ComplaintsforWest Penn Power
Need to file a complaint?
BBB is here to help. We'll guide you through the process.
Complaint Details
Note that complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. See details.
Initial Complaint
08/19/2024
- Complaint Type:
- Order Issues
- Status:
- Answered
Was in a contract payment $350 per mth with P U C...never miss a payment for over a year. July 24 I paid $350 bill and on Aug. 05 knock at my door, large man said back in Nov. My usage exceeded my $350.00 payment...therefore it carries over the months and I am at default... Five (5) minutes later my electricity was shut off...and is now currently. No letter in the mail for notice...no calls to my phone for a notice. Applied PUC investigation had said back in Nov. I was in default....now it's closed... Total balance for reconnecting is $5757.32.......but they will turn it back on for $4660.99.......won't give me another payment plan.... Trying to use resources for reconnection.. but only have 1500 dollars with my resources...and they won't talk to me at all. Please help me solve this if you can. Thank youBusiness response
08/28/2024
The customer’s service was terminated on 8/5/24 for non-payment. A termination notice was mailed out on 7/22/24 for $4980.47 scheduled on or after 8/5/24. The company attempted a call on 7/29/24 and the call was answered, and the house verified. There is no record of returned mail. We spoke with the customer on 8/5/24 and advised the amount of $4660.47 was needed to reconnect service. We went through the bills from last year to current to go over the budget and the PUC agreement.
The customer filed a PUC complaint on 8/5/24 and the case was dismissed due to prior PUC agreement ******* had not been satisfied. The customer was set up on the PUC agreement on 3/29/23 for the budget + $112.00/monthly. When the agreement began the budget was $237.00. The budget is based off the previous 12-months of usage and is recalculated quarterly so can go up or down based on usage. The customer is notified of the budget review at the top of the bill and in the messages section of the bill. The customer can review what was actually used versus what has been paid while on the budget under "Equal Payment Plan (EPP) Summary". The customer did not pay the amount due monthly which resulted in the account becoming past due and a termination notice being issued.
Customer has had 2 or more defaulted payment agreements and is not eligible for a new agreement. We spoke with customer on 8/16/24 and on 8/26/24. Customer was never advised that we would not speak with her.Initial Complaint
07/17/2024
- Complaint Type:
- Delivery Issues
- Status:
- Answered
I received a email for West Penn power Tell me they're going to shut off my electricity July 23rd after I just paid another shut off bill in June 4th for $200 for them to stop shutting off electricity. And I was supposed to be on a p cap program. Now I have received another shut off notice and I don't think that's right.Business response
07/26/2024
A termination notice was issued on 5/8/24 for $291.28 due by 5/22/24. When customer contacted the company, she was advised the catch-up amount of $209.31 could be paid to stop termination. Customer was advised the full past due amount of $357.39 at the time. The customer paid 200.00 on 5/31/24 and termination was cancelled.
When the next bill issued on 6/21/24, the payment of $200.00 was applied and the amount of $41.97 from the payment was submitted to the deactivated installment plan. Installment plan was deactivated due to customer being enrolled in PCAP. The remaining of the payment of $158.03 was applied to the bill balance of $613.39, leaving a past due amount of $455.36 and the current bill amount of $179.15, for a total of $634.51.
A payment of $125.00 was received on 7/1/24 which applied to teh bill balance of $634.51, leaving $509.51. Due to the customer still carrying a past due balance a new termination notice issued on 7/9/24 for $330.36 due by 7/23/24. Customer contacted the company and advised the catch-up amount of $135.45 could be paid to stop termination. No payment has been received.
The customer was re-enrolled in PCAP effective 5/20/24. No balance was placed into the PCAP deferred arrears because the balance can only be deferred once, so the balance still remains due. The customer does receive a PCAP monthly bill credit of $62.74. The PCAP benefit amount is recalculated on a monthly basis. Credit is based on the current average bill, heat source listed and the last reported household income. With the monthly recalculation, depending on the average bill amount for the month, the PCAP credit amount can change.When there is a past due balance on the account a termination notice could be issued at any time.
Initial Complaint
07/05/2024
- Complaint Type:
- Product Issues
- Status:
- Answered
This company is a utility company they charged me a security deposit in the amount of $448.34 which was agreed to be refunded at the time of me closing my account and after my final bill was paid,after they deducted my last bill amount the company refused to deposit my refund and stated that I needed to contact a 3rd party North Lane about acquiring said funds each time they provided me with a contact for the 3rd party it would either be invalid or the number for a completely different company it was then that I realized that their operations were completely fraudulent and that they had no intention on issuing a refund to their customers. I would like assistance in having West Penn issue me a refund directly to my a/c and not by mail. Upon contacting them they also had a suspicious telephone number attached to my account which they couldn't disclose who attached it to my account nor when it was added. The number in question is **********. I am the only account holder and I did not give them that contact number. My number is Tel:**********Business response
07/08/2024
Any time the company is holding a security deposit it is refunded once the bills are paid on time for 12 consecutive months or when the account has ended. The company will apply the security deposit credit to the customers current account balance. If the customer has an active account and there is a remaining credit the customer can leave the credit on the account to go towards future bills or request a refund. If the account is not active as the customer has ended service, it will apply to the final bill and the remainder is issued as a refund. All refunds are issued through a third-party vendor and once those refunds have been issued the company no longer has the funds and the customer would need to contact the vendor to discuss. Based on company records service was ended on 05/29/24 and a final bill was issued. The customers security deposit in the amount of $354.00 was applied to the customers final bill leaving a credit balance of $284.84. The company issued a refund to ********** on 06/24/24. When a refund is issued to the customer the customer can expect a refund in the mail with in 7-10 business days from the time it has issued. If the customer does not have their refund by 07/10/24 the company would recommend contacting ********** to discuss however it could be delayed due to the holiday.Initial Complaint
06/03/2024
- Complaint Type:
- Service or Repair Issues
- Status:
- Answered
There have been frequent (at least biweekly), unscheduled power outages in the **********, ** area over at least the past 6 months (this is as long as I have lived here). For example, today I am estimated to be without power for the next 3 hours and yesterday I was without power for 2 hours. While everyone in ******* should have reliable access to electricity, this is especially harmful as my husband and I both work remotely, and require regular access to electricity in order to keep our jobs.Business response
06/13/2024
This customer is fed from the Farmbrook circuit out of the Hempfield substation. On June 1, 2024, the viper reclosers at the station on the Farmbrook circuit began operating. Opening and closing many times. A crew went out. They said it was tripping on bus differential but were not able to find a problem. The put the vipers back in service. There were no interruptions on 6/2/2024. Then on 6/3/2024, viper reclosers bang to open and close many times again. ******** went back out. This time they found water collecting in the ** junction boxes on the reclosers causing them to short out. Water was leaking in from the seal tight that comes into the junction box from the top. ******** sealed up that leak, and vents and weep holes to the junctions. They will be checking the other substations for similar problems.
This customer has not had any interruptions since 6/3.Initial Complaint
05/13/2024
- Complaint Type:
- Customer Service Issues
- Status:
- Answered
On 3 May we inquired about having our electric service turned on. After multiple hours of waiting we finally received information from them on the process. On ************************************************************************************************************************* two. It has been almost a week and still no answer on the status of our services. Many hours of waiting on hold just to get back to the same point that we were already at. There is no one at this company has any competency or common sense on any topics regarding their business. This company is a disgrace and should not even be allowed to service locations. This company needs to be banned and sued for all the hardship and trouble it causes its customers.Business response
05/14/2024
Good morning,
I have reached out to *****, the scheduler in charge of this work order (*********) that you have requested and advised her to contact you as soon as possible to have your issue resolved. If you have not been contacted soon, please reach out if needed at ************. Please reference the above work order number.
Thank you,
*******************************Initial Complaint
05/10/2024
- Complaint Type:
- Service or Repair Issues
- Status:
- Answered
I called west Penn power#*********** talk to them at little after 530 pm 05/09/2024 they told me that I could pay ****** to them to get my service back on to make payments and call them back to confirm payment they would turn service back on I payed them ****** called back to confirm they told me that they wouldnt turn service on I am disabled with two kids the place I live at requires me to have electricity so how me and my two kids are going to be evicted I gave them every dollar to my name the electric still is not on it not right for them to tell people that they will turn service on then not do itBusiness response
05/15/2024
On 5/9/24, ************************** contacted the company to speak to a representative regarding termination of service. The customer stated he was paying $900.00 and was transferred to our third-party credit card vendor to make the payment.
************************** called back on 05/09/24 to confirm payment and stated he needed to get service restored. We reviewed our records and determined the customer was not advised he could pay $900.00 to restore service.
The customer called back on 05/10/24 and spoke to a representative and advised he was told he could pay $900.00 to restore service. The representative submitted an order to restore service and service was restored on 05/10/24.Initial Complaint
04/29/2024
- Complaint Type:
- Service or Repair Issues
- Status:
- Answered
I called WestPenn Power about my problem and they don't want to resolve the problem and they will not setup any payment plan. I'm on a fixed income and I told them thatBusiness response
04/30/2024
Based on company records the customer would be eligible for a company payment arrangement if the customer is needing assistance with a shut off notice however, the customer would need to contact the company to set that up. The company themselves do not have anything to offer to lower a customer's bill based on income although the customer does have the option to apply for energy assistance. Assistance programs such as DEF and LIHEAP may be able to provide the customer with minimizing the customer's bill. Ultimately though the customer's bill is based off consumption used in the home and or a budget that is based on the last 12 months of usage from the home.Initial Complaint
02/07/2024
- Complaint Type:
- Order Issues
- Status:
- Answered
Had to put the power in my name didn't move here until April 2023 the lady that lived here before passed and her kids were suppse to shut her power off but the power company wants me to pay her balance which shouldn't be my responsibility. I needed power for my kidsBusiness response
02/19/2024
Based on company records there are two meters at ******************************************************************. It appears that the customer set up service at one of the meters effective 10/12/20. The customer then contacted the ********************** on 09/13/23 stating that the second meter should have been in her name as of October 2022. Therefore, when the customer began service, the ********************** transferred the consumption charges from October 2022 - September 2023 to her new account as she would have been responsible for this usage.
*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩
BBB Business Profiles may not be reproduced for sales or promotional purposes.
BBB Business Profiles are provided solely to assist you in exercising your own best judgment. BBB asks third parties who publish complaints, reviews and/or responses on this website to affirm that the information provided is accurate. However, BBB does not verify the accuracy of information provided by third parties, and does not guarantee the accuracy of any information in Business Profiles.
When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.
BBB Business Profiles generally cover a three-year reporting period. BBB Business Profiles are subject to change at any time. If you choose to do business with this business, please let the business know that you contacted BBB for a BBB Business Profile.
As a matter of policy, BBB does not endorse any product, service or business. Businesses are under no obligation to seek BBB accreditation, and some businesses are not accredited because they have not sought BBB accreditation.
Customer Reviews are not used in the calculation of BBB Rating
Customer Complaints Summary
8 total complaints in the last 3 years.
8 complaints closed in the last 12 months.