News
Attorney General says he will fight CNG effort to recover $1.4 million from consumers improperly billed
By Attorney General's office
Sep 5, 2008 - 7:59:30 PM

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today said he will fight a draft decision by the state Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) allowing Connecticut Natural Gas (CNG) to collect $1.4 million from 3,400 people who were improperly billed earlier this year.

Blumenthal asked the DPUC to forgive the entire over billed amount -- $1.4 million – and impose a $3.4 million fine.

In its draft ruling, the DPUC agreed that CNG improperly billed 3,400 customers in violation of Connecticut law, but rejected Blumenthal’s calls to forgive the overbilled amount or impose a fine. Instead, the decision lets CNG recover the full amount of the illegal billings over a 12-month period and permits CNG to donate $150,000 to Operation Fuel in lieu of any penalty.

Blumenthal said, “This misstep is a slap on the wrist for CNG -- and a costly slap in the face for consumers. The DPUC agrees that the company misbilled consumers and broke the law, but forces consumers to pay for the company’s mistakes. This result compensates CNG for its own errors -- out of consumer pockets.”

In November and December 2007, CNG mistakenly under billed about 3,400 customers. The company sought to make up for the mistake in January by sending those same customers bills that included that month’s usage plus the under-billed amounts from the previous two months.

As a result of CNG’s mistake, those customers’ January bills were
astoundingly high -- hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars more than usual.

Blumenthal said state law prohibits CNG from issuing “make-up bills” requiring immediate payment of amounts under billed in prior months. He said CNG should be barred from collecting the under billed amounts as a penalty for the illegal and improper bills sent in January.

Blumenthal said, “Consumers on strict monthly budgets shouldn’t pay for CNG’s billing errors. CNG issued improper bills, and then tried to recover the cost of its own mistakes by ambushing consumers with unconscionably high bills the next month. We argue that these soaring bills are unacceptable and unlawful. CNG failed to follow the law or even consider how its mistake might harm consumers -- and now should eat the cost of its own mistake.”

Blumenthal said state law prohibits CNG from recovering under billings in a single month, as the company tried to do in this case.

CNG claimed that it first became aware of its inaccurate billing on Jan. 15, after an internal investigation. The company alleged that by that time it had received roughly 30 complaints, six of which it verified. CNG also claimed at that time the fabricated meter reads were the result of a single meter reader. The evidence, however, contradicts CNG's claim.

Approximately 3,195 of the impacted customers were residential and about 204 were commercial and industrial.

Affected residential customers received bills in January 2008 with an average additional charge of $345 to "make up" for the amounts previously underbilled.

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