PLAQUEMINE — During the summer months, higher electricity bills are a regular occurrence; however, for a number of residents in Plaquemine, their utility bills have reached astronomical levels–and they want answers.
When Bryant Camper bought his house, the water meter stuck up high out of the ground, he said. During a social gathering at his house in April this year, a vehicle in the yard hit the meter and he called the service provider. He said someone came out the next day and made a temporary fix because it happened over the weekend.
No one came back to make any other repairs or change out the temporary meter, Camper said.
The people who came to read Camper’s meter told him that the numbers were off, which was causing his bill to run high.
It wasn’t just high, though. His bill for the month of May to June was running over $71,000, Camper told UWK. If not paid by July 20, the bill would become $73,303.
After talking to the services facility, he said his bill dropped to $12,000.
“I called them again. And they said that they’re gonna adjust it and get it right. So now the bill is at like $351, so I’m still needing them to come do a reread, because that’s kind of high, too, since they still never came and changed out the temporary meter,” he said.
Camper said that before this past April, his water bills would normally be around $150 or around $200 if he had people coming over.
Couple’s $7,000 bill
Marlene Griffin and her husband are also among the ones dealing with Plaquemine City light and water bills much higher than they think they should be paying.
When Griffin went to go pay their bill in person, the computer screen showed $7,000. However, the worker said the amount would be fixed, Griffin told UWK.
Later, after the bill was “fixed,” Griffin said, the amount was just over $900. So the couple called the City Light & Water System to figure out why the bill was still so high.
“They said they think that the bill was running kind of low the rest of the months, like from $300 to $400 and they felt that that was too low, so they gave us an estimated bill for $906 that we have to pay,” Griffin said.
Griffin and her husband scrambled to figure out how to pay it off by Sept. 6. It was even more important that they get their bill paid, she said, because her uncle lives with them currently and has a continual feeding pump that needs to be hooked up. Their bill dropped to $400 on Thursday, Sept. 5, Griffin updated UWK.
$900 water bill
The Griffins aren’t the only ones uncertain of how to pay their bills or why costs are so high.
Resident Valerie Christophe said there’s no consistency to the bills, both the charges and when the bills arrive. She said that while she used to own an above ground pool until a couple years ago, her water bill is higher now than it was with the pool.
“I want to just see the calculations, but nobody can show you the calculations, and nobody can explain the calculations,” Christophe said.
Christophe’s sister, Terry Pugh, has had issues with the bills at home she’s renting. In August, she paid nearly $2,000. Over $900 of that bill was just for the month’s water cost.
Pugh said she is raising her grandkids on a fixed income. When she questioned whether someone has been reading her meter, she was told they had. However, Pugh said at the time, she hadn’t seen anyone coming by on her camera system.
While the bill is in the homeowner’s name, Pugh pays the bill directly herself. She is at a loss as to how her bill could be so high unless the meter isn’t being read correctly.
Living elsewhere, but still receiving high bills in Plaquemine
Cindy Weber and her son weren’t even staying on their property, but rather were in a hotel, when they encountered high charges for water and sewer. They had recently purchased a new mobile home and used their old mobile home as a down payment, so her utilities were shut off as they stayed in a hotel from July until the end of August.
Weber’s previous bill was under $300, so she was astounded when she learned her bill was around $767. She was hesitant but paid it, worried that her utilities would be cut off.
She believes she may be overcharged, because of how the numbers have varied on her bills, especially since she did not have anything hooked up at the time. Originally, Weber was told that she might have a water leak, but then was told that she had an RV hooked up at the site. She asked for proof of that since she said she didn’t have anything at the location until very recently.
She has requested a refund from the city for the $700 bill and is awaiting the money currently as she moves into her new trailer.
“How does it go from $298 to $700, and I pay my bill out every, every month?” Weber said.
Staffing issues
According to its website, Plaquemine City Light and Water is made up of four utility services: electricity, natural gas, water and sewer service. The entire system is publicly owned, operated, and maintained by the City of Plaquemine. Services are provided to around 12,000 customers, including residents of Plaquemine and those living in the outlying areas of the city.
The City of Plaquemine owns its own electrical plant, according to its website, and is a member of the Louisiana Energy and Power Authority (LEPA).
City of Plaquemine Communications Director Ellie Hebert told UWK that the city has had multiple issues to overcome this year that have contributed to the customers’ higher bills.
The previous customer service director was frequently out of office with personal issues, leaving the department regularly unsupervised, Hebert said. The director resigned in May and the second in command resigned shortly after, leaving the city to fill the two positions.
Hebert said that a new director, Lenora Crawford, was recently selected and approved. Her first day on the job was August 19.
“She has had to deal with a number of bill issues in a short period of time, in addition to learning its operations and staff, taking interviews to beef up the department, and ramp up training for the staff. She has done a great job and we can already see things settling in that department,” Hebert told UWK.
Hebert said that the bill issues that Griffin, Camper and Pugh are referencing, have been “resolved,” and that no customer should ever have a $73,000 bill. This was a problem that should have been flagged by staff, she added.
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