asked her why I had to pay the second deposit when I already paid one...once again...she said I just had too...she had no answers! So, I paid the other deposit which was $85 plus, another $87 for some other fee...never got told what that was. THEN...They wanted the payment I made earlier in the morning because they said that it didn't exist. Eventhough, I had already checked my bank account and the money came out and went to them...they STILL insisted they never got it and it didnt exist. NOW...this month, I called on the 3rd to make my payment for January and I was told that they were turning my gas off again because it wasn't paid on the 1st. When I told them I didn't get paid until the 2nd because of the holiday, the rep threatened me again with turning it off and basiclly said they didn't care. In addition, I asked them if they were even open on the 1st...OF COURSE NOT! So, how could I have made it anyway? This company obviously doesn't train their employees regarding co rules and regs, and they certainly haven't spent anytime teaching them how to respectfully and tactfully deal with customers. They are apparently having financial hardship of their own and have to scam and lie to their customers to make up for the slack of the company. I hope Black Hills Energy goes bankrupt!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Normally with most utility companies I would question how they could disconnect without sending a disconnect notice etc. However having dealt with this company before I believe what you have written.
My experience with them was when Black Hills Energy bought out our gas provider which was Aquilla. I had purchased a house in another town not serviced by BHE( thank god) and called Aquilla to disconnect the gas where I was living. Apparently Aquilla changed to BHE the same day but after I had called but I found this out later.
I received my final bill due the 20th and on the 14th I got a phone call from a collection agency and the next day a letter from same collection agency for this bill that WAS NOT EVEN DUE YET. I called BHE and the RUDE person on the phone said since I was not a customer of theirs that this isnt their problem and I made the mistake( what mistake) so I then called the collection agency and was told I have 30 days to dispute otherwise they would take it to court. Like I said this bill WASNT EVEN DUE YET. So I then called BHE again got a little better representative who wasnt rude but told me that since it was sent to collections they could do nothing. I then told them I never even had BHE my gas provider was Aquilla and got told that I was in the grey area(?)
At this point I was frustrated didnt know what to do so I called my current utility provider and explained this to them, they where helpful and suggested I call the Iowa Utilities Board, which I did. The lady at the IUB seemed like she did not believe me and she wasnt even sure what BHE was her records showed Aquilla as the gas provider in that area but almost sarcastically she told me she would research this and contact me back.
The next day this same lady from IUB called and right away apologized to me. Upon doing research she was able to confirm most of what I said and she told me what had happened was I shut off in the middle of the transition from Aquilla to BHE so the computer showed this as a past due Aquilla account but since it was in the time of the transition it was a BHE account and they have different rules for dealing with past due accounts and due dates. She said these people she talked to for the most part where the most obnoxious(her word) people she has dealt with and now she was mad and involved.
She had me send amount due to IUB for BHE and they would submit it so I knew and they knew it was taken care of which I did.
All of this happened between Dec of 08 and early Jan of 09 and I would have hoped this company would have gotten better but obviously it has not.
I would suggest contacting your state utilities board and telling them your story at worst you get it off your chest and on record and at best they will deal with BHE
I agree with all you have said and yes Black Hill is a corrupt company. The big problem is that our state legislature has given them great powers and most of what they do to consumers is legal based on the rights given them, mostly by republicans in Denver. I am not going to get into democrat vs repulican, but most of the power they now have to use their utility resources to legally steal from the public. These elected officials have all sold us out to big business. But when a company is given monoploy powers, such is the case with black hills, those companies have a fiduciary responsibility to serve the public and not to use that power to extract extra revenue from the citizens of this and other states. I believe we have a Governor who will listen and we must act together to bring these stories to the Governor and to our State Representatives. Although we now have a Rrepublican controlled legislature, I believe we can still change the laws which make their plundering legal, come to an abrupt end. David R. Emery is the CEO and he must be held responsible for his companies policies and melfeasance. We will get allthe citizens together and tell our stories. These are not stories of non-paymnet, which is what the utility companies always use as a ploy to hide the facts. They will say if you pay your bills this willnot happen. This is a cloud and we must let all citizens inthe states were this companies do business know that this company uses these tactics to extor money from the public. Contact me at carrtony@yahoo.com and we can start a petition so that the governont can look into chanig the laws. We must also get together in a united law suit. Stay in touch and try to get as many people as people to document thier stories. Nothing happens unless the truth is told. Use You Tube, Blog, Internet and/or any sources to get the word out. Tony
BLACK HILLS ENERGY what is going on?
I am new to Colorado since June 2011. I must say that I am appalled that ANY utility company can send you a bill that does not show you the billing cycle, previous and current reading, and your usage. They have a blanket statement "Customer Charge covers part of the fixed costs of delivering your energy, regardless of usage". WHAT ? Regardless of usage! How does that make sense to anyone? Does this mean that we pay the same amount as another family that have their entire home set to 70 degrees or more?
Our house is cold all day long, while we are bundled in warm clothes and blankets. At night we use our pellet stove for 2-3 hours (maybe 4 nights per week). We only use the wall heater in one isolated room at a time on very low temperature for maybe 16 hours per week.
We need HELP! I have RA and the cold is so very painful on my joints and bones.
In November our bill was $221, December $238 and January $271! Do they just see how far they can push the limit before you BREAK. We are a one income household and this is getting ridiculous and should be ILLEGAL.
I agree unfortunately I have them as my Electrical supplier and they are bad. The rates are high and they are ruthless. In my area at the edge of town some people have West River Electric and the rates and customer service are a lot better. Unfortunately were my house is located I have to deal with them, it would almost be worth it to go totally green just not to have to deal with this company. They know they have you because you cannot just change electrical companies it is a good example of why monopolies are wrong.
I'll give you another one. I had Black Hills Engergy for my supplier. I also used their Service Guard - which is a total rip off. I was on the even pay plan which meant that even in the summer, I paid high gas bills. I recently moved out of their service area. They ripped me off for the credit that I had on my account - plus a $78. payment - to the tune of $200 - they just kept. No, sorry, nothing. These people are THIEVES. DO NOT USE THEIR EVEN PAYMENT PLAN. YOU WILL GET SCREWED!
they are Con artist and thieves We paid ahead and they cashed the check then threaten to turn off my power for non payment customer service is a bunch of jerks.
black hills should top the lists of "WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE" & "WORST SERVICE IN GENERAL". black hills made a mistake transposing our house number with a neighbors in november 2014 & closed our account without telling us causing a huge mess of billing errors & service errors. since then we have made many phone calls to black hills including 3 phone calls just today 3/4/2015. As of today we are still trying to get THEIR mistake corrected & that first mistake they made has snowballed including a double billing error where they overcharged us $507. Their customer service from the bottom up are arrogant, rude, incompetent individuals simply reading from a scripted response & not taking responsibility for their errors implying blame can only fall on the customer. Anyhow I am too frustrated to go into more detail. At the beginning of the call it states some calls may be recorded. black hills needs to pull calls & hear & learn from the horrendous way their reps treat customers. we have no choice in our gas company but if there is ever an option we will be leaving black hills & I know many of our neighbors will leave. BLACK HILLS AT LEAST ACT LIKE YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMERS & LISTEN TO THE PHONE CALLS & RUDE & INCOMPETENT REMARKS YOUR REPS MAKE.
Blacks hills is a joke, I never got a disconnection notice..there was only 2 months..last bill due the April 23 and then next one due may 13. Total bill said 199 due with both months by may 13. Today is the 11th. Came home let's just says its going to be 40s tonight and a baby in the house. Well gas is shut off. I checked online and nothing in the account shows anything about a disconnection. So I paid the 199 balance in full. Black hills billing is closed by 8pm so its not able to be reconnected. I called the emergency line and they said they can do anything to reconnect. How can they turn it off it says due by may 13th ...that's 2 days earlier. So now my baby is in a house with no heat at the temperature of 65 and its only going to get colder
How can BH disconnect power twice in same month? On june 8th we paid a disconnect bill of $118.00 ( luckily they knocked and warned us we avoided the reconnect fee of $50.00) they returned on june 29th and disconnected power. They charged $110 deposit, $50.00 reconnect fee ( funny how they managed to collect that $50.00 they missed on the 8th), plus the $176.83 actual energy amount, total=$336.83. Where else can a company collect $454.83 in the same month for the same account? ONLY IN PEUBLO. I'am on a fixed income, have not had my power turned off before, so one would think that before they actually turned the power off they would knock to warn you. WHEN IT'S A MONOPOLY I SUPPOSE YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU WANT...
09/08/2015 paid 118.00 disconnect (before they shut it off) 09/29/2015 was disconnected and had to pay $336.83 . How can they get away with 2 disconnections in same month? Because they're a MONOPOLY...
The worst service I have ever had very dysfunctional had me waiting all day just to reconnect my service Very unhappy I hate Black Hills energy
Hello, my name is Sarah Farley. I'm a journalist student at CU Boulder and I'm working with a team to write a story about Black Hills Energy and their customer service. I would love to talk to you further and include your experience in our story.
Please email me at safa3531@colorado.edu
Hope to hear from you soon!
Black hills energy disconnected my gas and the bill was not due till 2 more days how can they do that i know why because they know you have to have them its a bunch bull now I sit here waiting for them to show to reconnect me
I'm not complaining about a specific issue, just the multitude of similar complaints and gouging the customer causing unnecessary stress. I've vocalized my opinion before and many agree with some of the uneducated opinions I hold. So I'm just venting in a way.
Although Black hills energy is probably the worst utility company I've experienced in my short 50++ years on this fridgid plane of existence, they're only marginally worse than the greed driven company named Excel energy. I remember quite well in the days of g. w. bush and his cohorts deregulating the companies for the supposed "benefit to all" . These entities are powerful and make their own rules and set forth laws governing themselves. I've always felt that the consumer gets treated poorly and forced to pay extremely high prices for resources that should be owned and operated by all. Not a stock holder or CEO or some board of wealthy people who that have zero empathy and profit off of our resources without any regards for the young families that work hard every day and night just trying to make ends meet. I remember that stress so well. My heat bills were about the same price as my mortgage.
Why is it we let these "prudent" stock holders, board members etc be the sole beneficiary of the fruits of all of our resources? It may sound like some communistic idea or anti American/capitalism rant but for me it makes little sense that necessities such as water, heating fuels, and electricity generated from OUR resources are allowed to be so very profitable for a scant few, comparative to those of us masses that receive nothing but poor service, high costs, and also get to pay for the clean up after they've profited and disappeared.
Utilities should not be publicly traded for profit. Save that profit taking for the makers of cosmetics, playstations and Xboxes, sprockets and cogs. There is no spirit of competition in these sectors in my experience, at least with what I've witnessed in my lifetime. I'm not smart enough to make much difference but it sure would be great if all those/us over charged, stressed to the limits and lights and gas shut off in the dead of winter could muster the leverage as a whole that's much larger and powerful and I believe more intelligent, innovative and cunning as those that are currently taking advantage of OUR limited resources and take control of it all making utilities more "sustainable" and affordable for ourselves and future generations. Not just those who have the ability to invest. Greed is a terrible thing. I'd like to think that isnt what makes things the way they are.
If only we could craft our own legislation and grow our future intelligently. All of us. For all of us.. hmmm... I was taught that it was that way. It isn't though.
I apologize if this just isn't the place to put this opinion.
Happy New Year
My delivery charge is more than my usage