HOUSTON — Even though their power is off, some customers called KHOU 11 News for help because their accounts online show them using electricity.
“I’m really wondering what CenterPoint is doing as far as restoration is concerned," Richard Smith, who is on his fifth day without power, said.
He lives off 290 and Antoine and lost power Monday, but when Smith checked his account online, something looked off. It showed that on Tuesday, his power was on -- even though it wasn’t.
“There will be errors, maybe honest errors, but there will be some," Dan Parsons, with the Better Business Bureau, said.
He said customers should pay close attention in the days following a storm and if you’re not getting a response from your electric provider, don’t give up.
“So, you sometimes have to layer your complaints to the BBB, to the Texas Attorney General, to the PUC (Public Utilities Commission) if it’s not getting resolved," Parsons said.
We asked CenterPoint what was going on and they told us, “During this time, we may initially estimate usage using historical data if we can’t communicate with meters during outages. Once we have information from the meters, we do update the usage sent to the retail electric providers, who should provide billing adjustments based on actual usage.”
Smith said he hopes it will be fixed before he’s charged.
“Are you billing me for this? Are you going to come back later and erase it and correct the information?” he said.
KHOU also reached out to Smith's electric provider, GEXA Energy, and they provided this statement:
"GEXA understands how difficult the last few days have been in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl and we are committed to helping our community recover and get back to normal. GEXA does not read customers’ meters and instead receives that information directly from the transmission and distribution companies that deliver electricity to homes and businesses across Greater Houston. It is not uncommon for meter readings to be adjusted after extended power outages, at which point GEXA would update customer bills to reflect actual usage."