Cobb EMC Cobb EMC: The "Racket-Like" Electric Monopoly That Practices Economic Discrimination & Extortion Marietta Georgia

I receive an email to pay my bill. I paid the next morning. After I paid they disconnected my services and charged me $40!

I've been out of town for approximately 3 weeks. I received and email on December 18, 2013 that I needed to pay my electric bill. I wasn't able to get to a computer until the next morning. I logged in and paid on December 19, 2013 at approximately 8:10am. No alerts were on the screen when I logged in. The alert box just indicated that a disconnect email was pending to be sent, which I thought was odd since usually Cobb EMC notifies me through text message when my account is getting low.

After I paid I was curious as to what my electric bill was considering that I've been out of town. So I log back in and discover my services have been disconnected and that Cobb EMC is charging me an additional $40 to reconnect. I talk to Mila(1138) and James(1122), whom is apparently a supervisor to try and rectify the situation to no avail. They refused to refund the $40 reconnect fee, even though it wasn't disconnected when I paid the bill. I ask James whom their competitors are, and he says nobody and that they are the only service provider for my location.

This company is a monopoly and involved in "racket-like" practices. If they had a competitor they would not operate this way. Furthermore, I feel like I'm being discriminated against because of my economic status by them trying to strong arm me into paying erroneous fees I cannot afford. I am debating on filing suit. I'm sure with all the other complaints I've seen on the internet this would be an easy class action.