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Dealing with the utility company |
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Written by Tim Ballering
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Tuesday, 04 March 2008 |
In the past month many owners have asked ‘What is my responsibility to pay for separately metered utilities when the tenant moves or doesn’t place the account in their name?’ and then go on to tell their tale of woe, describing how WE Energies is attempting to extract money from them for utilities they do not believe they owe.
Where do we begin? This is a fairly complex area. Here is my attempt at a simplified overview. A critical first tip is that you must keep copies of all letters WE Energies sends you and copies of your responses. If you get sued on a utility bill you should hire an attorney if you don’t feel comfortable handling it yourself in small claims court, and even when you think you don’t need one if there is a lot of money involved.
Let’s start with the applicable law, Wisconsin Statute §196.643 , Owner responsibility for service to rental dwelling unit. The text is at the end of this article.
Here’s what the utility must do under this law: In order to place a utility bill in your name the public utility, WE Energies in this case, MUST attempt to find out who is responsible for the service. If they can’t determine who is responsible and they want to place the account in your name they MUST send the property owner a letter AFTER the tenant’s termination of service date. That letter MUST give you 15 days to respond. Your response can be 1) you want the account in your name; 2) you give the public utility the name of the party responsible for the bill; or 3) you can ask the utility to simply turn off the service. Do nothing within the 15 days and the bill legally can and will be placed in your name.
The experience of many owners reveals that WE Energies often uses procedures which shortcut its legal duties. The 15-day letter is the trigger for billing an owner. Prior to sending the letter, however, the utility is supposed to ” make reasonable attempt to identify the party responsible for service to the rental dwelling unit after the customer's termination. ” This means the utility is supposed to make an effort to find out who is now using their service BEFORE they send out the 15 day letter.
WE Energies often (always?) sends the 15 day letter without first attempting to identify the responsible party That should mean that the 15 day letter was sent out too early, making it an invalid notice.
Also, WE Energies often sends the 15 day letter prior to the move-out date the tenant gave the utility. The statute requires the process to begin "after the customer's termination" of utility service, making a letter sent prior to the tenant's termination invalid. How can an owner determine if the power should be turned off or provide the name of the responsible party prior to the the current tenant leaving? You can’t. Many times the vacating tenant doesn’t leave on the date they should. Some holdover for a day, a week, a month or they simply change their mind about moving. Maybe the roommate who has the power in their name is moving and the other roommate is staying. Other times the letter comes more than 15 days prior to the current tenant’s termination date but by the time they do move you have a new tenant.
WE Energies often calls you, rather than sending the letter, expecting an instant answer when you haven’t had ample time to assess the situation. You may not even know the tenant is vacating. A call is not a letter.
Sometimes WE Energies will send you a bill a month or a year or more after the fact without ever sending the letter, expecting you to pay for utilities used prior to you receiving any notice from WE Energies. They are not allowed to bill you prior to the date the letter was sent to you.
Remember: no proper 15-day letter- no legitimate bill, even if you spoke to them on the phone. If WE Energies first attempted to identify the responsible party AFTER the termination date and then WE Energies sent the letter to the property owner, but you ignored it there is probably no defense to the bill. In many cases you may find that WE Energies has failed to follow the proper procedure beginning with the requirement that they attempt to identify the responsible party prior to sending a letter.
An area of disagreement is the definition of responsible party. Many rental agreements hold the tenant contractually obligated to provide heat to the property until the last day they are liable for rent. That should make the vacating tenant the responsible party until the last day they are legally liable for the unit. Unfortunately, if the tenant has actually moved out their liability to WE Energies ends. If you then put the bill in your name to protect the property you can deduct this from the tenant’s security deposit or sue the tenant to recover this cost.
Another questionable practice of WE Energies is transferring an unpaid rental property bill to your home or business account. Public Service Commission rules do permit transfers of unpaid bills to be made to the home or business account of the “property owner” or “manager.” But if the property is owned by one of your LLC’s, a transfer to your home account or another LLC account is not allowed.
At times WE Energies makes it difficult for you to turn off the service by demanding that you meet the WE Energies service person who will arrive at the property between ‘8AM and noon’ on a Tuesday. While the Public Service Commission does require the public utility to ascertain that the unit is empty prior to disconnecting service during winter months, there is no requirement that you have to waste half a day to meet them. If you sign their form letter notifying them that disconnection will not endanger health or safety or cause property damage, you have done all that is required.
Please let the AASEW know of utility service problems you may have as illustrated above. Send an email about your experiences and I will forward it to the board. We may not be able to represent you or intervene for you personally, but the more evidence we gather of possible improper practices will allow us to work with WE Energies (we have successfully advocated with them in the past) and the PSC to correct them for the benefit of all property owners.
Wisconsin Statute §196.643
(1) Responsible party. When a customer terminates service to the customer's rental dwelling unit, a public utility shall make reasonable attempt to identify the party responsible for service to the rental dwelling unit after the customer's termination. If a responsible party cannot be identified, the public utility may give the owner written notice by regular or other mail of the public utility's intent to hold the owner responsible for service to the rental dwelling unit. The owner shall not be responsible for service if the public utility does not give the notice under this subsection or if, within 15 days after the date the notice is mailed, the owner notifies the public utility of the name of the party responsible for service to the rental dwelling unit or notifies the public utility that service to the rental dwelling unit should be terminated and affirms that service termination will not endanger human health or life or cause damage to property
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 05 March 2008 )
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