Duke Energy
Reviews and Complaints

My husband and I are trying to sell our home, and purchase a new home. At the beginning of May, I called to give a disconnection notice and to set up services at the new home. Because I had a late payment (or 2) within the last 12 months, I had to pay a $150 deposit. Okay, fine no biggie.

Today, I was the phone with the City of Charlotte to move the disconnection date from today to the beginning of August (our buyer had to back out at the last minute and we had to reactivate our live listing). We will be under contract to sell today (June 5, 2017). When I called to have the power turned back on for roughly 2 months to cover the new buyer of the home.

I was charged $250, more to turn the power back on. While I'm sure that this is standard operating procedure, it seems ludacris to have to pay an additional $250, on top of the $150 I paid a month ago.

I would like someone from management to please look into this.

I have paid over $800 in the last 2 months. They're saying that I owe a total of $271 and $130 to keep it from getting disconnected. I had previously called the utilities commission and they extended a payment for me and I kept with the agreement. To my understanding, they couldn't change the agreement that we made which was got $355. I have 2 children under 5 and I am pregnant. I asked for an arrangement and they told me that I couldn't get it extended. I owe $130 by 5 today and cannot get any help! All I needed was 3 days to get my husband's paycheck

On March 2, 2017 I arrived home from work to find that I had no electricity. Not only was there no electricity, there was no meter. Because I rent, I had to get my landlord to call Duke Energy to ask why the meter had been removed. They told her that they came out to read the meter and discovered that I had tampered with the meter. The allegation of tampering was not true. I had received a bill 2 days prior to this incident which makes the idea of a meter reader coming out and seeing a problem seem unlikely. I have rented this house for 8 years and paid the bills in a timely manner. Also, the alleged tampering must not have been effective because the bill amounts are consistent. I was left in the dark for 3 days with night time temperatures in the 20s. My landlord paid the $185 tampering fee so we could get the meter back. Later the fee was refunded to her. This month she received a bill with a new account number and the tampering fee was added to that bill. She again paid the fee because Duke Energy claims that the refund was a mistake. I believe this entire situation arose from a call made by my neighbors whose tenant had vacated the house. She reported some low hanging branches over the overhead power line. Duke Energy never presented any evidence of tampering. They make no apology for leaving a paying customer in the dark.

I am moving into a new home soon which the power bill needed to be switched and they shut the power off on my roommate which still lives there. He tried to cut it back on and was approved but they told him it would take 24 hours. Now his groceries are going to go bad, his phone is dead, and laptop is dying which he has a 6 page do the next day. Now he will fail his assignment because the technician wouldn't work an extra 30 minutes, when they didn't knock on the door and they shut it off right before closing. If I could give them a - 9 I would! What kind of business do they run?

I hardly get bills and I was a week past a month being due and owed 100 bucks and some change and got disconnected off a 60 dollar past due amount and now I have to pay over 230 to get turned back on cause I work all day and came home at 6 to no power and the three ppl I talked to on phone just kept me talking till 7 to tell me your closed and an additional fee is needed now to get turned back on. I've tried talking to someone I've tried getting help with resolving this and nothing happened and now I have food and frozen stuff and other things requiring power going bad cause you want to double what I owe and turn my power off at noon while I'm at work and not even receiving bills. Which I've mentioned twice in the past about not getting my bills in the mail. Nothing is done and I forgot another bill. Twice now you've screwed me over. And don't do anything to help or fix the situation. I don't get it...

12700 Idlebrook Road
Midland, NC 28107

We had requested power for our new community garden so we can run a pump and tool shed. We have drilled well, and are still waiting on power.
Now being told...not before...that a new pole will be needed since the old pole is not in good shape. We have been waiting for weeks for someone to get us hooked up. Would like to get an update on what to expect and when.
We were trying to get this up and going in time for growing season...but project started back in April...We have done about all that we can do.
Please advise...Thanks.

My power was turned off 10:15am..
You service guy was outside disconnecting and he was asked by my husband to please wait 1 second while he paid .. he didn't listen and turned our power off.. I am Disabled!
My medicine in the refrigerator is very expensive... I have called several times begging and crying that I need my power back ASAP.. and here it is 1:44pm and still NO power..
The service guy was right around the corner parked and resting by my Subdivision Lake..
My power should of been turned on right away..
Also want to file complaint again the tech that came ou to my house to disconnect!
There is a big sign and speed limit is 20mph..
Several of my neighbors are very upset the way this tech was driving !

I received a bill on April 12 on which an adjustment of $413.42 was added to my new charges of $189.39. During the previous month, and I do not remember the exact day, I had come home from work unexpectedly and found a Duke truck in my driveway. A nice gentleman assured me they were just changing out a defective meter, even though I had received no call that this would occur. I assumed that something had gotten mixed up since my energy usage has no changed and there was no reason my bill would be higher.
April 13, 2017: Called Duke Power and was rerouted to [protected] where I talked to a man who said he had no idea why I’d been charged the adjustment and he needed to research. He promised to call me back that day.
April 14, 2017: I had received no return call from Duke Power on Thursday, so I called back. Duke was closed for Good Friday. I called the online number to check on my bill and got a recording saying my bill was being recalculated. I foolishly assumed that the error was being corrected.
April 27, 2017: Because I had not received a new bill, I called again to make sure the amount I needed to pay was $189.39. Imagine my surprise when Samantha told me nothing had been done. She promised to research the issue and call me back within an hour.
I called back a couple hours later, and after giving all my information for a fourth time, was told by Chloe that Samantha was helping another customer and would get back to me. She did not.
April 28, 2017: Called at 1:30 and asked for Samantha; after providing all my information, was assured Samantha would call back within an hour. No call, so I called again at 3:00 and asked for Samantha, gave all my information again and was told again she was with another customer and would call back. If not by five, Samantha would call first thing Monday morning.
May 1, 2017: When I had received no call by 9:30, I called again, and again provided all my information and explained the problem yet again to Gayle. Gayle was very nice, but unable to help. She kept saying it was an adjustment for an estimated reading. I explained to her that I have worked in the energy sector as an information technology consultant and fully understand estimated readings and that this was not the case. As long as the previous and current meter readings are correct, estimated readings should automatically adjust and asked her to explain the discrepancy. She stated there was no corresponding readings to explain the adjustment. Unfortunately, I got an incoming call and we were disconnected (my fault).
I immediately called back and talked to Cynthia. I asked for Samantha or Gayle and was told they were unavailable and Cynthia would help me. After providing all my information and providing yet another detailed explanation of the problem, Cynthia could not figure out why there was an adjustment. Cynthia then assured me she would send the bill for review which would take 7-10 days. I told her that I had already called repeatedly and wondered why a review was not requested when I called on April 13. She checked something and told me that the bill had been review and the adjustment was due to four months of estimated readings. I tried to explain that that that was not the case and asked her to give me the estimated and actuals, which she could not. After yet another repetition of how Duke estimates readings and makes adjustments for actuals I begged her to give me the adjusted readings. She could not. She did promise Samantha would call me back.
Samantha did call back but I was in a meeting. When I able to call back, it was almost five and I got Lolita. She repeated the party line about estimated versus actual readings, but again, could provide no specifics. She promised a supervisor would call first thing Tuesday morning.

May 2, 2017: At 11:00, I had received no call and called yet again. Lolita answered the phone. To her credit, she remembered me and did not force me to yet again repeat all my identifying information, but said no supervisors were available because they were all “in a meeting.” When I questioned her about when I would get a return call, she said “sometime today.” I asked if she could be more specific and she stated she could not as she didn’t know how long the meeting would last. I asked if there was any supervisor I could speak to and she said they were all in a meeting. I told her that I had been stressed by this long enough and needed to talk to someone. She repeated that someone would call today—keep in mind this is the same woman who promised a supervisor would call first thing. I hung up, very frustrated.
After all these calls, and all my time, I am not remotely close to having this issue resolved. I haven’t even had a chance to bring up the additional issue of 0 eKWH Energy Delivered to Grid (the first time since I installed my panels this has occurred and conveniently at the same time the meter was swapped. I am beyond stressed about this.

On or about 4/24/2017 We (me and my boyfriend) called to get power turned on at our residence located at 369 Carlisle Drive, Hendersonville. I was told it would be on 4/25/2017, When I arrived home the power was not on and when I called, I was told by Duke Power that it would be corrected the same day.
We left to run an errand and we received a phone call from a man that immediately stated “I know the power is on, she turned it on right where you said to turn it on at and it’s on” He did not identify himself, he was immediately defensive and loud, he then told us that “he would go and check it because he knows it’s on but he will be awhile because he is coming from Rutherford”, he sounded frustrated that he even had to call us and deal with the situation. When we got on the drive to the home the phone service dropped and he did say “you didn’t have to hang up on me”, I told him that we don’t get service on the drive that no one hung up on him. When we arrived at the residence ( 15 mins later) he was already there, I think he identified himself as “Matt”, he was driving a small white truck with Duke Contractor on the side of the truck, he had a beard, tattoo on his right hand and he was extremely rude to us, his telephone number is 238-2434. He told us that the power is on at the place it is supposed to be on and if it’s wrong then we would need to call Duke Power to have it changed. I ask if he could call the lady or maybe a supervisor that actually activated the power and tell her the situation since he was there on the property and could see how confusing the layout of the homes are, he advised me that he was the supervisor but he did call her and told the lady while I was standing there that “he has a lady freaking out about the power”. I ask why the told her that because that was untrue, he told me that it would make her turn it on quicker, I disagreed and told him that telling her that may make her not want to turn it on quickly if she thinks “I was freaking out”. He said he had to go that he had a family that he needed to get home to and he left but stopped at the end of the road and sat there talking for approximately 20 mins with our neighbors which happen to be family too. He finally left
On 4/27/2017 when we got home, he (Matt) was on the property as he was on 4/25/2017, I did not even want to talk to him or even ask what he was doing but he made a point to walk up to me and my boyfriend and tell us that “the people over there ( he pointed to my boyfriend’s family’s home)
had a lot of really really bad things to say about you” ( meaning my boyfriend), I just ask my boyfriend to leave and not listen because the family is estranged and do not get along at all.
I was very angry at this man for taking time to stop the first day he was there and discuss anything about our business with other people who happen to be estranged family members and the worst part is that he (Matt-the Duke Power contactor/supervisor) made a point to tell my boyfriend what was said about him.
I have never had anyone associated with Duke Power behave in such a bullying, disrespectful and rude manner, I have no doubt that he has done this before because he acted very deliberate and comfortable talking to us in a bullying and rude manner, the fact that he found it necessary to tell my boyfriend that his family talked badly about him was absolutely uncalled for and just mean.
I was wrong too because after he told me that, I told him (Matt) that when he leaves and stops to discuss our business with others to make sure to tell them to “kiss my [censor]”, that was rude on my part and I wish I would not have said that because I stooped to his level but I did say that to him because he seemed like he took pleasure in telling my boyfriend that bad things (really really bad) were being said about him. That was absolutely not necessary.
Main problems I observed:
*Matt did not want to be there and it was obvious by the way he spoke to us and said he had to get home to his family
*Matt told the lady (that was the one who supposedly activated the power) that he was with a lady freaking out (referring to me), that was an untrue statement but he said it would get her there quicker.
*Matt stopped at another residence on his way out and apparently this is when he was told negative things about my boyfriend. (Although he said he had to get home to his family but he found plenty of time to discuss our business with others on his way out)
*Matt made a point to tell my boyfriend that things were told to him (Matt) by my boyfriend’s family which included “they had a lot of really really bad things to say about you” (meaning my boyfriend).
*This man is a bully and very unprofessional and it’s scary to even think he is a supervisor. I hope he never comes back to 369 Carlisle Drive again.
*Matt telling my boyfriend that his family had really really bad things to say about him (meaning my boyfriend) has caused additional problems and animosity in the family

Desirable resolution:
I hope that Matt; the Supervisor gets additional training on professionalism and how to relate to customers and in the future does not discuss peoples business with others, he needs to tone down his arrogance and bullying behavior, he needs to refrain from passing information that is harmful, hurtful and has already caused more problems within the family.

Thank you for taking the time to read my compliant but I felt compelled to make a complaint due to the behavior of this man (Matt), I have never had such a bad experience with anyone associated with Duke Power until this incident.

Tracy Penland and Darron Carlisle
Phone: [protected]

today April 24th 2017, I received my bill in the mail. I noticed a $357 deposit is due. I've been a duke power customer for over 15 years. I did call customer service and the girl kept repeating the same thing. I understand I received a disconnect notice and I understand was service was scheduled for disconnection. I'm also noticing on my bill going into this month I had a $60.34 credit. look at my history, I've never had my power disconnected. after the one I do and I get charged an additional $357 for a deposit. this isn't right and what give you the right to do this. if I was a customer that habitually had their power cut off I would understand the requirement for a deposit. but not for a one time offence. if I had another choice for power I would cancel my service right now and go somewhere else. but I cant do that because Duke Power has a monopoly and can do what ever the hell they want. I cant believe you would treat a long time customer this way.

I am writing this because I feel like all linemen/groundsmen are equal. Duke subcontracts to a company called Mastec, these men are hard working men, as I know Duke Energy's men are too. The difference is Mastec doesn't pay their men anywhere near what Duke's men get paid, which is somewhat understandable since they are a subcontracted company but $15.00 is what these guy start off on. They do not get raises or bonuses. These men are risking their lives everyday and have nothing to look forward to. They can get one raise if they do however become foremen but that's months after. I feel like Duke Energy needs to step in and demand these good hard working men a living wage from Mastec. Most of them have families, that they leave behind when outages happen. I know they could just change jobs but some of these men love what they do, or it's all they really know.

I need someone to get in touch with me asap. I have tried to resolve this issue through customer service and several supervisors and I am getting nowhere. This started when Duke Power allowed someone to request a disconnect of service on my acct . The previous account # was [protected] and the new acct# is [protected]. A contractor was sent to disc my svc and connect new svc for someone else and I turned him away. He adv me at that point to contact Duke. I called while he was there and it seemed that the issue was resolved and someone gave the wrong address. Service was never shut off yet I was told that someone would come out the next day to have it switched back into my name. I continued to recieve bills. In March I rec a bill for the amount of 189.28 and then 2 days later another bill with 189.28 as current charges and a billing adjustment of 268.00. I called to find out what the ajustment was and was told my meter was read incorrectly. Did not make sense so I req a supervisor. She refuse to do a meter reread stating that I had not been residing at the address long enough. She then stated that she would submit a req to have me contacted because I was not in agreeance with that decision and the charges. Never recieved any feedback or call. I called today 4/20/2017 and yet still no resolution or helpfulness. I am a single paretn and I dont have money to just throw away. they are trying to tell me that my svc was disconnected for 1 full month and thats what the adjustment is for. Again never disconnected and yet I recieved a bill each month. I really need someone to reach out to me. I cannot afford to have svc disconnected due to Duke Power's neglagence. I am willing to pay what I owe but refuse to be misbilled and taken advantage of due to someone else's mistake. Normally that person moving out would have to disc svc before someone is able to reconnect at the same address. i recieved no calls in regards to this. Please, Please someone help me!

We are a small motel in Crystal River and us having a recent problem with attitude and behavior of workers in the power . Seems like one person got away with holding a key and promising to pay for last night and then skipping out, and told the others, hey, look what got away with . Has happened 4 times now.We were giving special rates to support them
In our community and thus is how they repay us. Where can I report these workers?

I have lived at this address since January 27th. I never got a bill for January 27-March (33 day billing period) yet my account is showing overdue because apparently the bill was due in April. I have been billed for March -April and the bill is for $373 (2 months). I knew a bill was due but since it was never sent, i did not have a way to log in to the website (you have to know your account number to access it online). Without a bill, I did not have a way of knowing my account number. I called the automated line three times and got the same answer each time that my bill "was being prepared and is not available at this time." (I had to enter the service address for this because I did not have a bill, which takes a long time to do on the automated system). I called customer service and the lady was nice, but all she could say was that there was an investigation (she could not say what is was for) and that they could not send a bill until it was completed. I did get my account number, finally. The bill for Jan-March would be due in April and she would send it as soon as it was available. I waited another week after never receiving a bill and logged in online. I saw my March-April bill and it had a past due amount of 194, which was the bill that was not available. If a bill cannot even be prepared and sent out, how can it be past due especially when there is no way of even accessing it to pay it? Please explain.

As of yet, I have never seen this bill. It is actually April 10th and I have not even been able to view the bill for January 27th to March. I would like for my account to not show "overdue." There should not be a late charge and I just spoke to customer service, who said that there is a $1.82 late fee showing for the bill that I still have never seen and is not available online. The account status should not show past due since the bill was not even prepared by the time it was due, much less sent to me or even available online before it was due. I cannot attach the overdue bill because I do not have access to it.

I currently live at 805 Davenport Rd in Simpsonville SC. Our meter and pole connected to the side of our home toppled over on Saturday afternoon. Because the wires were exposed, per a duke energy field employee, he had to cut the Power to our home off. Told us to contact electrician and get permit and hire inspector and now it's turned into a red tape nightmare because this happened over the weekend. Our food is not refrigerated, had to buy ice to keep some foods in cooler, no hot water, etc. I have a 2 year old. This is extremely incovenient for us. My mom is disabled and we have to charge our phones and go out of my way to complete my online assignments. It is Monday now and still no energy because it's a process to get an inspector. To say the least, I am frustrated and almost enraged by how slow it is just to get our energy back on. The meter and pole are fixed. Its the waiting in line and paying out of pocket fees for an electrician and an inspection. Duke energy is practically useless for all the expenses we pay for them.

My name is courtney Hayes and I stayed at 470 dayton street #1 45214 where I was currently on the pipp program. At the beginning of the year 2016 I was due to recertify for pipp and I did so and was denied because I had a pipp balance of $300 or so in which I paid in installements in which I let Duke know what was going on. On my final payment to duke my name was transferred at my new address 4717 stewart av #2 45227 but I was never put back on the pipp program as i was told that I would be by Duke and the Pipp office. Every month I was forced to pay just enough to keep my services om until I was finally disconnected. I have called Duke and I have called Pipp without amy help or concern of my allegations regarding this situation. I can provide information regarding the dates in which I paid to have services in my name at my current address because it was paid over the phone with a credit card. I have already contacted an agency regarding this problem but have yet to hear the outcome.

As of Saturday morning my home in Terre Haute had no power to transformers blowing. My husband was outside with the dog and saw it happened. When power was restored later than expected our heat nor our refrigerator worked. Along with mNy of our neighbors items we work long hours for are now ruined. We have three children and currently don't have any type of heat in our house. Duke and Sedgeick denied all of our claims because they blame it on a tree. This was not my tree so not my fault. My family and I now have to pay out of pocket for a new heater and a new refrigerator. Needless to say they are all under warranty but can't be touched because of the transformer blowing, there product was fine it was yours!
This is ridiculous and I cannot believe your company sits back and allows innocent people to be screwed around like this. Why even have me make a claim of you were going to deny it? We pay hundreds of dollars every month to a crooked company! Shame on Duke!

I have been a customer for over 30 years- It was called Duke Power when I first started service with them. I have a house and 2 rental properties with power through Duke Energy. I called costumer service in February 2017 to discuss why the Power Bill seemed to be so high. This has been the warmest winter we have had in the South (NC) this year. So you would think that the power bills would be lower than expected, but "NOT" true. Last 2 bills over $400. Which is double my average bill. Makes no sense to me. When I called in to discuss the situation I was told that my meter was changed out in 2004 . So I questioned that, not knowing that it had been changed out and I had lived at this Residents since 1999. I ask if the meter was changed out would I have received notice that it was changed. The answer was yes, I should have been made aware, which I wasn't. Another question I had was how they checked the meter and I was told they no longer read the meters by walking to the meter, they now just drive by and read them digitally. Then I ask wouldn't that mean that I needed a digital meter. The answer was yes, which I do not have. So I ask if they would come check my meter. I was then put on hold and when he returned I was told that they just didn't do that. We continued conversation about how this was a big concern and I wanted to know what we could do about this. I really felt that this was not a correct reading on my bill. Then the representative went back and looked at the previous months all the way back to December, January and February of 2016, a year ago. Last year the bill was between $300-$400, so the representative says so that is not really a big difference from last year. So I said so my bill this year is based on last years bill? The representative then said, no but when we compare they are close for that time of the year. Again, I explain that I don't have a digital meter which can be digitally read and the winter 2017 has been really warm, which would mean the Bill should be lower. Not to mention that I did not run heat pump on main floor at all. So then the rep says, well you may need to get your house inspected could be problems with wiring (this seems to be the popular
answer to all our problems in all of our houses cause this is what they tell everybody). So we all have wiring problems? I don't think so. I explained that we had house fire a little over 1 year ago and the house was rewired at that time. We had new windows put in. My house is not the problem. Again, I ask for someone to come and check meter and again I am told that they just don't do that. The person who drives by house would report problems with meter if there was an issue. I said how would the person reading the meter know there was a problem if he does not look at the meter. Then I am told that they pull in the driveway. We go back and forth about this issue and again I ask why someone can not just come check the meter and again I am told that they just don't do that. Apparently these reps are taught how handle customers and what to say to "Get us off their backs". At this point what do I do? They have me. If I don't pay this high bill I have no power. So I pay the Bill $400 plus. My next bill is also $400 plus. Due now. Unbelievable. On 3/10/2017 I get a notice stating that my meters at all of my residents will be changed out within the month. So now I feel like Duke Energy should now re-evaluate my bills from this winter, which I am sure they will not do, but I will be fighting for this. So my advice to anyone that is in the same situation to keep calling and asking questions. You what they say, "the squeaky wheels gets the answer or what she wants" Hope I can get a better solution to this problem. We will see.

In attempting to have my power restored from storm damage the timeline for restoration of power goes from 9pm the day after the storm (26 hours after power was lost) to 9pm 2 days later. This is completely UNACCEPTABLE! If you Duke Energy is not able to properly provide power to its customers then how are they able to have a monopoly over power supply in the upstate.

After speaking to the 2nd customer service representative to find out why it would take so long for the company to do their job I was informed that the account was still in my grandmother's name who has been deceased for 5 years. So she proceeded to inform me I would have to pay a $250 deposit to have the account switched to my name. The problem would be that I paid the deposit of $250 5 years ago! Duke Energy just didn't change the account to my name and then tried to charge me again. In the process of this it removed my request for power restoration.

This is complete and total incompetence on the part of Duke Energy! There is even record of the deposit to turn the power on in my name from 5 years ago but Duke Energy would have had no problem in charging me another $250 because of their inability to properly maintain records.

Our power is out constantly. A rain drop, the wind blows, no lights. Power surges have done havoc to our computers. We've had countless electricians to our home. All say our house is fine and the problem is the power coming into our home. We've contacted Duke Power countless times. And now, once again, I'm relying on my IPhone flashlight. Battery about dead. Time to sit in my car and recharge. Thanks Duke.