Duke Energy Reviews

Now, let me just make one thing clear so that one can better understand. Of the $726.81 I have $274.21 of that still pending, but they did acknowledge that they see it and is waiting for it to clear. Now aside from this $274.21- which is still pending (for which I have no idea why there such a big delay in having it applied to my account; being that it was submitted on 12/23/2013) - my account balance was $0.00.

However, speaking with several representatives earlier this evening - to my SHOCK - I was informed that wasn't the case and that the $274.21 is in addition to the $398 and some odd change; plus a small late fee of some sort. That somehow brought it to a GRAND TOTAL of $726.21. Now while math may not be my strongest subject, I with all confidence am sure this is not right (nor moral) at all! So I came online to investigate to see if anyone else were experiencing anything similar and to my surprise came across this 'Consumer Affairs' site and found similar complaints of this monopolistic injustice.

Well so far, DUKE ENERGY is telling me that it's going to take me approximately 24-48 hrs for a supervisor to return my call to try and come to a better resolve with this issue. Though I'm too sure it will end up in my favor - as all the representatives that I've spoken with before keep stating that there's nothing wrong with the METERS! Mind you, that we didn't have a washer or dryer; lights were almost always kept off; along with the heat mostly set at 75 per DUKE ENERGY'S recommendation in order to maintain a steady bill! Now all of a sudden during the month of December and the Bill Sky-rockets! I am Beyond disbelief with this one! P.S. I have receipts of my payment history.

So I canceled my son's and my Doctor appointment and got another appointment three days from now. I'm very sick and so is my son. I went to Social Services and talked with the social worker, she said, "We did pay the $364.79 and this is the check number ** and the check was there on December 31, 2013." She said, "Please contact them and tell them." It had taken $10.00 of gas that I didn't have and a missed Doctor appointment that my son and I both should have kept all because someone at Duke Power isn't doing their job. They did the exact same thing to me last year. Why?

Is it because they feel I should pay it myself or what? Because they have told me on one occasion that it wasn't like I was paying the bill myself... How dare them.Something is wrong for them to bully me each and every year when I reach out for a little help. Now I have to call them in the morning and pray they don't disconnect my lights in 14 degree weather with my son and I sick, missed our appointments to see a doctor. This is crazy and I am really upset. I feel I am going to have a heart attack from these people.

The security deposit is nearly our entire Christmas budget. It is cruel, this monopoly adds hardship onto their customers who are clearly already having a hard time. Thanks, Duke Power, & the spineless regulatory committee that gives them this amount of power over the people. Maybe someone who came up with this policy would like to come explain to our 3 boys why they are not getting anything for Christmas this year.

It has been YEARS since I dealt with a company who takes so long to make their deposits. What do they do with the check when it arrives??? Well, I can tell you what they do NOT do with my check(s)... They do NOT process them in a timely and professional manner. THAT is for sure, and THAT is obvious. Do I think this complaint will somehow change their payment processing procedures??? Nope. But I feel a lot better. If I ever have an opportunity to change Electric Service Providers, you bet I will… FAST.

When I'm home on a regular basis, I could see my bill being around $95.00; lights are on, TV on, washing clothes, dishes, taking a bath, cooking, heating the apartment, things of the nature. But, not $95.00 when I'm barely there; "this is not right". Duke Energy feels they can charge any fee as they please because they have no competition. Duke Energy has North Carolina monopolized and it's not fair to me and the other people of North Carolina. I'm being defrauded of my income and someone needs to look into this situation immediately because I may not be the only one that is going through this. Thank you very much for reading my complaint.

When I received my bill, the entire security deposit was charged. So, I called the company and was told that I had been MISINFORMED about spreading my deposit over the four months. They actually told me that they do not take "payments" on the deposit at all - that it is due in full with the first bill. Obviously I was quite angry with this so I demanded to be transferred to a supervisor. FINALLY - after a 45 minute wait - I was able to speak with someone. They also told me that I had been misinformed and that If I did not pay the entire deposit by the bill's due date that I would be subject to late fees and that if I did not bring the account to good standing by the due date of my next bill that I would be subject to having my services cut off. They would not work with me at all on a payment arrangement of any sort.

How am I supposed to believe anything that their representatives tell me since apparently the last 2 that I spoke to had no idea what they were talking about? In a nutshell, if you have a choice of energy providers, do not choose DUKE energy. Obviously, since they have nearly monopolized the business in many areas, they could give a care less about their customers or the efforts that their customers are willing to make to get their bills paid on time. It sickens me that power would be threatened to be withheld from families who are doing the very best that they can to make ends meet for their children.

Not to mention that I call and I'm trying to work something out with them. I tell the Supervisor Jose, "Please, I can pay $100 now and the remaining $150 on Wednesday." He wouldn't work with me, he kept cutting me off telling me to call 211 and have them help me pay the bill. Finally, I had to take the $100 from my Xmas money. I had saved for the kids and my car payment just to pay these **! It is sad that I HAVE to use them! OUC has never given me issues and when you call them and they see effort that we single parents with small children are making, they actually work with us!!! I wish that one day this company goes bankrupt and that all those unjust people get their karma back! The tears that I have had to weep this day, it's going to come back to DUKE 10x harder!!! It is a shame! And BTW, 211 doesn't help for **! Thanks, Duke Energy for keeping my hopes DEAD!!

In other words, people who pay their bill late are responsible for the people who don't pay their bill at all. With billing date changes and constant increases, it makes paying bills more and more difficult. And if they now have an automated system that makes this determination instead of humans, that means that people lost their jobs thereby increasing Duke's profit. So let's be truthful here, it all comes down to CEOs needing another vacation home or their teenager needs another Mercedes. And with absolutely no other option for power what should a person do?

She said that she's had to turn her A/C on so she didn't understand why I wouldn't. I don't care whether or not she uses her A/C, I know I didn't. She told me that it was what it was - the meter wasn't wrong and that's what I used. When I argued with her the point that me not using the A/C for an entire month increases my bill by almost 2 dollars doesn't make sense, she got aggravated and was almost to the point of shouting. I told her that I do this every year and that my previous bills have been about $75 a month, on the higher end - she pulled up my previous accounts and starts to tell me what I used in the summer. I told her that I am not arguing summer usage (which I only use the A/C at night- gets turned up to 85 during the day), I am arguing winter usage and that it doesn't add up, she got extremely upset - at which point I was fed up and thanked her for her time and hung up.

I called the energy survey line and was met with the same skepticism about my A/C usage. I have the water heater on a timer that allows it to turn on for 4 hours per day, I'm alone during the day and have everything turned off - use ceiling fans when I get warm and make sure I use energy saving light bulbs. I don't know what else to do other than use candles and unplug everything; maybe my bill will be 100 bucks that way (ha ha).

Basically, Duke could care less if you are a busy family who forgot to call and pay your bill. They didn't care that I had an infant and child plus a whole month of groceries. People can't live without power, I know I can't. I'm so sorry I forgot to call you Duke Energy!!!! I pay you every single month so I guess my ENTIRE family must suffer because I forgot to call!

About two years later, my grandmother passed away so I forgot to call on the last day to pay the bill. This happened to be a Friday. I called at 7am Monday morning, told them about the Out of state funeral. I told them that I got paid Wednesday and could pay Wednesday, in TWO days I'd pay the bill. The MANAGER told me she could not make exceptions to my situation and that if I didn't pay that my power would be disconnected. This is what I mean by heartless. Not even an out of state death in the family makes a difference to this company. I've had Duke power for a little over 7 years and this was only my third instance in SEVEN years! How do they get away with this?

They said they wouldn't shut my service off, and extended the bill. Well, they shut the power off on Oct. 17th and all my food in the freezer went bad (a month of food stamps down the drain). I called and got a friend to lay it out once and I would turn over my next three checks to her. They didn't turn it on till later that day. No money, no food. Then I get a letter from them today that next month's bill and they also require $690.00 deposit on top of that, or they are shutting my power off. I guess, we will live in an apt. in 90 degrees with no air, no electric and no food, thanks to Duke Energy, who by the way, has no sympathy for anyone and told me it's not my problem.

I work for Duke Energy in the Customer Service Department. I am not a moron but you are correct. We can say only what they allow. Every call is monitored as well as every key stroke. They don't treat us any better than they treat you. People are written up and fired on a daily basis. High bill calls are the very hard because we are very limited in what we are allowed to say.

Calls are supposed to be kept under 4-5 minutes and high bill calls take much longer. This results in lower scores for employees who are then punished with constant berating and given 2nd or 3rd shift schedules. I feel worst for the elderly who are getting hit with excessive deposits because they pay late on a monthly basis because they receive only one check per month.

Please, I hate going there every day. Duke Energy does not care about its employees or providing customer service. Please don't take it out on the poor person taking your call. It's a job that we need in order to pay our own bills. Duke Energy fires employees that get behind on their bills. We are in the same boat as you in having to deal with this horrible monopoly.

Water heater was shut off at the breaker box 2 days after the bill was last read. Duke Power was supposed to call me back to make some payment arrangements (per conversation with one of their individuals). No call yet. Been a week now. Let the landlord try to evict him. He'll think twice when he ends up reported to the county and in court!! My son has a possible place to move to, electric & water included, more space too. Hoping it comes to be by the end of this month or 1st of next month. Then it's "goodbye" to Duke Power and a sorry landlord too!! Pray for us.

I tried to explain to them that I just paid them $162 in mid September. They told me that they sent me a bill before that I never received! What's up with these people? They have this attitude that I have to kiss their you-know-what for them to do their JOBS. And from what I experienced is being arrogant and terribly RUDE to their customers. I will take this to their regulators - For answers to their Customer Service.

I was told by a former Duke employee that this energy company takes more advantage of customers like me who live in areas that they have no other energy company to choose from or that would supply electricity services to. He also added that it's a shame to live here (in Clermont. FL) and be obligated to have this company's service or otherwise I would have to move. And he was not the only one who I have heard horrific comments about in regards to Duke Energy. It is obvious so many different people have a complaint about this company. Something has to be wrong.

I have a friend who lives less than 1/2 mile away from me in a 4-bedroom 2-floor house. She has a different energy company and her bills range from $110 to $120 a month.Then my downstairs neighbor lives in a 2-bedroom apartment just like my apartment, same square footage, and I told her about my bill. She couldn't believe it. So showed me her bill and everything in her apartment that she had attached to an electrical outlet (a lot of things, far way more than me). She has five people living with her and her bill never comes higher than 90 dollars. She even said something must be wrong. Yet I live alone also in a two-bedroom and my bill is close to 30. I used to pay in New York around and no more than 200 dollars every 2 months. So yes, something is definitely wrong with this electric company. Unless someone makes these complaints a big deal and investigates this company. My kWh usage is always the same and my bill just keeps going higher and higher every month.

We did a few tests and tried out shutting off all the circuit breakers and the meter was still reading as if it was still in use. We also disconnected everything after use, except a TV and the fridge. We also serviced the A/C and the water heater. We did everything to lower the cost of my bill. You would think that worked? It actually made it worst because my bill was 20 dollars more than what I paid for in the prior month. So I called Duke and spoke with a representative. It was like talking to a malfunctioning robot. This human representative was like programmed to say the stupidest advice and told me to go in their website and look into how we could save energy, after I repeatedly told him my usage of energy is always the same, nothing has changed in my apartment. I even added the tests and try outs to lower my bills but we received an even higher bill.

I told the representative that I would like the company to look into this matter. Once again the representative repeated what he already had told me before, to go online in their website and look into how I can save energy. A total idiot is what that representative was, a moron who I guess every time he shows up to work, his superiors shove a chip up his ** and program him to say whatever dumb crap that comes out his mouth as an excuse.

I have heard from this people so many nonsense questions to use as excuses from "How many people live with you? How may bedrooms? How many square foot is your apartment?" to "What you have your A/C set up to?" I also heard that the summer is a factor for high energy bills, blah, blah, bs, blah, blah. And all those questions I have answered and I still have a high bill. I guess with this hell-like temperatures in Florida, we are expected not to use the A/C or anything that runs electric to save? Please, someone, start an affordable energy company in the Clermont area. I guarantee you will have lots and lots of happy loyal customers that would make you rich so that Duke Energy company could go back to the burning pit hole they crawled out of.

I complained about the excessive bill (last month was $138, current bill is $368, previous bills never over $100) and they sent someone out to check the meter. All he did was look at it and say it didn't appear to have been switched - he didn't check to see if the meter was working correctly. I just now called again and was told they were going to send someone out to check the meter again, and if need be, would replace it with a digital one but if it continued to read "correctly" (avg 96 KWH per day!) that I would have to pay the bill. Something is wrong in "Denmark". Also told me to get an electrician to check it all out - duh??? I live in apartment, it's the landlord's responsibility - and he's not a responsible person, 80 yrs old, retired electrician and when he comes to check anything out, he's drunk!!! Already told my son to find somewhere else to live because I won't be paying any $368 a month and maybe more bill when it's not being used inside that apartment - got the feeling that somebody needs to get off their ** and do some real work instead of telling me all about their new digital way of doing things - HOT??? Yes, I am!!

Now, my power is shut off and my 2 y/o son that has bronchitis and on a nebulizer can't do his breathing treatments until 6 pm this evening when I get paid to give them their ** money. I swear, DUKE ENERGY is a bunch of ** crooks. They say one thing and then change it around and will not take credit for their mistakes. If you are an employee of Duke Energy, then go ** yourself and I hope your life is miserable. This company needs to shut down for unfair rates and stealing. ** YOU, DUKE ENERGY. I hope I can get into another house with a different power company so I can SCREW you out of two months of bills and then not claim that it was MY mistake and fix the problem immediately.

My husband and I have had electric service with Duke Energy since October of 1987. Although we have struggled to always make our payments monthly, we have always paid our account every two months in full. I was shocked to hear that Duke Energy would impose a security deposit on a customer that has established themselves over 26 years ago. This made my family have to pay $662.00 by October 3rd, 2013. For a couple raising a family of 4 children, where my husband and I both work full time, this amount of money going out of our home will cause our family an extreme hardship.

I am troubled that such a large corporation would consider security deposits for any existing customers. I explained that we had only moved residences once during our 26 year relationship with Duke Energy and were not planning to move anytime in the future. Can anyone give any advice on where to turn for counseling about this situation? My husband and I would be interested in preventing further hardships being imposed on future families if possible.

So I began making calls to Duke Energy and finally got connected to a supervisor but was rudely told that I agreed to the arrangement dates and the 23rd was the last payment date so I wouldn't be able to get services restored unless I paid the $484.00 past due balance which included a $15.00 reconnect fee. I knew that they were in the wrong and I'm very angry b/c of what they did so I was pissed at that time (and still am) b/c my kids would be home soon and I really didn't have any reason as to why we didn't have power. So my husband called and asked to speak to a supervisor too but he got the runaround like I figured he would. Then the representative told us that there wasn't a supervisor there that could talk to him. He said, "You mean to tell me that of all the supervisors at Duke Energy that there aren't any there?"

The representative told him that he didn't say they weren't there but there weren't any available and I'm sure he was thinking your wife has already talked to us so what do you think you're gonna do to get the outcome different? After he told them he would hold for one. The representative said okay and put him on hold but you could tell he was aggravated that he was having to do anything and he probably thought we were crazy. A few minutes later, another supervisor came to the line and my husband said that it wasn't supposed to be disconnected unless the payment wasn't made on the 27th not the 23rd and we knew that the calls were recorded so my husband said to check the voice recording. It's automatically saying that when you first call that calls are recorded for quality assurance purposes and that was what we needed the lady to check the recording for.

She said, "Do you remember what phone number you called in for the arrangements?" I said, "It was our home number which started with 864 number and she said, "It will probably take about an hour for me to check and listen and I will make my determination and then call y'all back and go from there." So we were gonna sit there and wait the hour but we didn't want the kids coming home and us not having no power and of course they would automatically call the other missing parent and they'd assume we couldn't pay it and that'd be another battle plus we knew we couldn't sit here for hours with 6 kids and no power. So we went to run errands. Before we got halfway down the second street, we had a family emergency and had to come let our neighbors know what was going on and we sat at the neighbor's house until at least about 4:30 pm.

Then we headed to Spartanburg to keep busy b/c we knew we would be hearing from the supervisor at Duke Energy and figured we'd be okay and if they tried to cover it up, we'd try to get the power back on the next day somehow. Honestly we didn't really think about the fact that we didn't get a call back until around 7 pm and we'd been busy but the day had to come to an end and kids had to get ready for bed so of course I started freaking out. We tried to contact Duke Energy back but every time my husband or I called they hung up the phone and we got tired of repeated hang ups so we didn't know what else to do. We knew that we couldn't bring them (our kids and niece and nephews that live with us too) back here with no power and no air so we were at our day's desperate end and IT WASN'T OUR FAULT!!!!!

I called my sis-in-law that also lives with us and told her that apparently they weren't gonna check the recording and we were still getting the runaround so when she got off work we'd have to get a hotel room to get the kids bathed and some sleep if possible. She said it'd be late and cash was tight for us so we had no choice but to sit and wait on her to get off work. While we waited, I contacted my bank and explained the situation to them as well b/c I have overdraft protection but my cards weren't working and we didn't know what to do at this point. The banker told me to try calling the power company and giving them the routing and account number since my cards weren't working and maybe I'd have some luck.

So I tried and it went through and gave me a confirmation number stating the payment had been accepted around 11 pm the same night. I didn't know what else to do since I live off a social security check every month and this bill was mine b/c no one else was here at that time yet. We spent 7 long and frustrating hours in the Jeep closed up with the kids in a parking lot waiting on my sis-in-law to get off at 2 am and then we couldn't afford to get a hotel room so we came home and planned to go to sleep then try again first thing in the morning but when we came in, my niece flicked on the living room light and we had power... REALLY?????

Then I find out the next day that the neighbors had seen someone come back as soon as we left earlier that day and walk around our house, then do something and leave. Thanks to Duke Energy my husband and I had no choice but to sit and wait for my sis-in-law with 6 kids in a car for 7 hours when we could have gotten a call back from a supervisor and we would have known earlier in the day and this could have been corrected and we wouldn't have been put through all of the chaos and displaced the kids b/c of an error they made. Our services were wrongly disconnected but they couldn't keep a promise and call us back either way. I think they need to get some better employees in there and prevent this from happening to begin with but I could have been given a call back as I was promised!!!!!

There's no way I'd recommend this power company to anyone... Too bad we can't choose who we want to handle our electric needs!!!!!! Duke Energy needs to help us from being displaced in this event and losing all of our food and if someone will answer, I will complain and maybe get someone to listen who might care!!!!! And not only did they cost me money and headaches for unnecessary disconnect, they might also cause me to be short on my rent and there will be fees that I'm sure they will pay b/c I didn't know the situation then....

After setting up an appointment for the following Saturday, I became ill and had emergency surgery. I called Duke from the hospital to reschedule. They agreed to come the following Saturday between 12-4 p.m. That day, the tech called me at 3:50 p.m. and said they were running late and could they come the following Saturday. I said yes, but please keep the same time, between 12-4 p.m..

The following Saturday, the service tech showed up at 10:40 a.m. - I wasn't home. He left a note on my door to call and reschedule. I called and left a message to reschedule and lo and behold, I got home this evening and I have no gas service - no hot water - no heat. It's going down into the 30s tonight and I just got out of the hospital. I received no notice that they were coming today to change the meter. I received no prior warning that my gas service would be disconnected. I cannot take off work as I have missed three weeks of work due to illness. I have just returned to work. Now I have to beg for time off work so that Duke can undo the damage they have done.

I am going to talk with every local news station and radio station. I am on a campaign to stop the abuse that Duke thoughtlessly imposes on its "customers". What other choice do we have? We are at their mercy. It's criminal what they have done to me and so many others. Criminal. They are bullies. I've read the other complaints on this board and Duke is heading for eventual extinction. It won't happen overnight but the terrible service or lack of service they provide cannot continue for long.

About 2 weeks after this, a Duke technician comes out to inform me that service will be shut off due to "failure of paying a deposit". I tell him it was paid in June and ask how I'd even have power if I never paid a deposit; he shrugs. Eventually it gets straightened out and I thought all was well. Until earlier this week I received a letter from Duke thanking me for my business with a check for the remaining portion of my deposit attached. Again, I call because deposits aren't returned until you cancel service. I'm eventually told that my account was closed because someone gave them my address for service. And I'm told I need to repay the deposit in full. I talked to several reps about this and all said the same thing. They can't "deny someone service". Basically, ANYONE can have your account closed by saying they're moving into your home without Duke even attempting to confirm that you no longer need their services. I have to confirm that I want to close a Facebook profile but not with something as unimportant as electricity. The entire thing is so ridiculously absurd.

I explained to the rep the extra amount and asking why and was transferred to another person without any response. It was then, that rep went through this whole long winded explanation of this service. HomeWire Deluxe which sends out a electrician to repair or replace any damaged circuit breakers or anything electrical in the home for up to $1,200 per year. Also if you need a fan to be installed or something like that. I then looked over my paper statement and saw the charge with the HomeWire on top.

I then explained I had never signed up for such thing. I would have remembered something like that. He told me I agreed to it over the phone a year ago. I know I didn't agree to any such thing. He said he had notes that a customer service person spoke to me on the phone updating my account info and I was asked if I wanted this and they say I said yes. I explained again in length to this rep that I know for a fact I never agreed to this, I never even heard of it! I asked if they had a voice authorization recording on file, he responded with we don't save it for a year. So it’s their word against mine!

I am a single mother on a tight budget I would remember or know if I agreed to such a service. He then stated he can remove the service but cannot offer a refund for past year and I need to check my bill every month. He said I need to be sure to check my bills and everything on them. So in essence he is saying it’s my fault that I didn't check my bill to catch this sooner. They could do nothing more than take it off from this point. I asked to speak to a supervisor and he said there wasn't anyone else I could speak to. I hung up and called back and explained to another rep. They did transfer me to a supervisor and that person said they would put in a request to see either 1 month or up to 3 months of a credit only. And even then I won't know if I can receive that. I have to wait a week or so to see if they will even give me that.

What kind of scam is this? How many people don't look at every line on their utility bill? You know your phone bill would be the same or cable bill every month. But your electric bill will fluctuate month to month and something like $9.99 can be overseen quite easily. What about older customers how many times this may happen to them or people with paperless statements, how many customers are being charged not realizing with this kind of scam!

This original rep that they claim asked me if I wanted to add this service, do they get some commission or kick back for this? Can it be possible that this rep signed me up without my permission and did it for the commission? Either way Duke Energy will offer no other recourse other than the 1 month or 3 at most to be refunded/credited. I want the full year credited back! This is an atrocity how they handled my call from the get go. For them to say I agreed to something I know I didn't without anything verifiable other than notes, and then to insult me with its my problem to check my bill attitude is appalling. I hope there is someone out there that could help, look into or let others know, so this won't happen to anyone else.

Oh, one more thing - the technician who shut the power off this morning stated to my daughter, "Prepare for the worst." Really? Why so rude? And the technicians are not associated with Duke Energy, but yet the trucks they drive have Duke Energy on them?? What really ticks me off is I was actually on the phone with Duke Energy making a payment this morning when the technician was there. He could have waited for a confirmation # I received after making the payment. All he would have had to do was make a phone call and find out the payment was made! Although, the email received clearly stated the total amount was due no later than 9/6/13.

I am extremely angry and disappointed in the treatment of customers from Duke Energy - and wait for it... There is no corporate office number the employees can provide you with - merely an address in St. Petersburg, FL. I'm sure it is simply because they would be inundated with massive call volumes! I will be writing a letter to the corporate office at: P.O. Box 14042, St. Petersburg, FL 33733. Not that it will do any good, but it shall be written nonetheless.

A representative noted the payment on my schedule date and I'm later finding out the note is not satisfactory because they are not counting the payment I made on the schedule August 13, 2013 date but the agreement of the arrangement prior. When asked to talk to a supervisor the comment they will say the same as the representative I spoke with has said, and also have a case been reversed based upon information as to my case and a reply no. I explain the circumstances and the time frame in which the first call was made notifying Duke Energy and the payment made, and a second call making Duke Energy aware and finding out it has been overlooked with payment being made on schedule date. Only response Duke Energy is holding me to the arrangement prior to making payment.

The Duke Energy customer service is very bad there is no compassion very mean. I tell customer service representative that my wife could die from the heat. They reply, take her to the hospital emergency. I ask for health forms they tell me she has to be on a breathing machine. Our electric was turned off last week a $225 bill. I had to borrow the money to turn it back on. Duke Electric sends me a letter dated August 7th. It states, "Because you have been delinquent 2 times, we require a $100 deposit. It will show on your next bill." That is a total of $450.00 that Duke Energy will have. Duke Energy’s customer representative told me to find assistance. Energy assistance in Florida is dried up. I’m a veteran I love this country so much. Why do big companies treat the poor so bad? My highest bill in my apartment has only been 225.00. I think a $350 deposit is enough. Check the record I have paid my bill for 10 years with late fees included.

When he called to check on the account, they told him that my bill was added to his because they claimed we were married. We are not married, never have been married. So my question is, how and where did they get this information? He suggested that I call them and ask them about my account. First off, I couldn't even access my account number, not by my social security number either. So I finally got to a lady and asked her about my account. She said that it was added to my spouse's account. I politely told her that we were not married. She said that I had added him to my account. I know I didn't do this. What's mine is mine; and what's his is his.Then she tried to explain to me the reason, which wasn't even a reason. It was more like beating around the bush and avoiding the question all together. He got the same results.

Where do they get this information about people? How can they just add one person's account on top of someone else's account and expect no questions asked? Neither one of us can get anywhere on this matter and I don't know what we are going to do at this point. In two weeks, we may be sitting in the dark because we have no extra money lying around. Our electric bill randomly runs at $200 the most. We have nobody to help us out and I have a disabled son that may be getting the shaft in the ends because we cannot pay the bills. We were fine until this and now we are at a total loss.

Duke Energy needs to get better records and not expect other people to pay another person's bills. I would fight this somehow, but they won't even let you talk to a supervisor. The only thing they said was that they wanted $450 by the 18th. This is ten days from now. He only has one more payday and won't draw anywhere close to that amount. We will have to go power or food. We shouldn't have to suffer because of their mistakes. Our personal records is none of their business. Credit maybe, but that's it. It is people like us that live on little or no income that can't pay these ridiculous amounts of money. The rates are supposed to go up, how are any of us going to be able to pay this amount? I don't know what to do right now and I am at the end of my rope.

In the old days, you just had to show a cancelled check for them to credit payments. I sent over a fax which show the transactions on my bank statement, transaction numbers and the amounts and dates paid to Progress Energy/Duke Energy but they told me today it is insufficient evidence that they were paid! They demanded something they called a pipeline and when I told them that was meaningless terminology and they had to explain it. They insisted my bank would understand. Guess what? My bank has no clue what they are asking for but is sending them a fax of the transactions. Duke is robbing me of two months' worth of payments even though they have deposited the money under the old account number for Progress Energy.

The consequences? Well I have a bill for three months of electric service and a past due balance they say I still owe for the two months I have already paid for. So they are threatening to shut off my electric service unless I pay them over $400.00 immediately.

Regardless, I am not past due (at the most, 3 days). They have disconnected my account due to non-payment of the full balance of the deposit that was supposed to be split between payments and I was assured that it was corrected!!! Now, I have to wait till 7 am Eastern time to speak to someone. Their customer service is crap! Their website is mishandled. I am disgusted! If I could go through another electric company, I'd switch NOW!!! Duke Energy SUCKS! And my food is rotting while they play games with their online customers and can't answer their phones.

When I moved to my current residence, which is much smaller and requires much less electricity, Duke combined the bill from my old residence with that of the current residence. I never received the $150 security deposit back from the last residence. I am now being told that Duke has added another $200 security deposit to my current bill because I have had two consecutive months of late payments and that I will not receive the $150 deposit back from the old residence. If not for the security deposit of $200, my bill would be $147 which I could pay, but Duke's billing practices has made a very difficult situation even worse. I lost my primary source of income almost two years ago and have had to manage on part-time employment and sometimes no employment since then.

Duke's billing practices are outrageous. I cannot believe that it is legal for a company to keep a security deposit after the bill for the property has been paid and to add another security deposit to the bill without notice, ensuring that the bill will be more difficult to pay. Based on my experiences with Duke Energy during the past 8 years, I would give this company 0 stars, but one is the lowest you allow and that field was required to submit this review.

This is a scam by Duke Energy to collect a $40 reconnect fee! NO ONE reads their entire bill, and especially the small print in a small box at the bottom of the page!! I feel that this is illegal, since they had combined both bills, and printed a new due date next to the combined total. UPDATE: I paid the past due amount ($140) the same day as the shut off, and was told someone would be out before the end of the day to reconnect, and there would be a $40 reconnect fee on my next bill. I live in Florida and it is very warm, so I packed up my grand kids and we went to the mall. When I arrived home, the power was on. THREE days later, a man from Duke Energy knocks on my door asking me where my power box was to turn the power on. I proceeded to tell him that my power was turned back on three days ago. He still wanted to look at my box, so I directed him to it. I do not know what he did to my box, but today I received my new bill and there are strange charges on it, to include: "Investigation of unauthorized use" in the amount of $75, and "Revenue Protection Department" in the amount of $47, and "Reconnect fee" in the amount of $40.

My total bill is outrageous and is the highest ever in the over 12 years that I have resided here! I of course called to find out what this all meant. I am now being told that someone has tampered with my electrical/meter box and something about a broken seal. I am now waiting to hear from the Investigation Department, as to the names of the three Duke Energy men that all were in contact with my box. Duke supervisor David told me that he cannot give out the names. David told me that someone would call me right away. It is now 5:10 pm Wed., July 3, and I last spoke with Duke approx. 50 minutes ago, so I am still waiting to hear something. If anyone out there has had a similar experience happen with Duke Energy, I would love to hear from you. I am contemplating contacting an attorney about the bill scam, which in fact is what has started this entire thing!

Now, there are Duke employees coming to my residence and tampering with my electric box in order to scam more money from me?? I was accused of tampering with my own power box!! Then Duke accused my family members and now they say, "It could be your neighbor, it could be anyone…" Give me a break!! The homes in my neighborhood are million dollar homes! My neighbors are not going to tamper with anyone's property! Duke employees tampered with it, or forgot to apply a seal/tag after reconnecting, in order to scam an additional $122 out of me! This company needs to be held accountable for their illegal actions! Someone needs to put a stop to Duke Energy scams!! Thanks for allowing me to share this.

Duke received our first payment of $745 on the 17th and still disconnected even though we were told that we had until 21st for disconnection. We are not open on Mondays so when we arrived Tuesday to open, we discovered the power to be off and all our freezers to be defrosted, thus causing water damage of our floors and all our beer and food spoiled! I will not rest until someone at Duke loses their job and our business receives a settlement to replenish our sales loss, wages lost, product lost, business lost and our personal pain and suffering. Duke Energy is an inept company and their idiotic mistake has cost us our business. We are approaching filing bankruptcy as the longer we're closed, the further behind we are.

My concern is why they do not clean up the mess they make. My husband is now permanently disabled because of a log left on the ground instead of being removed. Most everyone knows the land is leased to hunters. For safety reasons, Duke should remove all Large debris after cutting so this never happens to anyone else! It is so very hard to watch a rugged man like my husband moan & cry from severe pain constantly! He lost his business but thank God we get just enough disability to cover our mortgage & utilities & life ins. Food is "optional"!

Please, Duke, clean up the Large debris! A 12-14 foot log is too large to leave on the ground that is hidden after grass grows so tall! It changed my husband's life forever and mine! It almost cost my husband his life! He will have to live the rest of his life in severe pain and I have to stand by and watch! Don't let this happen to anyone else! Just use common sense and dispose of the dangerous, larger logs! You say you leave logs in manageable length, but 12-14 feet is not what I consider to be manageable! We have possession of the log showing it was cut. Please keep our land safe!! Clean up your mess! Thank you.

We called several times until 9:30. When I spoke to a supervisor who again said there is no way to contact the tech even though we referred to the note that was supposed to be in the computer. The tech got here and he told us, who by the way is a contractor, that Duke lies to their customers all of the time, and that he never got such a message in his computer. He even laughed about it because as he said he has heard this several times before from other customers. I was angry I called Duke and told the woman what the tech said. She paused and her only response was that she didn't know why he would say such a thing and that the note was in the computer. This company is ridiculous and they don't care about their customers!!!

On June 11, 2013, I just came out of the shower and went to get on my laptop when I noticed that it was not connected to the internet, so I looked over at the modem and saw that the lights were not on. I got up and tried to turn a light on but it was not working, so I went downstairs and saw a Duke Energy truck. I asked the guy if he turned off my power, and he said yes, because I was stealing power. I said what he said, that I was stealing power. I said, "Why would I be stealing power?" He said, "Because the meter is running and it was shut off." I said, "Sir, I do not need to steal power. I had it transferred from my previous address." He said, "You did not pay a deposit, and now it is under investigation." I said hold it.

I called Duke Energy, and they said that I never paid a deposit. I said, "For what? I had service with you for 17 years. Why do I need to pay a deposit?" "Because of your payment history." Okay, it might have been late, but it was paid without being cut off. They made me pay $100.00. Then she said that she was charging me another fee, but she had to calculate it. She came back on the phone and charged me an additional $223.25 for energy protection. I asked, "For what?" She said, "Because this is a fraud incident." So I had to pay a total of $323.25. I haven't even lived at this property a month yet. I want my money back. They just stole from me; who's the real thief? Then, when I paid all the money, the guy was still there. He was very nasty; no social skills at all. He would not put my service back on. He knew I paid all this money and left.

I called Duke back six times on June 11, 2013, but they keep telling me that it would be back on by 9:00. Guess what? It still is not on. My husband and I had to stay in a motel and eat out. I also want that money back.

Very unprofessional, uncaring and told me I'd have to pay not only two light bills now to get power restored but a $260.00 deposit!! No words to articulate my anger at this injustice!! No way on this earth did I pay a man’s bill that I didn't even have a bill for!!! But I am just a single, working mom, trying to make it from paycheck to paycheck and powerless (no pun intended) to fight this huge company. So I ended up paying close to $600.00 for doing absolutely nothing incorrect. Out of all the reps I spoke with, I got a different story from each one. One even stretched so far as to say I owed for April until I read her my confirmation number! So take it from "just a customer" when I say it would be very wise for you to be diligent about your payments, your acct. numbers, receipt numbers, etc. - although I did, and they still screwed me out of $600.00 I'm still trying to make up.

I called Duke Energy and they said that The Utilities Commission okayed it for them to underhandedly go in and charge people a deposit fee for having late pays and/or disconnections from the past. Okay, so they couldn't get their little deg on rate increase so they decided to go in and backdoor people who are already struggling to pay bills an added fee that is ridiculously high! So they have decided to go in and get extra deposits from people who have already paid deposits to them from the beginning when they initially got service. That sounds illegal and should be against the law to get two deposits for an account that is already active and has been for years, plus has never been disconnected, not one time ever. If the Utilities Commission did give the green light for that mess, they should be ashamed of themselves!

I along with others wish there were other options for power because Duke Energy would be nonexistent just like Bellsouth became just about. We have choices in cable, gas and phones. We should have a choice in who we have service for power with. I hope this complaint goes further than just one person reading it. I have already contacted the news station to have it investigated. Someone needs to check into this and there's no telling how many people they are doing this to. THE RESULT OF THE 2 PHONE CALLS THAT TRANSPIRED BETWEEN ME AND DUKE ENERGY WAS THAT I HAVE TO PAY THE BILL OR ELSE MY POWER WOULD BE CUT OFF, PERIOD. No if's or and's about it! Now, this is less than a month's notice!

I told her I had to pick my mother from the apartment because there was no power. She transferred me to Caroline ** who told me I needed to call maintenance and have the main power breaker turned on. That infuriated me. I told her why no one could have told us that before the office at the apartment complex was closed. We called plenty of times. She said it was not Duke Energy's fault and if I wanted to have my 85-year old mother in her apartment, I needed to have maintenance to turn on the power. What? Isn't Duke Energy responsible for turning that breaker on? She kept arguing with me and I asked for a supervisor. She said she was a supervisor. I requested for my phone call to be recorded so I can have proof or this supervisor's skills in dealing with an upset customer. I requested someone else and Naomi came on the line. I explained the situation to her.

Me being upset was Duke Energy's fault because nobody took their time to research and find out about the breaker early in the day when we called. We still have no power because we have to wait until the morning to have maintenance come and turn on the main breaker at the meter. I know this is not the first complaint in regards customer service. I guess that customer service doesn't care how they treat their customer because Duke Energy is the only power company in Orlando, FL. I hope the CEO will take a look at his company image.

I wasn't aware or informed that someone would be coming out today to shut my power off at 3:30 in the afternoon, and that I was supposed to call them that I had made a payment. On the bill it said I had until tomorrow to make the additional current payment, so them coming out and doing this was totally unexpected, considering it was 91 degrees outside when they did this and we were in the house. They disconnected and ran off before anyone had a chance to even go outside!!! They turned the power off even though their system showed that the past due amount had been paid, and they were going to charge a reconnection fee. How unethical is that????

I called and spoke to two supervisors and it is the first time I ever spoke to a customer service representative that had attitude. What the heck kind of people do they hire there? Bill collectors, for goodness' sake. No compassion, can't reason with them, total monopoly attitude since we do not have any other options. They just recently merged with Progress Energy, who we've had ever since they took over Florida Power, and that is some 29 years. Way to treat their customers.

Is this ethical practice? Am I wrong? The bill said I had until the 31st!!! Payment paid in the system, and they still send someone out to shut the power in scorching heat. It took them a couple of hours to send someone back, and they have no way of "contacting" their drivers. If this is true, how would they know if someone actually knew they were supposed to call if they made a payment? How would their driver know that an account was paid????

Two days ago, my daughter-in-law miscarried, and I started a new job a few weeks ago, so I get a paycheck tomorrow. My husband's income is very nice, but not when feeding and supporting so many, and three are in college. I took a full time job just to help out. I asked them to turn it back on and I will give them the credit card to pay the bill if they will post it tomorrow, after I get paid. I offered to postdate a check. After 11 years of service, I cannot get any assistance from them. My house is now without electricity, and we have nine in the house. No refrigeration, no air conditioning, nothing. This is a monopoly or maybe an oligopoly, and they know we cannot get service anywhere but with them, and they don't care about the customer at all. They need to see the video "Give Them the Pickle" by Bob Farrell.

The best way to encourage loyalty and goodwill is to show the customer you understand their plight. If this were like phones are now, I would seek an alternate company, but we are stuck with them. When you are happy, you tell an average of four people, but when you are unhappy, you tell an average of nine. (That was several years ago. I am pretty sure those numbers are higher now that we have the internet, Facebook, and other web-based boards). I would never willingly do business again with them, if I had a choice. I can't wait until we retire and build a self-sustaining cabin somewhere quiet, where we never have to see their name again. I don't blame the employees. They are trying to make a living like the rest of us. I blame the company and the culture. There is no amount of publicity at this point that would paint them in a good light.

In the latter part of 2005, I moved to Charlotte, NC. When I went to get Duke service, I was told I had a bill in my name that was unpaid. The address was unknown to both my BFF and me. I advised that maybe some of my information that was in my truck was used. They mailed me this fraud packet and I sent in proof that I owned my home in Michigan during the time, the police report of my truck being stolen, income tax returns showing Michigan Bell as my employer during the time and various utility bills from Michigan!

After that I decided to continue staying with my BFF instead of moving, but assumed this was resolved. In 2007, when I was obtaining an apartment, I inquired to establish service and they said they never got anything from me. But after I sent it by fax, I called and they said they had gotten it and it would need to be reviewed! I was pissed but obtained all of this paperwork and had it notarized again. This time, I called and called until they said they had it. Then they kept saying it was being reviewed so long that I ended up having my daughter put the service in her name. Again, there was no resolution!

Now I know many would say pay the $165 and move on, which when I called today for the 3rd time was my intention. However, the rude service and nasty attitudes would not allow me to. I will get the things for the fraud packet and hand deliver it to someone in person and they will review it right there or I am filing a complaint so fast on them! If they asked the darn person for 1/4 of the things they are asking me to prove my innocence when they fraudulently opened the account, this would not have happened!

He explained the fridge is unplugged and we winterized the home; it is not being heated. They offered to split the payments into three and said, "Pay or we will disconnect you." The other 12 people on my list have experienced the same problems getting $400-$500 power bills. Duke gives them the same response. I will file a complaint through the Better Business Bureau next if Duke Energy does not do something to resolve the issue. Our power bill is in the name of Jason **, PO Box **. You should have our contact information and I will give you the names and addresses of the other residents.

I should say I've never had my power turned off for non-payment. I received my bill today and they have added $272.00 to my bill for a deposit! So with my electricity, reconnect fee and deposit, I now owe $574.00 and $374.00 is due now! I called Duke and spoke to a supervisor, in which she was like speaking to the automated service. I would ask her a question and it would take her 5-10 seconds to answer or she'd ask me to repeat the question. No regard or understanding for me. She had no care at all for what had happened or even that I had made payment on time and it was their fault for processing the payment slowly.

I've been a customer since 2002 and I've never given them reason to do this to me. For those of you that use online banking through your bank, be sure to pay three days before its due. Duke doesn't tell their customers about their slow processing of payments made from your bank's online bill pay. Now I know why! What's most disturbing to me is they are my only choice. You have to put up with their policies. We have no say.

Second month in, bam, late charge. So, I fixed that, reset my auto pay in February and then - boom! - another late payment in March because I set up my account after Feb's payment was due. I mean, really? They do whatever sleazy thing they can do to get money out of people. These people have no conscience. They know that we need this service and they have figured out a way to monopolize it and then just screw people out of their money. Lowlife, scummy, repulsive way of doing business. They are honestly a top reason why I do not want to live in this area, or any area, that is serviced by Duke Energy.

I found her comments hurtful, offensive, and ignorant. Regardless of anyone's race, gender, religion, and sexuality, what she said was inappropriate and demeaning. I filed a complaint to her superiors when the incident happened and haven't heard anything since. I just would hate for anything like this to happen to anyone else because now I and my family do not feel comfortable going in there, because we know this is acceptable behavior. As an employer, I wouldn't want an employee who finds it comical to speak to customers this way.

The first gentleman I talked to kept putting me on hold so finally, I asked him who he was talking to while putting me on hold. He told me he was talking to his supervisor. I then asked to speak to his supervisor and was told he was unavailable to talk to. So I asked for his name and was told that he was on the Boyd Team. I continued to ask for the supervisor's name and was put on hold several times before actually speaking to the so-called supervisor, which by the way would not give me his last name. He then continued to tell me that there is no reason for them to replace my meter, that if something was wrong with my meter it would slow down or stop not speed up. I asked him to tell me that there was no possible way that an electronic device could not speed up. It can slow down but not speed up. It seems if it can slow itself down that it could also speed itself up.

I finally just got fed up and hung up. I am going to have an electrician and heat and air come out to my home just to recheck and sign off. But in the meantime, I am going to contact my local news channel and the BBB. I was requested to make a $728 security deposit back in December from Duke Energy and instead got a guarantor signature in place of paying Duke Energy any more money. I went back on all my bills and have noticed since January that my average KWH has almost doubled. It just seems strange that this has happened since they wanted that security deposit and did not get it. It is a monopoly and Duke Energy is abusing their power because they know we cannot go anywhere else to get power unless we move. I am highly upset about this and am sick and tired of paying Duke Energy all my money every month. One of my paychecks will not even cover this bill!

However, because I am a credit risk, they are going to hold that $270 for a full 11 months and then return it back to me with interest. I asked if I could have a longer time to pay the $270 deposit, but they said that I only had two months to continue paying my regular bill plus pay half of the deposit. Now, I have to choose between catching up on my house so that I do not lose it or keep my electricity on. This is a cold-hearted company at best. We have also been having continued interruptions of our service repeatedly for no reason. This company needs to appreciate the people who keep their doors open more. I am sure everyone is having a hard time out there and they are just adding more to the people who are truly struggling! I hate this company!

I encourage everyone to be at any rate increase hearings in your area. Let it be known that Duke is not going to do as it pleases. This reminds me of the old days of the cable TV monopoly. Customer service got a lot better when other options were out there. I hope this post is found some day in the future where Duke has lost its monopoly to some form of new technology. Maybe, whoever finds this will laugh as they leave Duke and get power from another source. Until then, feel sorry for the people who cannot pay their bill. Imagine paying the bill and then the next bill be tripled due to a large deposit. That is just despicable in my mind.

Over the years since my being the owner, tenants have come and gone and the electric has been put back into my name. Why now was it put into the deceased person’s name, we will never know. I requested once again for it to be put into my name and was told an $850.00 security deposit would be needed due to excessive use. Well the bill for one month under my care was approx. $250.00 so yes, I was shocked that for the first time I was not only going to be charged a security cost but would be forced to pay an extremely high deposit.

I had no choice but to agree. Contractors and workers are remodeling and cold is here, so we have to have it, don't we? Last Thursday, the contractors contacted me to inform me the electric was shut off. What? I called Duke energy to find out they shut the power off because they received information that the person's name it was put in is deceased. Wow, I mean really wow. I explained that I was the one who gave this information and that they had made the mistake in the first place, and now they had made a second error in not processing my request to have it put into my name. However, they did process the payment without error. This time I was told a $650.00 deposit would be required [what happened to the $850.00?]. I explained the situation over again and this time it went through and the account is now finally in my name.

It is now Monday 1-14-13 and since last Thursday, I have watched several Duke trucks pass the property [which is located on a main hwy], but still no power. But Duke has contacted me to inform me there will be an extra charge for security lights. I asked when the power was going to be turned on and was told due to the extreme weather, they are behind but the power will be turned before freezing weather [what extreme weather it's been like 60 here the past week or so]. I asked to speak with a supervisor and was hung up on.

We still don't know when power will be turned on. No one from Duke has called to follow up on their error making and we now have placed a generator in the home. All of our new remodel plumbing had burst, the drywall work is damaged, we have sustained cost from contractors who showed but could not do work, all because Duke dropped the ball. Shameful how Duke has treated all of us involved. They seem to be the block bully. The poor customer service assistance is truly a reflection of Duke’s owners and supervisors. Americans deserve much better than to be bullied by this type of monopoly. I see a lot of complaints about this Duke company but not much resolution from Duke. Maybe it's time to bind together and stop the bullying and rip off methods Duke clearly has.

Why is it that no companies will come clean when they have made a mistake? They want to pass it all off to you, the consumer. We apparently are a bunch of stupid cows that they round up for the slaughter and just keep re-slaughtering us. What is that and what can we do now to stop this ridiculousness? Man, whatever happened to the day where we couldn't have a monopoly. AT&T is a monopoly and the power co. is one, the electric company is one. They get away with murdering our finances and nobody does anything to stop them.

Our power service is so bad that we lose power at least once a month if not more in the summer (during thunder storms). It's ridiculous. We aren't getting any kind of break when all our food is ruined because our power is off because every time we turn around, a transformer is blowing or some other stupid problem, four transformers in a year, really?

I called and spoke to a representative and they told me I need to pay $250, with a $1.50 service fee. The automated service wanted a $12 service fee so I called back and have them take the payment over the phone. They still say I'm out of luck in getting power flipped on today because they don't do anything on Sunday. So I have to move into a cold dark house and cancel a housewarming party that I had scheduled, that had a $150 security deposit on the catering and reschedule for a more convenient time after they do have people that actually work come out and flip a switch. I even offered to pay extra to have someone do it, but I was told by the manager that it doesn't matter.

When I finally got a hold of a real person, they stated that I only owed $5.25 and they would just put that on my next month's bill and I was alright. The meter reader left. Today I got online to check my Duke Power bill and the bill states I have a past due balance of $67.00 and my new bill is $212.00. Where did the $67.00 come from? What is going on? I am contacting an attorney today and I'm going to have them go over my records. I have more payments going out than bills coming in. Also, my meter has no gadget for the meter reader to pick up a reading from his truck. Duke Power has never switched out the boxes. How are they checking my meter when I have dogs that alert me to anyone that comes in my yard? I am going to get to the bottom of this and more. Stay tuned.

The other amount was for $145 which is my September bill and was not a part of the payment arrangement. This $145 October bill isn't but one day past due and I was going to pay the bill on November 9 when my daughter got her pay check from work. The last amount was $95 which I was going to pay on the 9th, but I went ahead and paid the $95 today. I called Duke Power and explained to them I paid the $95 and I had already paid the $107 last week and the $145 October bill was not a part of the payment agreement, but they said it was. I can prove it wasn't and told them this. They said my lights were going to be disconnected in the morning. I called the Utility Commissioner of NC and they said they would call them and see what was going on. I got a call back with "Duke Power said they adjusted your agreement twice and you need to pay the $145.” This is wrong! I need an attorney. I feel abused by Duke Power and I also feel they treat me unfair. I pay my bills and for them to come out to my home and disconnect my lights. I have a child who has autism. How can he understand this? I went to social services trying to get help with the C.I.P and was told the program was seasonal.

What now? My daughter doesn't get paid until Friday and I am tapped out. I have no more past due bills and this $145 is only one day past due and it was to be paid Friday. Is this fair? The $145 was not a part of the payment agreement and just because they said it was, they are right? If an attorney reads these reviews, please, please contact me. If anyone wants to know, reads these complaints. Please contact me or I will call you guys today. I have had enough. I have done research on Duke Power policies and even was almost shut off one time even when I was approved for the program but just because they didn't get the check I was going to be shut off. Duke Power controls me with their disconnection threats and I feel very threatened and abused by this company. I can't believe these people are coming out in the morning and going to shut my power off after I paid my payment agreement. I am so upset!

Before the payment agreement and not being able to pay my July bill, my balance was zero. But due to health problems and certain prescriptions, I had to pay out of pocket for my medication, so I fell behind in my light bill. I live off the small amount of $698.00 and I have a son who has Autism. I thought I was finished with this payment agreement until I got a disconnection notice this morning. I am to pay $240.00 by 5:00pm November 6th or my lights will be disconnected in the morning. I called Duke Power of NC and the girl was rude and not much help at all. Customer service said I still was under a payment agreement and the money I owed was $95.00 that was left from the amount of the agreement. $145.00 is what I owed for September's bill and today is the day the bill was due to be paid. I told her that my bill for $145.00 was not in the payment agreement, but she just would not listen. She kept telling me if that $240.00 is not paid by 5:00pm today, my electricity would be disconnected in the morning. I told her I can go ahead and pay the $95.00, but the $145.00 bill was only due today and how can Duke Power disconnect your lights if the only amount you owe is $145.00 and it's only due today?

This was not in the payment agreement. I am in tears and just feel so discriminated because I'm poor. I go to C.I.P at social services and they tell me they can't give out funds because it's not cold enough. What am I going to do with my son? He has Autism. I read the policy that Duke Power has for special cases to not disconnect a family’s lights: "No disconnect for elderly, disabled, and customers who are eligible for the Energy Crisis Assistance Program.” I am eligible for the "Energy Crisis Assistance Program". I also have a child with special needs in the home. From March 1 to February 31 this policy is supposed to protect those who qualify. Why doesn't Duke Power acknowledge that I am in this category? They want to disconnect my lights for $240.00. I am willing to pay $95.00 now and $145.00 electric bill that has only come due to be paid today! How can this be right? My child and I will be in the dark and it's very cold outside all because they say I am still under a payment agreement when I'm not.

I also want to add that the meter on the side of my house is old and it has never been updated. I have asked for someone to come out and check my meter and no one has gotten back with me on this, but they sure do threaten me with high electric bills and disconnection notices. I know that I am going to speak with an Attorney on this. I am qualified for the Leap program and I do have a child with special needs in my home and I am not on a payment agreement like they say I am. This is unfair.

I was given both account numbers as well as the toll free number so that I could call and make that payment, so the power here would not be disrupted and just roll over the next day, in which it did. When I got my first bill, I immediately had my fiancé register me for an online account. At that time, I contacted your CS group via email, explained the situation, gave both account numbers and waited for a response. Imagine my surprise when I was told by Ashley, a Web Specialist, that Duke Energy would not hold to their end of the deal as previously advised. That you wanted $498 by the 17th of October or service would be disrupted. I also checked the old account number and somehow, your system says it doesn't exist. Well, it sure did exist when I paid $50 on it via debit card on the 23rd of August. I am not asking for the debt to be forgiven; I am just asking for Duke Energy to honor the agreement that was made with a representative of their company. I have all names and account numbers involved in this transaction and I want something done about this.

Well guess what? A bill showed up in late August as being due by September 10. A second bill in September, the second bill I was promised and guaranteed would not come. The second bill I knew I would not be able to afford if it did come, which is why I had asked the rep to repeat the payment and billing structure multiple times over. So I called customer (dis)service and after a two-hour merry-go-round, I was told by several agents that even though I was told one thing on August 10, that rep didn't know what he was talking about and, "Of course you have to pay your bill!" Silly me. Here I was thinking Duke Energy would actually hold themselves to an agreement with terms explicitly defined by one of their own customer service reps! Why would they do that?

In short, I was told that I was responsible for knowing my own billing situation even when their own employees tell me otherwise - I should always ask to speak with a manager to make sure the given information is correct in any given circumstance. Duke has no responsibility to uphold what was guaranteed by the first rep who structured the deal and I have to pay every penny of both bills on time or my lights will go off the end of this month. Things I learned from this incident: Duke Energy does not give a **. Employees don't know what's going on. They will not uphold contracts if it's not in their interests and will say one thing and do another. Duke Energy knows I'm forced to be their customer regardless of how they act and they know the customer has no choice but to do what they say.

Duke Energy wants my sister to get a legal document saying she was living at a different address from me between 2008-2009 but everything is destroyed and my grandmother never put her name on the lease anyways. And my sister's low income apartment will be given away if she doesn't get any help. So please help my sister with Duke Energy. I will pay on the bill myself whenever I get a job. Please help me and my sister. Another thing, I don't even like her that much, but I can't stand by and let Duke Energy do this to her. She has straightened her life out and is trying to have a place for her and her baby. She never had anything in her name. She really didn't have a real place to live. She has been all over the place but she has changed so much, so please help us. Thank you.

On 5/22, I made a payment in the amount of $295 leaving a balance of $99.87 due on 6/13. On June 9, 2012, my sister-in-law passed away of breast cancer; for this reason, I traveled to Atlanta, GA on June 11, 2012 along with my husband to renew his passport to attend the funeral overseas. I arrived back in NC on June 14 (my birthday) to discover DE has been interrupted because of non-payment. For this reason, DE is requesting $300 to secure this account. I made a security deposit of $250 on my DE account in 2006 when I moved into the property.

I called DE on Jul 16 regarding the request for another deposit and was advised by Mr. ** (supervisor) that DE applied those funds to the account 12 months after the account was opened because I have been paying my bill on time as I typically do. I did not request for DE to apply my $250 security deposit to account because I have been paying my bill on time. If necessary, I would call DE and make payment arrangements and has always been responsible and pay the bill on the scheduled date. The only exception was on June 13, 2012 when I traveled to Atlanta, GA.

My family was in turmoil with the death of our relative and I totally overlooked that one payment. When I discovered that the service was interrupted, I called DE immediately and explained my situation and was given the name of a center where the payment will be accepted. The service was interrupted at 11am and the payment was made at 12:18pm in the amount of $213.12; a $25.75 reconnect fee was applied. I am disputing this requested deposit because I have no issues, paid my bill on the scheduled dates and did not request DE to use my first security deposit to pay any of my bills.

My mom lives in a 10,000 sq. ft. home and pays less for her Duke bill than I do in this crappy rental home. They overcharge depending on how much you make, not your meter reading. We are at least given a choice on who we want our power through and I am choosing to ditch Duke. I am not surprised at all about the complaints on Duke. Shame on you Duke!

Somehow, Duke Energy charged me a business tariff (without my knowledge at all) for this period and I received a bill almost 3 times than it should be. I reported this matter to the concerned authorities via repeated calls and emails since mid-January to date. I've talked and waited on the phone multiple times and sent about 8 emails. Every time, the response I got is some appreciation for my patience and a false promise of fixing the bill in three to five business days and I also receive a beautiful slogan at the end that the Duke Energy values my business and opportunity to serve. After so many calls and emails, they fixed the bill and changed the tariff from business to residential, effective late February. But Duke Energy is still sending me a previous bill charged on business tariff.

This is not my first experience of lack of service at Duke Energy. In 2004, I experienced the same state of affairs at my residence on West Hampton, CT. I had to chase the company (Duke Power at that time) for about 5 months and finally, upon my request and intervention of the Consumers Affair Raleigh, the Duke Power resolved the case in my favor. This is happening to me in spite of my long, crystal clear record of never missed, never delayed bill to any utility company including Duke Energy. Please have Duke Energy fix my bill for services from January through part of February 2012 at a residential tariff and resend the corrected bill.

When I went over to my home a couple of weeks ago and found the power off, I called and they suggested I call their Web Support group to find out what may have happened. All they could tell was that the email had not been bounced back. But of course it wouldn't if it was just going into a junk folder (at my company's corporate level for which I have no access). We even tried another attempt for them to send my email address a copy of my last bill and of course I never received it. I explained all this to the customer service representative (and subsequently to two managers in that group) and they all spouted the company line that I didn't pay my bill for three months and I was liable for the $250 deposit.

No fault of my own, except that I didn't remember I hadn’t received a bill from them and didn't proactively go to their website to pay a bill for which I had received no notification. And yet, they insisted that despite 18 years of good loyal patronage at the same address that I had to pay the $250 deposit. Absolutely outrageous. I told them if I had any choice in service, I would drop Duke in an instant. Lousy customer service for an extenuating circumstance beyond my control and certainly not due to my willful attempt to not pay my whopping $80 (total for three months) bill. Ridiculous. And then they have no corporate consumer affairs number to elevate any such complaint because evidently they don't want to hear from you.

In March of this year, I moved into another apartment. I called Duke and informed them that I needed power in this new apartment by February 14th (which was when their power box at the new apartment would be disconnected) and that I needed the electricity at the old apartment cut off by March 25th (which was when the lease would be over). At this time, I was told that I needed to pay $138.00 in order to transfer the accounts. I did so. I had two accounts overlap during this time and I was aware that two bills would be sent out. Once I moved into the new apartment, I received a bill for this address for the amount of $19.00. I went online to make the March payment for the old apartment and found out that I had a balance of $425.00. Up to this point, I had only been using their automated phone system to check my balance and to make payment. I immediately called Duke and asked why I was being charged such an amount. I was told that the amount owed for the old apartment was transferred over to the new apartment's account. I completely understood this process, but once again I asked where the $400 extra came from if I had been paying my bills.

The first reason I received was that I owed a month from October of 2011 and that this amount was never settled. I did not have my bank info at the time, so I told the customer service rep that if in fact I owed October's bill, the amount owed for October and March would only be $190 to $200 ($95 for October and $95 for March). I explained that this was the amount I was to pay with the Equal Payment Plan. After I told her this, she went on to explain that I owed $400 and basically I needed to pay that to bring the account up to date. I thanked her for her help and proceeded to check my bank statement.

On May 12 of this year, I decided to register my new apartment’s account on their online services. At this time, I tried paying $252 through their online services. I never received a confirmation number, so I thought my payment did not go through. I checked my email the next day to see if, maybe, it had and I just skipped a page when I made the payment. In my email, I found an email welcoming me to their online services and another email confirming my order for the energy saving bulbs. I found no email with a confirmation number for the payment I made. I went on to check my bank account and there was no transaction for this amount on there either. On May 22, which was the day my bill was due, I checked my bank account once more - still no payment had been posted or was even pending for Duke. I decided to go ahead and make the payment through the phone system. I made a payment on this day for $118.00, which was the amount the automated phone system required as a minimum payment at this time to avoid disconnection.

Today, March 24, I checked my bank account and find both payments have posted. I called Duke and explained to them the issue and the representative that answered informed me that on March 12 the web department was having issues and that I needed to speak with them about the lack of confirmation for that payment. She transferred me to that department and I proceeded to explain to a representative there the issue. I was told that there was nothing they could do, that the payment had processed, and that I should have checked for the confirmation of this payment. I explained several times that I got no confirmation by email, that the amount never posted on my bank account, and that their phone system did not have it as a payment processed either. The representative only proceeded to explain why I owed such an amount in the first place and ignored the fact that I was charged twice.

I understand this is more information than any usual complaint, but I do not know what to do about this issue. It seems to me that I have been taken advantage of from the beginning and this has escalated to a problem so confusing that even the customer service reps cannot explain why this is happening. I often find that they offer several methods of payments for the "convenience" of their customers, but often times each method has a different set of information or are not updated at the same time. I need advice. What options do I have to dispute any of this? I would appreciate any help provided.

The third problem I'm seeing are these riders on my electric bill which total more than triple of what my electric usage actually is. Meaning, it's extremely hard to keep these bills paid. These riders are the following: delivery rider at $16.35, generation riders at $7.45, and rider RC at $4.95; rider RE at $63.70, rider AERR at $.50, rider RECON at $.19, and rider SCR at $1.18. It’s for a total of $94.32 when my total electric usage is $28.23 for 1,276 kWh. It just seems odd that we are paying for all these riders to "get it here" than we are paying for the electric alone and what's worse is that CG&E never had these on their bill nor does DP&L (according to family members). It seems odd that when Duke took over CG&E, I believe they also took over their sub-stations and power facilities as well. So, why are we paying for all these riders that are cloaked in abbreviations and mystery that no one knows what they mean? Why isn't Duke producing their own power like CG&E did?

I know people, including my family members, who have moved just to get out of Duke's range because of the electric bills. It's for certain. If I had solar "on the grid," I wouldn't be able to charge Duke these riders and yet they charge them to us. It's little wonder Duke has had lawsuits and so many complaints against them, but the bad thing is that I don't have the money to throw out to move out of their range as I'm sure most people don't. People here would never have to apply for HEAP or other assistance if their electric bills were lower as they should be. I think it's appalling that my electric bill counts for more of my wages than a car - maybe even a mortgage payment would. These electric bills are literally sinking me and are a big cause which is preventing me from being able to move to another, more affordable region outside of Duke's range.

I have never had a check returned in my life. Customer service doesn't have the authority to remove the charge from my account, so they say. Two people gave me two completely different possible reasons why it may have been returned, which it wasn't, because they never tried to cash it. So they are screwing a customer who has never made a late payment to them, and for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

I have filed a complaint with the BBB and also have looked into filing a class action lawsuit. I feel that we are all being railroaded by these people who by the way are very rude. We really need to band together and do something about this. I have read numerous complaints stating the same unfair practices, gorging light bills and many other complaints. We really need to take a stand against this.

When I called the supervisor at DE, I was told that she would pull the recording. If that was what was said, DE would honor it. She called me back within an hour and confirmed everything that I told her was in fact on the recording, But DE would not honor it, as it was not normal practice. I am outraged at this, as she told me an hour earlier that Duke Energy would honor the agreement if the recording confirmed it; and it did!

Now, I have 10 days to pay $300.00 after just bearing the expense of moving, and DE still has my deposit! I intend to fill a formal complaint with BBB and will go as far as having out local TV station cover this story if necessary, in order to have DE honor what its employee told me 3 weeks ago! This is unfair for DE to allow things like this to affect its customers and not honor what their paid and trained employees are telling their customers. I cannot believe that this is normal practice for DE. But I am learning quickly that there is no code of conduct with Duke Energy and that apparently, any thing goes, because people must have electricity!

I would like someone from corporate to contact me please! It's ironic that on this very complaint form that this very statement is listed above. Please be accurate and fair in your comments. Remember, you are responsible for what you write

I called Duke Energy, and they told me that they had been sending my bill to the old address and that i was in disconnected status and have until the 14th of May to pay a $400 bill. I am not employed at this time and have a weekly income from my unemployment. I am very upset for the simple fact that this was an error on their part, and when I requested to talk to a supervisor, she was very rude. Her name was Paris. I was told to pay half of the bill by the 14th and then call back in to make payment arrangements for the rest.

This is an outrage. i am now going to be behind on my bills, simply because the company made an error and I am being faulted for their error. I am really upset, and this has put me in a bind. If I had to waited longer to contact them, my lights would have been cut off due to their error. I don't think that they should be able to do people like this. And then when you call in to see what's going on, they make it seem like it was an error on your part. The supervisor was very rude, so I asked her where I could go to make a complaint; and she directed me to their website. Their website does not offer how to make a complaint there, so she just pretty much blew me off.

My mother went to the bank once my father had stabilized to check on bills payments. When she discovered the usual March 3rd Duke Energy draft had not cleared, she called Duke Customer Service to arrange payment. Duke customer service told her she couldn't pay by check because the account was on draft. She explained the account associated with the draft had to be closed because of fraudulent activity and asked to pay by check. My mother insisted and requested the bill amount and mailed a check for the full amount and mailed it to the Duke Energy address given to her by the customer service representative. Less than 3 days later, she received a bill with a $20 returned check fee.

The bank drafted a letter explaining the reason for the returned check, explaining it was beyond their control. Acting for my parents, at my father's request, I called customer service asking for a fax number and/or address to send the letter requesting Duke Energy to forgive the $20 return check fee. I was told not to bother because Duke would not reverse the charge. I insisted and finally, after lots of resistance, I was given a fax number and was told to send to the attention of "Juillerma."

After a week of no response of communication, at my father's request and with him by my side, I again called Duke Energy to follow up regarding the return check fee on the blocked draft. I was told the request had been denied. I asked to talk with a supervisor. After a long time on hold, a supervisor (name available by request) came on the line. He told me that it was a state law that Duke Energy could not reverse the $20 return check fee. I questioned the validity of that statement explaining Piedmont Gas (another utility) did not charge a return check fee on the blocked draft. He accused me of saying what he told me was a "lie". I corrected him and he did apologize for his comment. I asked to talk to his supervisor and he told me he didn't have a supervisor.

Finally, I told him I expected a call from his supervisor or a representative would help me. With the next hour, I received a call from a Duke representative (name available by request) who told me that Duke would not reverse the charge. I asked for follow up information to verify if the letter I faxed was received and if so, who read the letter and their decision. She told me I could only get the information. After further wrangling and discussion, I asked her again if she had the information regarding the decision and she confirmed she did. After more resistance, she finally read the decision to me and told me how I could respond (by mail to Customer Affairs).

I asked that Customer Affairs call my parents and she said "It is not customary for them to call customers." However, in the information she read to me, she said CA attempted to call, no answer and no voice mail. I pointed out that obviously, they do call and may have called the wrong number because my parents do have voice mail. No voice mail was received and in reviewing the received call log, no Duke Energy numbers appeared before March 29th, the day of these conversations.

My request is my parents to be given the opportunity to speak with a Customer Affairs representative to discuss the situation beyond their control and my mother's efforts to pay the bill as quickly as possible. It must also be noted, my parents have had one late pay since 1960's, it was in 1999 when my father suffered a TIA and was unable to communicate or handle his business affairs.

As the daughter standing by, I am shocked, offended and disgusted with Duke Energy's business practices and complete disregard for good customers in unreasonable circumstances. Every other creditor in the same situation reversed all charges and added interest fees without the need for a letter from the bank. Regardless of how Duke Energy customer services represents, monopolies are not autonomous. On behalf of my parents, I will pursue this through to the NC Utilities Commission until satisfaction and resolution.

Well, Duke Energy decided since our old roommate, husband and step-mother all left the residence owing them a bill and they couldn't get off of their ** to find them, they tacked everyone’s bill onto our address! When they found out I lived at "House A", they also tacked on my old bill to the house (I'm not disputing this because I lived there and it was a valid debt). By the time Duke Energy got done bending us over with no lube, we had to pay $1,545.95 (this included bills from 3 folks that no longer stayed at this address and had their own separate homes now). My sister and I were livid to say the least but we managed to come up with the money to have air/electricity because it was the summer and about 99 degrees at 12pm. Not to mention, I had a 2 year old in the home and 5 months pregnant!

I decided to move out of "House A" 7 months later into my own house (we'll call this "House B"). When I moved into "House B", my sister and father still remained residents of "House A". By the time I moved out, the Duke Energy bill at "House A" had gotten so high from my father and sister now being unemployed that the bill was $1,400.00! Sis and Father came up with a scheme to take the power out of her name and put it in his to start over fresh with a zero balance.

1 month into my services at my new residence at "House B", I get my first bill from Duke saying my charges for the month are $92 plus another charge of, you guessed it, $1,400 from "House A" because they couldn't find an active address for my sister! Needless to say, I've been on the phone with Duke Energy trying to get this mess straightened out and all they can "rudely" offer me is "Your sister added you to the account in 2011 as a roommate (without my knowledge might I add) and you didn't remove your name as a roommate before you started services at your new address so you're responsible for this bill!"

I've talked to 4 incompetent reps, 2 "I could give a **" supervisors and a department that makes decisions about your account but never have the balls to tell you this themselves over the phone so they note your account with what they feel and have the incompetent reps relay the message! Who does that!? Why must folks get strung along because Duke Energy is the only power company in this area? I still haven't gotten anywhere with Duke even after my sister has called them and advised them that she is still residing in "House A" and to put her $1,400 bill back at her house and remove it from my bill at "House B". Their response is "The bill is now in your father's name and we can't add the bill back to ‘House A’ without his consent!" Are they kidding me?! So you mean to tell me that I can owe them a bill, live with someone who doesn't owe them (but we're knowingly defrauding power from you by taking it out of my name and putting into theirs so we can start with a zero balance while I still live there).

I call to tell them that I've had a change of heart and I want to do things the right way so I tell you the truth as to where I live and where you can send my bill so I can pay you but they don't want my money and they want an innocent bystander with a 2 year old and 3 month old to carry my burden and be without power?! Duke Energy, you guys are world class **!

I'm not worried about their "Reversed Robin Hood" schemes because I have an appointment with my attorney in the morning to take their ** to court! I will not stop until Duke Energy gives its customers respect, show empathy and fire all of the losers they call employees and hire caring, customer service oriented individuals! Wish me luck on this lawsuit!

As he flipped the circuits, he noticed that the "old" meter "jump" and spin very fast . He told me in no uncertain terms that "it is the meter" and "nothing" in the household would cause the bill to be "not even half this amount." He did a worksheet, which included not only the insulation, but also the appliances--hot water, windows, heat pump, and many other areas. I called Duke after the inspection and they tell me to fax the form to a certain number. In the meantime, my bill is so high that it is scheduled for disconnection (I just cannot pay this high bill anymore) in about four or five days.

Duke called me on Friday and told me that someone will be out on Monday to check my meter. To me, this does not make any sense. First, they sent an independent inspector to check my home but found nothing that would cause my bill to be so high for six years. And now, they want to send someone from Duke to come out and check the meter even after the "inspector" says that it is not because of my home. He even wrote a report stating this. To me, that is like hiring a thief to work at a bank. I have documents (my bill) stating that "my home is using electricity more than any house in this area even though my house is half the size" and a graph stating the same.

I am hoping that you or anyone can help me. I have paid an average of $200.00 per month for six years. The inspector himself said that his home is more than twice the size but his bill is not as high as mine.

I called Duke Power back and talked with the customer service number 2. She said it didn't make any difference to her about the program: they needed $367.59 paid by March 12 by 5:00 pm or my lights would be disconnected. I had to make a payment agreement and if I don't have $367.59 in their office by March 18, 2012 at 5:00 pm, my lights would be disconnected. I have an autistic child in the home and I feel like Duke Power and North Carolina Low-Income Energy Programs (LIHEAP) entered into a contract that Duke Power is not honoring. What am I to do if this check does not arrive at Duke Power? Why is Duke Power not honoring this program? I feel like I have been discriminated and abused by the system and Duke Power is the cause. They won't accept an approval letter that tells them they will get a check. They would rather come out to my home and disconnect my lights on me and my autistic child that does not understand what is going on. How can they do this?

I called the utility commissioner and try to explain that Duke Power was trying to charge me for a bill that has already been paid and all she said was, “Just pay your bill or your lights will be cut off.” Since September 1, 2011 I have paid Duke Power $1,449.80 and this is only from September 1, 2011 through January 2012. Five months. There is no way this is right. I don't even have electric heat. I heat my home with natural gas. So I called Channel 2 News and I also reported Duke Power to the BBB. Low-income people are being targeted out by Duke Power and we are being severely overcharged. This is discrimination.

Gentlemen,

I have received this Saturday your invoice for the service from August 25 to September 26 for an amount of $49.48. I do not know how you can come up with such outrageous amount for that period. We were in Europe from September 12 to September 29 and absolutely everything was unplugged in our apartment: no TV, no decoder, no radio, no clocks, no recorders, no computers (and we have 4 of them) no printers, no chargers, no air conditioning, no ventilator and no electric range. Absolutely, everything was unplugged for safety and energy saving. The only thing running was the small fridge/freezer.

So I do not see nor understand how you can come up with such high bill (and when we are home we do not use air conditioning). An update as of February 1, 2012, And since this complaint our bill has been going higher and higher although we do not heat our apartment and we have replaced all our bulbs by low consumption ones from Duke! The Duke Energy meters and low consumption bulbs are a pure scam.

However, the other meter readings were from 5,000 kw to 10,000 kw. I realize I am just a working consumer; however, I am a valuable consumer, for I have paid the full amount of fees every month. This has put me in an economically challenging position, for I cannot continue to pay this high bill. If Duke Energy is found at fault, can I receive credit for my bills? I have been paying high bills since April 2011. Whatever you can do to correct this situation will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I can’t very well call when I don’t have a phone to call from. I had to give my kids to their dad. Now I don’t get to see them as much as I want. But that’s a whole other story in my life. But Duke turned off my power because I didn’t have a phone to get a hold of them. I did send them an email, but I guess that wasn’t good enough. So now I'm sitting here in the dark using free Wi-Fi to put in my complaint because I have no other means of communication. I have no active phone.

To make a longer story short, today is Nov. 29, 2011, and the payment has not been posted. 4 people has told me that they were sending the payment over to be posted. What's going on? Now my power is scheduled to be disconnected on Dec. 7, 2011. Who can I contact concerning this matter, because each time I talk with anyone at Duke Energy, I'm left feeling like I am being jerked around.

The bill now paid and service on at the new place, I mistakenly thought that my ordeal was over. Nope! I called today, 11/9/11, to ask when my final bill would be mailed, and to my surprise I was told that service was still on at the old location in my name. I advised that an error was made and that I had requested service to be terminated. Nothing was done. No resolution was given to me other than, “We will have it cut off on 11/10/11.” That is not satisfactory to me as I know the apartment complex has been leaving the lights on in my former residence 24/7 and I haven't lived there since 10/17/11.

I requested the supervisor and the runaround began. It must be nice to have a monopoly on energy so that you can treat your customers any sort of way. I am one very unhappy NC resident looking to install solar panel on my home and buy a few generators to finally be rid of these crooks. A letter to the CEO and several others will be mailed today, certified!

She called them back and talked to someone else with her confirmation number of money paid and they said they had done a background check and told her that her husband still owed a bill at the residence we were to move into so until his bill is paid in full, they refused to hook her up.

She has never had an electric bill at our present home so how can they hold her liable for another person’s bill. We have been living on a generator for the past 4 months and the gas needed to run it keeps us broke when we could be paying an electric bill instead and have the proper power in our home.

My wife is on SSI and I cannot work due to medical problems and have applied for SSD and am at the end of my waiting period. My lawyers have told me that I am going to get it, it just takes time. Winter's coming on and we are running out of time! We have tried every resource to help me take care of this bill which is $1,100 but they have not got the resources and we are at a loss.

Duke energy wants the money in full and will not make payment arrangements. Also, my wife took the money which was about $736 out of her CD at the bank to pay this and has to pay this money back! I am desperate for help!

Fast forward to March 2010. I review the final bill from that prior residence and note that they did not disconnect my services until July 2009, even though I was up for disconnection before we vacated the residence. I faxed copies of hotel expenses during May to July 2009. But Duke Power refused to make adjustments to the account. I requested payment arrangements after verification from Crisis Ministries that I was moving out of a homeless shelter. Duke Power refused to provide payment arrangements and instead recommended I stay in the homeless shelter until I get them paid in full.

From March 2010 to August 2010, the apartment complex kept the utilities in their name. In August, I requested service in my name for a prior bill of $1,012. I paid $498 towards that balance, which included a $200 security deposit. In September, I received a bill with the full prior balance again, plus disconnection notification. I requested payment arrangements again that were refused.

Finally, on November 23, 2011, two days before Thanksgiving, they disconnected our utilities. They were not restored until January 5. I had to file bankruptcy to get my utilities restored. We did not have lights for 6 weeks. I got behind in my rent because I had to pay for us to stay in a hotel again, even though we had a home.

On March 2011, Duke Power billed me again for the prior balance. However, this time they gave me a 6-month payment plan. The payment plan was maintained and ended on September 2011. Unfortunately, they did not apply my payments appropriately. Every time a bill was processed, it had automatic disconnection notification attached to it. They did not apply some payments or applied payments to my account as though I had paid late.

They double billed me for the security deposit of $225. They charged me for NSF fees for payments that were paid electronically via a prepaid visa card, yet they refused to make the adjustments. My Walmart card prepaid statement shows none of my payments were declined because they were dispersed via the online Billpay. If the money wasn't there, a payment would not have been sent electronically to Duke Power.

I have contacted the Utility commission and I just received a statement in the mail. Duke power is not admitting their errors and still charging me for NSF fees and I have do not have a checking account and they have not requested payments via my prepaid visa card that would be declined. I kept my documentation and intend to be victorious in proving the erroneous practices. I am also looking for anyone that would like to join me in a class action suit against Duke Power.

They finally turned the service back on 6:30 pm, after being off for ten hours and our three kids came home from school and it made us feel like bad parents. That happened on Sept 13th. We received a notice today Oct 11, stating because of the disconnection they reviewed our account and it showed unsatisfactory payment history and therefore we need to make a $250 deposit. This was the first time our service has ever been turned off because of their wrongdoing and we get hit with an extra $250 deposit on our bill. My husband is out of work because of medical problems and this is really stressing us out.

I called Duke to ask them to move the disconnect notice up a few weeks or until the end of August when I might be able to come up with the $87.50 to keep my lights on. The person I spoke with said that that wasn't an option and I needed to pay the $87.50. I said I was a student (full time), was unemployed and couldn't pay that at that time, but I could do it by the end of the month at least. The guy then proceeded to tell me that that wouldn't be an option, but I could pay the bill off in three easy payments, even though he knew that I was a student and unemployed, etc.

So he steamrolled into an "agreement" of $108 in 10 days, followed by two other payments at later dates of $70. So basically the agreement said, "Hey, we're gonna cut your power off now or in 10 days." So I agreed to the agreement because I had no other choice.

They cut my power off on August 10.

I'm a full time student, trying to work, and I've been without power in my apartment for 2 months. I've called to get this situation resolved many times, even calling them when I got a job and said, "I've got this job, I can pay the $108 on Friday when I get paid, and if you don't get the following $70 payment from me in two weeks after the first payment, feel free to cut my lights back off and we can go from there." But they didn't want to work with me on that. The only option was, and still is, (here's the shocker) to pay $351 plus a $100 re-deposit fee for a new account, so I'll have to pay $451 to Duke in order to get my power cut back on. My payments went from $87.50 to $107 to $451 and in my state of things right now, that's not really possible, but I'm working on it or trying to figure out what to do.

Like I said, I'm a second degree full-time student, working part time. I didn't get any student refund back from school because I'm at the borrowing limit for school and I can't even finish my second degree anyways with just one semester left. I've gotta apply to grad school which is $70 that I don't have anyways. But what I'm trying to say is that I'm a good person. I'm a full-time student, I like to learn and I'm trying to do the best with what I have. And the fact that I'm going to school and trying to live a normal life when my power's been off for 2 months because Duke won't work with me is ridiculous. I don't know what to do. But apparently this thing has happened to other people on varying levels. I hope someone can help me pay Duke or get them to cut my power on or something.

Thanks for reading this. I hope someone can help me.

I have no power, no food (because the fridge and stove are electric). I eat non-perishables or I eat out. I can't iron clothes, couldn't even blowdry my hair if I wanted to. I have to use a flashlight or the light on my phone in order to read at night.

My problem is that we have been paying Duke Energy the amount due and they gave us a confirmation number that we think its paid, but a few days later, they send us a letter saying that the payment did not go through. When I call them and asked why it didn't go through, they said that the account number I provided is wrong because my bank said so. When I called my bank and give them the same account number, it goes through and the bank said that Duke did not even request anything from them.

Now, they are making us pay return fees for their mistake. This is wrong and they said that they are going to disconnect the power anytime soon.

Needless to say, I called them (Kathy **) and now she is not even returning my calls. I then called Duke Energy. Turns out, the electric had been turned on illegally by her and her husband Jeremy. Duke Energy had turned their power out in March 2011.

I provided Duke Energy with proof that I didn't take over the lot lease until May 2011. Mind you, I am now asked to pay a bill amount ($877.90) to turn it back on and put it into my name. The woman at Duke I have been talking to is Robin and she is the head of the department. She will not allow any payment options on this or put the account into my name until all monies are paid.

I asked what the monthly estimate is and I am told $190 tops a month. I can understand paying the two months I was living there, but why is it almost $878? How can this be legal? I live on a small budget, just as everyone else these days. I have three children and have been staying with other people while trying to get this resolved.

Now in 2 days, my children are starting school and I can't get the lady to even answer my calls or respond to my voice messages. And there is no one above her that I can speak to? I am so angry. Why do I have to pay this, yet I am in good standing and not required to even have a deposit? This makes no sense. Anyone know a good lawyer that can help me out with this.

My wife called Duke Energy to obtain the FCC ruling or Congressional law and was advised this was a Duke Energy policy backed by the FCC. After researching Duke Energy's website and the FCC website, the policy or law could not be located. It makes no sense to me that as a homeowner of multiple properties, I cannot provide utilities in my name. The 2nd residence where the service is provided is on the same lot as my primary residence.

I was in my house at approximately 6:30 when the power came back on. Immediately, there were several explosions and flames flew from outlets and power strips. Two power strips continued to burn and had to be extinguished. I will be happy to produce those if requested.

I believe the raise in price was due to me catching them with their hand in the cookie jar, so to speak. I started monitoring my bill since I was leery of their billing practices. They put me on a quarterly budget billing plan to be reviewed every 3 months and adjusted accordingly. Six months later they finally made an adjustment.

Well my most recent bill shows a credit of $106 and some change, while at the same time saying I owe $500 and change. I called costumer service and asked them to explain the math to me and the only response I got was, "you owe us $395 and change." I did the math and I come up with them owing me $66 and if I continue to pay the amount they want they will owe me a lot of money. I have been out of work for 2 years now and I am no longer able to claim unemployment benefits, which leaves me with no income. I can not afford to pay money I do not owe for power I have not used.

And if it wasn't working properly, would they inform me of that or just keep it quiet? How many other people are they taking advantage of? They stated that it was due to the usage of my heat pump over a cold winter although over the previous 5 years, I had never used that much electricity, ever. They also tried to blame my appliances, stating they could be faulty. I attempted to talk to a supervisor, however, the reps all state that they had to schedule a call-back, that no supervisor could just take over the call, however, I never received a supervisor call-back. I asked where the physical address was, the rep stated there wasn't any local facility where I could speak with someone. I find this very ironic and convenient for them and in the end, they win. The smaller consumer has to eat it and just deal with it in order to have electricity.

Consequences? They turned off my electricity, refused to give any sort of credit or payment help to reduce the instant hike in charges. I had to pay $600.00 to get my electric turned back on - which included a deposit Why? I've been paying Duke Energy since they took over Cinergy, they've always gotten their money from me, which is very sad considering my average bill before the "new" meter was around $100.00/month. I feel that this is a huge corporation raping the little people financially. I already work 2 jobs, a single parent, and now, I have to take the ridiculous charges from Duke because they are the only providers in Ohio.

I was sent a letter from Duke Energy concerning a meter change and a possible change to my due date as well as a possible proration of my bill, for which I had no problem with. But, at this time since the cover on my meter was missing, my service will not be restored until I purchase a cover for it. I was instructed that when I obtain the cover, I am to call Duke Energy so that they can restore my power. Between 8 and 9 pm, my electricity was restored. As of Monday, June 20, 2011, a Duke Energy technician came out to my home and, my stepfather met him there and was told that my meter was stolen; and since I called 3 times on Sunday, June 19, 2011, it is the reason why a technician was at my home on that day to replace my meter.

To make this long story short, I do not believe that my meter was stolen due to any vandalism. I believe that there is a cover up going on, mainly because my old meter was found in the bushes near the meter box which holds 6 unit meters by the President Todd ** of my HOA and his maintenance personnel. If someone is going to steal a meter which is in good and full service condition, why throw it away in the bushes? I believe that the technician who changed out my meter broke the cover (the meter box which holds the 6 meters is 27 years old) and to avoid blame, threw the meter in the bushes to make everything look like vandalism.

Due to the lack of communication from Duke Energy, I have to hire an electrician's services and purchase a new meter box and cover. At this time, parts were not available because of the age of the now existing meter box. I went through mental and financial distress. I feel that as a current and excellent customer with Duke Energy, this matter was handled unduly. I was never notified about my meter being stolen nor did I receive any indication of a technician coming to or being at my home for any service. I had to contact Duke Energy three times in one business day (Sunday, June 19, 2011) to obtain any information; but the fourth day (Monday, June 20, 2011) is the only time for which I was notified of a theft of my meter. In conclusion, I am requesting an investigation of this matter.

Apparently if you make a payment after 12:30, they consider their workday over and to send a rep back out to turn on the services, it is after hours. Having 3 small children in the house, I had to pay it. I felt robbed. Still being out of work, I happened to go behind and default on the agreement again within a couple months. They shut my service off again. This time they shut it off at 1:00p.m. After I was able to borrow enough money to turn the power on again, they informed me I had to pay another $50 "after hours" fee. How can they do this? They wait until it is "after hours" before they turn the service off, then they charge extra to turn it back on. They already charge a reconnect fee, how can they charge more? Is this legal?

I explained to the representative that we had installed a wood burning stove in our home in September and no longer heat with electric. I also explained that the estimated amount which was based off of our last year's usage would not be accurate. She said we could dispute the bill and I did. I then told her that the current bill of $330.00 was also incorrect due to the fact that we no longer heat with electric and the bill should not be that high. I was then told that it was an actual reading and I could not dispute that part of the bill.

Confused, at this point, I started tracking the meter usage daily. After calculating our usage for one week, I requested that they send a technician out to test or replace the meter. I was told that a technician would be out within a week. Mind you, my bill is due in the 25th and it is now the 21st. The technician came out and tested the meter and it checked out good. I questioned the technician about the difference in usage. I explained that we showed using 2101 KWH for a time frame of 17 days, but for the week that I tracked the meter, the usage was only 244 KWH total, and due to the fact that we do not heat with electric, there was no explanation for this dramatic of a difference. I was then laughably told that one of my appliances must be malfunctioning. Mind you, they only malfunction the first half of the month and not when I am tracking them!

Not willing to take this explanation, I called the service department and spoke with Dan (service representative). I asked him to tell me what meter number was on my home. He gave me the number and I checked it with mine. It was correct. He stated that he saw that they changed them in August and again in December due to non-working products. The number he gave me was installed in December. I then asked him to trace the meter itself and see when it went active. Amazingly enough, the meter that was currently on my home was activated in August and has worked correctly since the date it was activated. I asked him to verify that information for me. After speaking with his lead that evening, he again told me that the meter number currently on my home has been active since August and the current read of 5939 KWH is for the service to date from the time of activation.

I was excited now! We had an answer. The meter on my home was never changed for a second time. An error was made during installation in August, and for some reason, the meter was not associated to my address. In December, the meter number was associated finally, but somehow, they made a mistake and thought they installed a second meter. The charges for the current bill of $330.00 along with my next bill would bring us current.

I called the customer service department to inform them of this mistake and was told that it was already being investigated and they would have a representative call me. I asked if I could speak with someone at that time since I had just received the information from their service department and it would be easily verified. I was informed that they don't have a direct line and I could not speak to the people deciding my bill. Wow! I waited another day with no call and decided to call the service department once more to check the number of the meter that was on our account for the time in question. Low and behold, the story changed, but the same gentleman remembered stating the information to me the previous day. After speaking with his supervisor, the story changed. I requested to speak with his supervisor at that time, but again, you have to wait for them to call you.

A lady supervisor did call me about 2 hours later, and I explained the information that I received the day before. I also told her that I had been tracking our usage as of February 14, 2011 and checked their website for information on estimating monthly bills based on appliances used, and everything went to support the fact that our meter had been active since August and the current reading of 5948 taken that day was a current read for the entire time in question. She told me that that is not the information that she has and that she felt the charges were accurate and would not adjust the bill. I offered to supply her with the information that I had to prove that they were wrongly overcharging us by $671.00, but she had no interest in seeing any of the information.

Now frustrated again, I went down to our local office and filed suit against Duke Energy. It may have cost me another $89.00 but it is worth it to show Duke that they can't do this to people. I have all records to prove I am correct as well as dates, times, and people I spoke with, so let them try! Wish me luck. The court date is in April. If you have any similar stories, feel free to forward them to me at **@yahoo.com. I would be glad to provide them as well.

I asked who the billing manager was, and he stated that there were multiple managers and supervisors for the billing department and no one could help me. I have the receipts from my bills dating back to September and it looks like when they took off what my grandmother had paid, they added it to my bill as unpaid debt. When I paid in December, I had a 0 balance and that was a day before she paid. I asked Brandon how they could run a billing department and have correct and good customer service and communication if there was not at least one supervisor over the area. He could not respond and would not help. I am asking that another energy company be allowed to come in to our area to give Duke some competition.

They lack customer service. My grandmother had a doctor write in, saying their lights could not be turned off because they both have COPD and use nebulizers and a breathing machine with oxygen at night. Her power was turned off for $21.00 a few months ago at night while she was lying in the bed with pneumonia. This company needs to be examined as they are following their own set of rules. They expect us to pay on time or we are turned off, but they estimate bills, and mine are being estimated on the previous owner who was a large family. There are only two of us here now, and I know we do not use $300 or more a month in electricity. I want them to start sending back out meter readers to read my meter instead of estimating. It is not fair that we are being abused and when will it all stop? When will you help us instead of being on their side?

Several weeks passed, I kept calling asking if they were ever coming out to do the work, still no answer. I got the final inspection and still nothing, called and called, still nothing. I called every day and begged for them to come turn the power on as I had no place to live, other than my home, and it's been three weeks without power now, and the temperatures are around 7 degrees! I was told last Friday, it came and passed, then it would be Monday, came, passed, then Wednesday, nope, still no power. Today, I told them I was going to go up a 30-foot ladder and attempt to hook it up myself. They claim to be coming in the morning. But we'll see. I can't understand why they won't turn my power on!

Well, in September 2010, I get a bill from Duke Energy saying I had a credit on my bill for $87.41. I thought okay I've been paying my bills, but thought it was odd though. Then in October, I get a bill saying amount due previous bill $87.41cr, then it says prior month(s) electric charges $377.90 which makes it a balance forward of $290.49 then they add on my current charges of $164.26 leaving it a balance of $492.69. When I called, the lady said they felt something wasn't right and they didn't feel it was enough kilowatt hours so they estimated it and it would catch up later. I'm a single mother, how do they expect me to pay something like that. They gave me a "payment plan" that I could pay an extra $106.00 besides my monthly bill. Actually, they called it our agreement but it was really their agreement, I just had to go along with it.

I just don't understand that they had to go back to April and "estimate" these charges. No one has been living there. I think it's unfair the way they did this. There was a lady who came and reread this, and she said she remembers this house when she was actually doing the reading all the time and that it always read high. I didn't even have any appliances until the very end of August 2010 and that was a stove and refrigerator. The other guy that actually took readings on the meter said the meter was fine, just old, but he doesn't understand why they went back to April and where they came up with these numbers. He said I could request getting a digital meter, they are not as good but I could read it myself.

They make these older meters so confusing. I told a gentleman at Duke Energy customer service Monday 12/13/2010 that I was requesting a digital meter. He came back about 5 minutes later and said that he was not allowed to do that. I told him that I wasn't paying the extra $377.90 because I do get all the different readings and different kilowatt hours. The same things have been on but maybe a dehumidifier, and not all the time, and my kilowatt hours for October to November were 214 in my usage and September to October were 830 in usage. Now figure that out! The last gentleman that came to look at the meter said that the dehumidifier, refrigerator and stove (not being used) would not make that much difference. My daughter and I haven't been able to move into this house because I didn't want to run the electric bill up anymore. Were still living at my parents.

To date, my utilities have been disconnected for 3 weeks. I cannot believe they would rather we sit in the dark and freeze to death before working out payment arrangements with me. We are now forced to live again as though we are homeless. I have wasted my past three paychecks trying to survive without my utilities during the extremely cold spell in Charlotte, NC. The stress and aggravation is wreaking havoc on my medical condition. I am a contract employee and I can't risk taking days off work to chase assistance I probably won't qualify for. This just seems cruel and inhumane of Duke Power to treat people this way. They disconnected our lights two days before Thanksgiving. Here we are now, 12 days before Christmas and they are ruining my life, forcing me to waste my income.

So guess what, I turned off my cooking gas because I was using maybe $2.00 worth of gas and now I'm saving the $40.00 per month they were charging me as a standard delivery charge. I wonder, why a lady living in luxury with 12 kids gets monetary help along with her old bill being forgiven with no questions asked and because I'm a single white woman age 50 with no kids, and on disability am told that I make "too much money" to receive help. Well, excuse me for working hard all my life until sarcoidosis and chrons and depression have made me unemployable. Sorry I made a good living when I could work. I am still technically low income.

There was a black girl saying "mmm what's this, and what's this", like I had been extravagant having an outside light. The issue wasn't the outside light, it was their record keeping. 127 dollars for all electricity and and outside light isn't extravagant, and even if it was, who is she to judge me like that? That isn't her business. What is their business is keeping records, and not being underhanded.

What they did was lie. They wanted a deposit and did this so they could get a deposit. I looked and I've paid deposits before. Twice, and forgot about it. I wonder what happened to those deposits? Plus my bill said it was due on Aug 16th. This was Aug 4th.

Then I get it turned back on, they come out here today, hop over my fence and are traipsing around the yard. I asked them what they were doing, and they said they came to shut the meter off. I said I paid my bill yesterday; they said I did not, and after arguing said 'we give you two hours." They act like people have piles of money sitting around and can go pay hundreds of dollars just like that.

I called and they said they put my other house bill on there where my daughter was living. I asked were they not going to let me know? They said they switched the name in September. Oh so they just add it to this bill without telling me? They set up a plan, but still, I paid 300 yesterday for 2 mos as I've been off work with a broken arm.

Then they come back in 2 hrs and are traipsing around again. I asked what they thought they were doing, they said "we have orders to pull the meter ma'am." I said I just talked to them earlier and set up a payment plan; it was on the other house and they just threw it on my bill. He kept saying "I'm pulling the meter."

Also why did he say "we are pulling the meter? " He just wanted to be Mr powerful.

They all act like that, they must feel very confident of their job. I'm suing them for that high heat index day because they knew very good and well if they mailed a letter over the weekend from another state that I would not have received it. My freezer thawed and I had meat in it, and there is no sense in all of this chaos.

I got three different quotes when I called them after that for what my bill was. September's bill did not come. I was waiting for it to see how they put it on paper, it didn't come but a letter telling me about my deposit.

Then Sept bill came. I called and went to pay it before they shut it off and tried to make it look like that was the reason they shut it off. Then in Oct I got a bill for Sept and Oct. They are crooked. Also to top it off, I asked if there was any electricity on at the other house, they said no. I said I didn't want to pay that bill and have the people turn it on, I wanted it off. They told me twice no, it wasn't on.

I got in the car, went over there and guess what? Electricity is on. Did anyone ask me for permission? No. Why did she lie? I guess the thing to do, is record all calls, and videotape them when they come on your property and put it on. I feel like I live in the Soviet Union.

There is a lack of communication between customer service and the dispatch center. They claim they called me twice (lie). I was home all day and my caller ID proves they did not. They claimed they came by last night but the outdoor box was locked. We told them we have the key and to call us or knock on our door. They claim fixing dangerous gas leaks takes precedence over starting service. What if there was a blizzard and my 2-year old son dies of hypothermia? That is death on their hands either way and Duke Energy would be to blame.

Another rep claimed that none of the techs carry cell phones with them, that they have a computer screen in their truck. Did they ever relay a message to the tech inquiring about the status (time) of our order? They claim they're not that advanced. Well, let's see how advanced their communication is when they are sued for (possible) wrongful death. I did my part to prevent this possible tragedy in starting service and they are not living up to their end of the bargain, greedy, callous, inefficient, unknowledgeable Duke Energy.

It's amazing when times get hard, how much companies want to take advantage their customers. Duke Energy should be put out of business or at least have to compete with another company so they can put them out of business when everyone switches to the new company. It can't get worse or we put them out.

I called Duke energy to have the utilities turned on in my name so we could move in. After two weeks of being on the phone with Duke’s representatives, they decided that because my fiancé is related to her brother, then I have to pay her brother’s bill before they will permit me to have the utilities turned on. Why on earth should I be held responsible for the man’s electric bill just because he is related to my fiancé? We are now moved in and still we have no utilities. Is this even legal? Have you ever been ashamed of having a brother? Think about living in a home that you need to sell because you can't get the utilities turned on unless you pay a $1300.00 bill that belongs to someone else.

It has been 8 months since it has began, and the original balance was $800 that was owed by her, which I have paid time and time again by now. I pay two bills a month to them, and found myself unable to pay it by the day given this month. It was to be the final month of the two payment agreement and they are unwilling to work with me even though I have already paid once this month and I only need a small amount of days longer until I will be able to pay. It is unfair and should, in my opinion, be against the law what they are doing since she is not even a resident in this home. My power is set to be disconnected later on today, and though I know there's nothing to be done at this point, I wanted all to know what crooks Duke Energy are and how they care nothing about their clients or community.

Where I once had money, too, easily but monthly groceries and other necessities, I now struggle constantly and often have found myself having to depend on the aid of others to make ends meet. Now I will have to pay a large reconnection fee along with the bill when I get it reconnected. My mother who lives with me is a diabetic and cannot keep her insulin refrigerated properly. My life and that of my family has been screwed. It’s unfair mistreatment.