KCP&L Learn to read your own meters! kansas city Missouri

     In June of 2014 I arrived home from a long day at work, only to find out that I had no electricity. There were no signs of work going on in the area and no notices listed online. I called around town and found that there were no outages. I even called the maintenance man in the mobile home park I reside in and he said he knew nothing about a power outage. He then came over to my home and checked my meter. Upon checking it he'd found that it had been "flagged".

     I called KCP&L immediately and they said that the meter reader reported a tampering. They also said that I would have to pay $800 before they would reconnect. That amount included what they said was owed from the meter read, the price of a new meter, sending someone out within the next twenty four hours, the price of installing the new meter, a "new service" installation fee and a fee for reconnecting with the account itself. I'm a single mother who makes very little money-too much for any kind of assistance, barely enough to pay the bills and definitely not enough for an emergency of this nature. I explained this to the woman on the phone. She said I could request an investigation but it would take between five to seven days just to make an appointment to speak with someone and upwards of thirty days for them to resolve the dispute. I asked if there was some way I could work out a payment plan with them, just to get the power back on. She said no, that I would have to pay the amount in full immediately for them to get someone out within forty-eight hours and that if I hadn't tampered with the meter I wouldn't be in this predictament. (I did not tamper with the meter.)

     I called around town, trying to find an attorney to assist me but none would. The only one whom would actually speak to me said that disputing wouldn't help and I would lose-that no one wins a disputeAnd with KCP&L. He said that I needed to borrow the money from a family member so I could turn the power back on before DFS found out. (There was no one who could loan that kind of money to me.) Finally, I contacted someone with Missouri Valley Community Action. The woman made a few calls and found someone to speak with me in the morning. It was 92 degrees on the day they disconnected. My children were out of town but they were coming back that weekend. I stayed the night in my home.

     The next day I took time off of work, drove down to the MVCA office and spoke with someone on the phone. I was able to turn the electric back on with a $400 deposit and pay back the rest over time. I pawned a few things and paid the money. It registered 95 degrees that day. The next day they came out to turn it back on. Later, I discovered that the meter reader was new and that the meter didn't look tampered with at all. The person infoming me of this was the person who installed the new meter. He also said that meters are read improperly all the time and that I should try to get an exemption to read my own meter, if they would allow it.

     Nearly a year later and I'm still paying off that last $400. Every time I think I have it paid off I find another fee for late charges on the bill-all stemming back to that $800 meter. They ripped me off-local attorneys said it was a common occurance, assistance programs in the area said it happened all the time and even the installer admitted it. There's no help for me but others should know this about KCP&L. They will rip you off if given any chance at all. They will shut off your electricity without notice of any sort. (I had no notice whatsoever-the read was that morning and within an hour there was someone out there to shut it off. They didn't even attempt to contact me to tell me what was happening.) They will do it right before the weather changes, knowing that if they wait even twenty four hours the state law will be in effect and they will not be allowed to disconnect. They will charge exorbitant rates for a reconnection. And if you want to dispute the claim it will take far longer than most can wait. They know they have you trapped and that you will pay before the dispute is concluded. In other words, expect to be ripped off.