ComplaintsforAlliant Energy Corporation

• Initial Complaint

  05/26/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I found out in December of 2022, I was being billed 10x above and beyond the energy I was using. I tried calling Alliant energy and respectfully requesting them to look at my meter for it was going twice as fast as all other units despite me not having any major appliances in My Home. I am literally living like a cave man I dont even shower here. This was on 12/14/2022. Nothing happened so I followed up a few months later. So again I checked back in May 2023. Despite Alliant energy sending nobody to check out my meter at my unit. A supervisor was ready to talk to me about energy usage. I found this extremely confusing. How would you know about energy usage without looking at a meter?Alliant energy laughed at me and then started retaliation billing. Retaliation billing is defined as utilizing clerical errors to increase the amount per month a customer has to pay. An example of this would be adding a zero or moving the decimal point to confuse and fraud users. The unfortunate thing is even when caught beyond a reasonable doubt, Alliant Energy apologizes, takes more of your information then double or triple bills you for the month.Please remember that I dont want to talk to Alliant energy. I dont want to take time out of my day to teach them that 1+1 = 2. Its a waste of my time and it makes me frustrated. At this point I just Need the retaliation billing to stop.No one enjoys their mistakes being pointed out, however, money is involved so I will not let this go. Please stop retaliation billing me.

  Business response

  05/26/2023

  Alliant Energy is a regulated utility and does not participate in "retaliation billing."  The meter is the basis for determining usage.  Actual meter readings were obtained each month for billing. This customer's usage is comparable to prior seasonal usage at this property. We encourage our customers to enroll in My Account to monitor their usage.  Customers who are enrolled in My Account can view usage to the daily and hourly level which may help customers determine sources of higher usage in their home. Customers enrolled in My Account can also sign up for usage alerts.  Customers who sign up for usage alerts will receive an alert by text, email or voice mail when their monthly usage nears a kWh amount determined by the customer This helps customers keep track of their monthly usage and provides the opportunity to set monthly energy savings goals.
  
  In December of 2022, the customer contacted ******************** with concerns that his high bill might be caused by a damaged meter.  An Alliant Energy employee suggested that the usage might be due to electric heat.  The customer stated his heat is included in his rent.  He also stated someone had to be using his power and wanted the meter checked.  The  employee advised the customer to speak to his landlord about the heat as well as whether or not another unit was wired into his breaker panel.  An Alliant Energy field employee checked the meter for damage that same day and determined the meter was working properly.  The customer was informed that a meter test would not be performed at that time.
  
  Upon receipt of this complaint, a voice mail message was left for the customer to return our call and a meter test request was issued.  We will provide additional information once the meter test results are available.  The meter was tested for accuracy at the time of installation. Please be advised that in most cases, higher than expected bills are due to usage at the property and not to an inaccurate meter. 

  Customer response

  05/31/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  Not only did retaliation billing occur but you guys sent me a shut off notice with a payment of $150.76 due. I ended up paying $175. To explain how retaliation billing works is when you guys commit clerical errors and shut off my power after weve reached a payment arrangement that is by definition retaliation. When the retaliation is in form of billing and shut off of services after an agreement has been reached, what are you expecting from us? Your company and me had an agreement. I met that agreement and you still shut off my power anyways because youre upset about this BBB complaint. Literally, as Im speaking right now I do not have power in my home because I honored my part of the agreement between us you didnt.
  
  Regards,
  
  *****************************

  Business response

  06/01/2023

  A disconnection letter was issued on 5/15/2023 with a disconnect date of 5/30/2023 and a minimum payment amount (***) of $157.96.  The disconnection letter states to avoid disconnection and fees, the minimum payment of $157.96 was to be made by 4:30 pm on May 30, 2023.  Payments totaling $125.00 were received between 5/24/2023 and 5/27/2023. This was not enough to meet the *** amount on the disconnection notice.  Three additional payments totaling $100.00 were processed on our website and posted to the account on 5/31/2023.  This was after the disconnection date of 5/30/2023 so the *** was no longer an option. A payment arrangement was not reached until after service was disconnected on 5/31/2023. The service was later reconnected on 5/31/2023 after the agreement was reached. 

  Alliant Energy is a regulated utility in the state of Wisconsin.  This customer's account has been reviewed and no violations of regulatory rules have been found. 

  Customer response

  06/11/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  [I made the mistake of thinking that by entering in a payment arrangement with ****** via Alliant Energy that the retaliation billing and practices would stop. Wow was I wrong. This is retaliation black-and-white. I just found out alliant energy is trying to get me evicted. On June 1 an email was sent to me from Alliant energy saying that we entered into a payment arrangement. I have included the email above. However, nine days later, Alliant energy communicated with my apartment complex, saying that I wanted the power taken out of my name as of May 31. Giving the direct impression that I was going to bail on my lease and move out of the apartment complex. I have included that email with time stamp as well.  It is not enough for this company just to take part in retaliation billing, but they have moved on to try to spread misinformation to my landlord to get me evicted. I will be reaching out to my local house of representative member, as well as looking into tenant landlord rules to see if utility companies are allowed to spread lies and miss information to landlords in order to inflict negative retaliation on the tenant. It is clear you are never going to stop. This will be the second binding resolution that you have broken. I hope this was worth it.]

  
  Regards,
  
  *****************************

• Initial Complaint

  05/16/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was issued a bill from Alliant Energy for a home I sold two years ago. They are telling me I am liable for the bill because of a landlord property agreement. I do not recall filling one out and I have requested the document 4 times. I have still not received the document and yet they are still telling me I have to pay for a bill on a home I sold 2 years ago.

  Business response

  05/26/2023

  Alliant Energy gives landlords in our service territory the option of placing utility service into their name between tenants.  In the past, landlord agreements were set up by verbal authorization from the landlord. **************** had given Alliant Energy verbal authorization to revert properties into her name between tenants. Alliant Energy did not have a signed authorization on file with *****************
  
  **************** called Alliant Energy on 4/26/2023 stating she had sold her property two years earlier and shouldnt be billed for the utilities.  Her request was escalated to a supervisor who confirmed that service was placed into an individuals name in 2020 who indicated he owned the property. Due to an Alliant Energy error, the landlord agreement was not cancelled at that time.  Based on this information, the supervisor determined that **************** should not be billed, and the charges were reversed on 5/2/2023. **************** no longer has a balance owed for her previous rental property and the landlord agreement has been cancelled.  I left a voice mail message for ******** to return my call regarding her Better Business Bureau complaint on 5/26/2023.  

• Initial Complaint

  04/21/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Today on March 29th of 2023, I attempted to call alliant Energy of Madison ********************** to get power turned on at my new apartment. I had a past due balance which I wasn't aware of, so therefore I was unable to get power turned on in my name until I put some money down for this past due balance. Which is totally understandable. However, financially I am unable to do that at this time. So my girlfriend agreed to get the power turned on in her name as we have children together and we live together. She attempted to call them, got through to a man at about 1:30 p.m. today, and he directed her toward a different power company in a completely different state. So I tried to call them. The woman on the phone explain to me that this is a common occurrence that she deals with, and that they do not service anywhere in our city as we are in a completely different state. Normally I would chalk this up as a simple user error and not be here making this complaint to the BBB. However I was taken back by the fact that she said this was a normal occurrence and it happens often. It made me wonder if someone over at alliant Energy is simply just avoiding their job by giving people the runaround. Because that is how I feel right now. The man at alliant Energy simply brushed us off so that he could continue sitting on his rear end making a paycheck while doing close to nothing.

  Business response

  04/21/2023

  Alliant Energy has reached out to the customer and spoke to him regarding the concerns addressed with the BBB. The customer understood where the mix up was as the incorrect address was originally given when the first call out to Alliant Energy was made and we do not provide service to that address. He appreciated the call for addressing his complaint.

• Initial Complaint

  03/14/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On March 13, 2023 a woman from Alliant Energy called to say THEY MADE a MISTAKE and were going to charge us a higher amount every month for our Elect. meter, and they were also going to add onto our billing an additional charge for our elect. meter going back to Dec. 2021.This is unacceptable for them to try to charge us for their so-called mistake in billing.We've lived on our property for 30 years with Alliant as the electric provider. We had 2 meters on our property since we built our home 30 yrs ago.In Dec. 2021 we had 1 meter removed with 1 meter remaining. Alliant was fully aware of this meter change and was a big part of the process. At NO TIME did Alliant mention there would be a different charge for our existing meter. **There is NO reason that the meter charge rate we've always paid for our existing meter wouldn't continue. For Alliant to tell us to pay a higher rate for the elect. meter now is WRONG.Additionally, for Alliant to try to charge us in arrears for a so-called rate increase since December 2021 is WRONG. If Alliant made a billing mistake, that is their fault and NOT our responsibility.I explained this to the caller. She ignored objections.I explained my husband and I live on a low budget, fixed income of social security and could NOT afford an increased rate, and certainly could NOT afford to pay the past 14 months of Alliant's so-called mistake THEY made in billing. This is completely WRONG for Alliant to come at us for "back charges" for their mistake.The Alliant billing each month is just that - the full billing, which we paid in Full each month in GOOD FAITH. Alliant can afford to absorb their mistakes and should be responsible for their own mistakes, NOT US. Any billing mistake they made is NOT our fault.This is an eggregious example of a greedy monopoly.I told the woman caller we were not responsible for their mistake and they shouldn't charge us. I asked for proof of her claims and she refused to provide that.

  Business response

  03/31/2023

  We apologize for the delay in responding to this customers complaint.  Please be advised that the customer was contacted about her concern on March 15, 2023 after she had filed a complaint with the ************************* of Wisconsin (PSCW).  This customer previously had two meters at her property.  Per our Wisconsin Power &Light (WPL) RG-1 tariff, the second meter was billed a customer charge of $0.100 per day instead of the standard customer charge of $.4932 per day.  *********** at the property was downgraded in December of 2021 per the customers request. There has been only one meter at the property since that day.  The customer had been charged only ******* for the customer charge for that time period. The error was recently discovered, and corrections have been made to the customers bill so that she is now being billed at the correct customer charge of $.4932 per day.  As a regulated utility, we are required to bill customers equally under our tariff and if an error is found, we are required to back bill customers for up to two years.  Therefore, a back bill was issued for the time period the account was billed an incorrect customer charge.  We have apologized to the customer for this error.  The customer has also been offered a payment arrangement on the balance.  

• Initial Complaint

  07/21/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  Have been off work due to birth of child and haven't been paid in a few weeks and they're negligent on the phone to try and help me start a payment arrangement instead they'd like $750 by the 25th or they plan to disconnect us and leave a newborn without power in 90+ heat. Offered to pay the current **** but that's not acceptable in their eyes

• Initial Complaint

  07/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I have an account (xxxxxxxxxx) with the above corporation and have been making payments online using my U.S. Bank account. I recently closed the old checking account and opened a new one in the same bank. I informed the bank to transfer any funds and deposits from the old account to the new one.When I attempted to pay my energy ****, first online and then by phone, my payment was rejected saying I had 3 attempts in the past year that were rejected, and now I had to go into a Cash Only status.I explained that my bank had frozen my old account but had not transferred my SSI deposit of $1864.00 to the new account. I explained that I had not done anything wrong, nor did I try to avoid making this payment. The manager with whom I spoke said that it was their policy to enforce the Cash Only status and that it would not be reviewed.I would like some help in seeking the company to review this policy and apply it with discretion, or in my case allow me to continue to make timely payments from my bank account. Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  07/08/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I have owned many rental properites over the years that required Alliant Energy services as they are the local utility. Alliant requires landlords to maintain a "Landlord List of Properties" Here is where the issue is. When i sell a property, I call and have the service removed from my name and the property removed from the Landlord List. But most of the time there is a communictaion gap and either the service isnt removed or the property not removed fron the list, so in the future service automatically goes into my name, even with a whole new owner of the property.When I call Alliant about this there is no solution. The customer service agent (CSR) will offer to forward this to the Landlord Team but they wont give me any contact info for this team, when I ask for a manager of the current department, they after a long hold, say the manager is busy. This has happened multiple times recently and it has cost me time and money. This happened a few years ago and after much back and forth, Alliant without warning sent the accont to collections, affecting my personal credit score. This for a house I sold, didnt own, and had no affiliation with for months. That was a huge pain to clean up, including calls and letters to the collection agency and Alliant Energy.Recently this happened again, I got a **** for $230.19 for a property I sold months ago. I called in again and removed my name from the service and the Landlord List. They without permission put the property in my name. The run around with Alliant CSRs began again I expected another collections and credit issue. So I paid this ridicoulus charge, called in to Alliant again and requested to have my name removed. Well again I get another **** for service that is still in my name. This is ridicolus and should be illegal. Alliant Energy offers zero solutions for a customer that wants to remove their liabilty from a property on the landlord list. I would like to escalate this issue.

• Initial Complaint

  12/16/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  on 12/10/21 i email Alliant customer care:***************************************************************** I have been told SOMEONE canceled my account #********* and now i do not know what i owe you I have been at 192 East **** since Aug of 2013 and still live there..Can i get a print out of the account for 192 east **** since this payment #************ and can you explain what happened that i is not in my name anymore?what happens now?On 12/13/21 i emailed again:still waiting for some kind of answers on how my electric **** got taken out of my name and no final **** ever sent to me notifying me?I never canceled my account...I never got a final ****...Please send me my bills from the time this payment was made on 192 east ****...confirmation number ************ None of this makes any sense to me My account number is/was ********** ******************* 192 east **** Thank you for your help Still no reply on an explanation of why this happened...or what i now owe...

*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. ↩