Homeowner Billed for Neighborhood Streetlights for 25 Years
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(HARTFORD, Conn.) — A Connecticut woman received a five figure check from Connecticut Light & Power after being incorrectly billed for two neighborhood streetlights for 25 years.
“CL&P said it was always on the bill and up to me to inform them of the mistake,” homeowner Grace Edwards told the Hartford Courant. “I said, ‘How could I inform you of something I didn’t know about?’”
What Grace Edwards did not know was that a previous homeowner agreed to pay for streetlights on the block. When Edwards and her husband bought the property, the utility company continued billing the household for the 9500 Lumen HP Sodium and 300 Lumen HP Sodium lamps.
The story first appeared in the Hartford Courant.
Grace Edwards did not learn she was paying $20 a month for the street lamps that illuminated her neighborhood until a prospective buyer requested a history of utility costs, according to the paper.
Edwards was then forced to haggle with the electric company over the billing mistake before it issued a check for $10,491. The company eventually issued an apology to Edwards.
“Mrs. Edwards received service that is below our standards and we have apologized to her for the error and the inconvenience,” Mitch Gross, a spokesman for Connecticut Light & Power wrote in a statement to ABC News. “We have reimbursed her in the amount that she was incorrectly billed plus interest, and will be using this case as a learning experience to identify process and customer service improvements to be sure this doesn’t happen again in the future.”
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio