Xcel energy is at it again! I am a divorced single father, and had the joyful experience the other day of coming home and finding that my electricity was shut off. If it had been for my current bill, well, that would have been different. But it was for a bill that was 5 years old, and for a bill at an address I never lived at! SO, I did what everyone in that situation would do; I called them.
I'm not going to gripe about the time spent on hold; that's another story. I was told by one of their reps that nothing could be done, I had to pay the entire amount up front. I asked what the bill was for, and apparently it was for THREE YEARS of unpaid service at my former address.
Now, First of all, if you can give me the name of an electric company that would leave your electric turned on for three years without payment, I'd love for you to tell me. But, since this is patently impossible, I did a bit more research. It appears that my former landlady put her entire house in my name when I moved in. This, in retrospect, doesn't amaze me, she was an alcoholic that had drank away her driving priviliges, her job, and eventually her house. It was taken back by the bank months after I moved out. I never saw a bill while I was there, and until I moved in to my latest place, had never been contacted by Xcel.
Now, almost 2 years later, with what seems to be an early Winter coming on, I'm sitting in a dark apartment without the ability to pay a $2100 bill. Xcel will NOT even discuss a payment arrangement, even though 85 per cent of those people disconnected in Colorado were reconnected after entering into one. So obviously, the problem isn't one of company policy. It can be done, but they refuse to even discuss it.
I've contacted the Minnesota State Attorney General's office, and am waiting for their return call today. Also, the Public Utilities Comission has been contacted.
I'm up for a class action lawsuit, if these guys won't follow their own rules. Plus, I get a bit testy when my kids and I are sitting in the dark.
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