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Xcel Energy begins mailing refund checks to natural gas customers who were overbilled

MINNEAPOLIS: - Xcel Energy is mailing refund checks to a number of natural gas customers in Minnesota and North Dakota who were overbilled because of an incorrect setting on a wireless reading device Northern States Power Co. had installed on customers’ meters beginning in 1998. Company officials apologized today to customers who received erroneous bills.

Based on analyses of past meter purchases and associated serial numbers, Xcel Energy officials believe the error might have affected approximately 3,400 older residential  natural gas meters located primarily in the east Twin Cities metropolitan area in Minnesota and some in North Dakota. The company still is determining how many of its small-volume commercial natural gas customers might be affected.

Of 1,120 field verifications completed to date, the company has determined that about 20 percent of the devices were incorrectly set. Xcel Energy is continuing to evaluate its Minnesota and North Dakota systems and is developing an audit plan to ensure its customers are being correctly billed.

The company serves approximately 441,600 natural gas customers in Minnesota and North Dakota. None of Xcel Energy’s electricity meters is affected by the problem, nor are the company’s natural gas meters in other states.

“We regret this error and the inconvenience it caused our customers, and we are committed to fully and quickly refunding the amounts customers were overcharged,” said Charles Hutton, vice president for customer care.

The incorrect setting occurred when the wireless devices were attached to older meters, allowing them to be read remotely. While the problem resulted in some customers being charged for half the natural gas they had used, the verifications made to date indicate that the majority of those who received incorrect bills were charged double the amount they owed.

Xcel Energy is continuing to test potentially affected meters and will make refunds if overcharging is found. 

The company is including in the refund checks half of the customer’s monthly natural gas service charge for the period during which a customer was overbilled, even though that charge was not affected by the error.

The company will not seek reimbursement from customers who were under-billed. However, Xcel Energy is contacting those customers to let them know that the natural gas-consumption portion of their bills likely will increase in the future because the error on their meters has been fixed. Xcel Energy is encouraging those customers to participate in company-sponsored conservation programs to mitigate the future bill impacts stemming from the correction. 

The number of customers affected and the total amount of refunds won’t be known until Xcel Energy completes its inspections of the potentially affected meters in August. Customers who are owed refunds will be sent checks; they do not need to contact Xcel Energy or to supply any additional information.

Meanwhile, Xcel Energy has suspended any pending service disconnections for nonpayment for customers whose meters might have been affected until their meters are inspected. 

“We personally are contacting any customer who was overbilled and whose service was disconnected to explain the error and their refund and to answer questions,” Hutton said.

Northern States Power’s meter automation project enabled the company to read natural gas meters remotely by using wireless devices. This automation allowed the company to increase regular reads for meters that were not otherwise readily accessible, such as those in customers’ basements. The billing errors occurred because remote-reading modules attached to some older meters were not set correctly when they were installed.

“Historically, individual errors were corrected as we discovered them,” Hutton said. “Once we established there was a potential pattern of error, we immediately began to conduct field tests of our meters and to mail refunds to customers who had been overbilled.”

Because Xcel Energy currently is authorized to provide refunds going back a maximum of three years, the company today will file a request with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission seeking authorization to make refunds for the amounts overbilled going back to the start of the problem. The filing indicates that Xcel Energy already has begun providing refunds in this manner.

Xcel Energy plans to contact all natural gas customers due refunds by the end of August. Natural gas customers who have not been contacted by then and who believe they have been affected by the error should contact Xcel Energy’s customer service office at 1-800-895-4999.

More information about this matter is available on Xcel Energy’s Web site at www.xcelenergy.com.