Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - NYSEG representatives are going around Western New York communities to directly address concerns over higher utility bills.
NYSEG's Christopher Knospe says because of the influx of complaints and concerns the company has received, they decided to organize a series of meetings to go over customers' bills.
"We have had increased inquiries about high billing that has gone on because of the warmer than normal summer that we've had. People have made the correlation to a smart meter," said Knospe on Tuesday. "The high bills are not the result of a smart meter. We've been doing these in other parts of our service territory, and we felt that as we're seeing an uptick in people inquiring about their bills, let's bring them in and get the questions answered."
Richard, a customer concerned about why his bill has increased by nearly $100 a month, mentioned that while the representative he spoke with answered most of his questions, they weren't able to convince him that the smart meter is more accurate than his previous one.
"I'm still questioning the meters. There's a lot of people that are up in arms. That gives me the idea that I'm not in a unique situation myself, so I'm going to continue to monitor this, and I told them that," Richard stated with WBEN.
Another customer, Michael, doesn't trust the smart meters and says he's been doing his own readings for years now. He explained it's frustrating that he has to pay a monthly service fee to keep his old one and believes this is an attempt to squeeze more money out of people.
"I'm a disabled combat veteran. There's a lot of us in that same situation. You want to thank me? Don't charge me the 14 bucks. That's how you thank me for my service and everybody else who served this great country," said Michael with WBEN.
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