Customers call out Evergy meter mix-ups say they owe hundreds

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - KCTV5′s investigative team recently reported about an Evergy meter mix-up that left an 80-year-old Olathe grandmother stuck with a $1,000 bill. Her meter was switched with someone else leaving her stuck with the difference in charges.

Anna Searle argued that it wasn’t her mistake, and she didn’t feel that she should be responsible. After we started asking questions, Evergy cut the bill significantly and told us it was a rare occurrence.

But others are questioning just how rare it is.

Graham Anderson contacted us with a very similar story. He sent us his retroactive bill from Evergy along with a letter.

" A recent investigation of your account revealed that an incorrect meter has been billed. The adjustment is $952.60,” it read in part.

Anderson was offered a payment plan.

“And I said, ‘All right, I’ll agree to the payment plan, but I don’t feel responsible for the mistake that’s happened here,’” said Anderson.

Another man, Aaron Waldrop contacted us with the same problem — but a different outcome.

He, too, received a bill for nearly $1,000 for back use when the meter for his apartment was mixed up with another apartment.

He tried to catch up but was overwhelmed with bills. He gave up his apartment and moved to a camper for months. He was sent to collections and now, he says, his credit is ruined.

We reached out again to Evergy on behalf of these customers. They provided the following statement:

These errors are rare and usually result in a customer receiving a bill that shows very low or no usage, which frequently makes the problem evident to customers. When this happens, customers usually contact us about their bill and we can quickly resolve the issue before the wrong usage is spread over multiple months. Most of the time these meter errors occur by third party electrical contractors who do work on a multi-unit building and do not replace meters in the correct place. In recent months, we have been reviewing some locations with multiple meters to proactively identify any issues. Out of thousands of accounts proactively checked, we identified around twenty accounts that had errors and were subsequently backbilled for the correct usage. About half of those accounts owed less than $100.

If a customer who was backbilled has a question about their bill or would like to dispute the bill for any reason, they should call us and we will rereview each case on an individual basis and work with the customer to find a solution. Also, we would suggest customers who receive unusual bills contact us right away to identify any issues before they become bigger issues.

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