Lee County Electric Cooperative LCEC
Electric Company shut off service for non pay of $750.00 in deposits one year after service began, not behind on usage

I had electric service for about a year, and then the electric company charged me $750.00 in deposits over a 3 month time period. I was laid off in October, so I was slow to pay in October, Novemeber and December. Each month that I was slow to pay they assessed me a deposit. To me, this was an over priced late fee, though since after electric is disconnected, they must refund it so it is called a deposit.

I was cut off in January after calling in several times, begging someone to work with me on the deposits. They do not use seperate accounting methods, one for usage and one for the deposit.instead, they roll it all in together so that there is one massive past due balance.

If I am paying slow due to being laid off, why in the world would you attack someone with a hefty deposit amount that WILL cause there service to be interrupted if they can't afford to pay it?

Since this is a co-op, there is not a regulatory agency.instead, there is a board of directors that is voted in without ever running on a platform. We jsut get something in the mail that shows the new names and we vote. Most do not vote, because most don't know anything about any of them.

I am not the only person this is happening to. People are beginning to ask to see homes for sale outside of Cape Coral and North Fort Myers, Florida in order to stay away from LCEC.

I am now running a generator. The cops have been called for the noise and to my surprise one of the emergency responders had a 500.00 deposit assessed the same way I did AND the code enforcement officer had a hefty deposit assesed as well.

Now, yesterday I recieved a "Final Collection Bill" that said I owe a total of 375.00. That was on 2/17. I was cut off on January 23. YET when I call in, they tell me that in order to get my electric back I must pay 929.00. I asked for them to explain why none of my written correspondance says that I owe that much and she said because "I am looking at your entire account history". WHY doesn't my final bill say that then?

LCEC, even according to the State senators and representatives, can get do and get away with anything they want. What happened to regulations?

We as citizens are recieving $300.00 in stimulus checks to STIMULATE the economy and LCEC is asking to hold more than double that amount in their bank account for a while. So, basically, the tax payer paid stimulus checks are going to help the elecrtic company What is this world coming to?

Company: Lee County Electric Cooperative LCEC
Country: USA
State: Florida
City: N. Ft Myers
Address: 4980 Bayline Drive
Phone: 2399952121

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