Sarah Loesch and Jon Webb, Evansville Courier & Press
EVANSVILLE — There's nothing that makes Keith Potter more upset than a thief.
A weekly report he said he received from CenterPoint Energy showed Potter's highest energy usage came at 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning in March. But there was a problem, he told Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission members at Tuesday evening's listening session: he wasn't even home that day.
Potter said he was out of town. His HVAC was turned off at the circuit breaker, and everything aside from his refrigerator and chest freezer was unplugged.
Potter took issue with the smart meters now on most homes in CenterPoint territory, as did many of the other speakers at the forum. When he called to talk to CenterPoint about the issue, he said he was told they didn't have a copy of the report he was talking about. But he brought a print-out Tuesday night that he later showed to the Courier & Press.
"CenterPoint Energy is nothing but a thief," he said during his testimony.
Potter was among scores of ratepayers and elected officials to address a large panel of IURC commissioners during Tuesday night's marathon meeting.
Not counting the officeholders who spoke before resident testimony began – Evansville Mayor Stephanie Terry, Rockport Mayor Cathy Kirkpatrick, Vanderburgh County Commissioner Mike Goebel, Evansville Rep. Alex Burton and Indiana State Senators Vaneta Becker and Jim Tomes – around 30 ratepayers took the mic in a hearing that stretched more than an hour past its allotted time, finally ending around 9:15 p.m.
At its peak, the Old National Events Plaza held at least 150 residents by the Courier & Press’ count. An official with the IURC, which has been hosting listening sessions across the state, said it was the largest turnout they’d seen thus far.
Customers shared horror stories of bills that sometimes ballooned to as large as $2,000 a month. And when they called CenterPoint to get explanations, they ran into long wait times with a customer service operation they dismissed as useless.
Danielle Michaelson-Williams said she paid a huge CenterPoint bill last summer that left her without money for other expenses. That caused her water to get shut off. And as of Tuesday, she faced $3,000 in unpaid CenterPoint bills.
“I’m gonna lose my power eventually,” she said.
Mary Barr presented commissioners with testimonies she’d gathered from 68 people. She said Evansville residents were forced to choose between paying their CenterPoint bills or buying food and medication for their families.
"I have been here for 13 years. I’ve always paid my bills on time,” she said. “… I’ve asked very little of anyone my entire life, but today I am asking something from you.”
Jessica Dennis said she always heard horror stories about "how awful" CenterPoint costs were, but that's all they were, just stories, until it happened to her.
"I almost lost my home, and I did go a month without my insulin because I couldn't pay both," she said.
Several who spoke said they’d updated their furnaces and other appliances to the most energy efficient models they could get, hoping that would bring some kind of relief. Instead, they saw their bills skyrocket anyway.
Some asked commissioners if they could rescind the IURC-approved rate increase that already spiked bills by 25% or more last year – and that is scheduled to hike them even more this summer. Others were blunter: break up CenterPoint’s monopoly in Southwestern Indiana.
“Is there any way you can push for competition?” Goebel said to a large wave of applause.
Four of the five IURC commissioners – Chairman Andy Zay, Anthony Swinger, David Veleta, and former Vanderburgh County Commissioner Bob Deig – showed up to listen. All but Veleta have only been on the job since early this year, part of a batch of new appointees from Indiana Gov. Mike Braun as Hoosiers battle ever-rising utility costs.
Zay repeatedly asked follow-up questions during the testimonies. He said the purpose of the hearing was to take what they heard and craft both short- and long-term solutions that could ultimately help ratepayers.
But Dustin Moore, a man who testified almost three hours into the meeting, said the parade of people thanking commissioners for making the trip left him feeling “irritated.”
“A couple years ago, when we went through the rate hike thing, none of that stuff should have passed in the first place,” he said. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Customers deal with large bills even after energy-efficient updates
For Michaelson-Williams, her major billing issues came after efforts to update her home. Her boiler had gone out, and she sought help from the Community Action Program of Evansville and Vanderburgh County. They assisted her with getting a new unit, and she was told it would help her bills go down.
But it hasn't.
"We are drowning," she said. "We are totally drowning."
The home Michaelson-Williams lives in with her son was passed down to her by her father. She hopes to pass it on to her son, but said that's being jeopardized by CenterPoint.
Her story was similar to another woman who shared the lack of impact updates to her home had on lowering her energy costs.
Tanya Esselburn, a widow and retired employee of the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., said she was there Tuesday to represent residents stuck in the middle. Those whose income level means they don't automatically qualify for assistance but also aren't wealthy enough to go pay the bill.
Esselburn said she was lucky last summer to have her home updated in multiple areas with energy efficient upgrades. She had a new roof put on, the furnace and central air updated and new electrical.
"I was ecstatic," she said. "I just knew my bills would be where I could afford them."
She was on budget billing, starting off with a monthly bill of $244 for December and January. For February, her monthly bill, after never having fallen behind previously, totaled $2,149.70.
"I thought I was going to die when I opened up my CenterPoint bill," Esselburn said.
She called CenterPoint. She called the people who put in the new furnace, who Esselburn said took photos of her bill out of disbelief.
"I'm at the point I went to all the organizations that help," she said. "I had never asked for help before in my life."
Esselburn said she went to CAPE, where her application was put in a drawer and they told her she'd have to wait.
"CenterPoint doesn't wait for you to take me out of the drawer," she said. "I am just devastated."
When she finally got someone on the phone from CenterPoint, after more than an hour on hold, Esselburn said she asked about a specific section of information on her bill.
"He had no idea what I was talking about," she said. "And I said, 'sir, it's on the left-hand side of the bill.' He got upset with me and hung up. I had been on the phone all that time, and he hung up."
Her bill was eventually broken into $541 payments. Esselburn said she was thinking her bill would slowly go down as she made those payments. But then she was reminded by people in her life that the monthly bills would keep coming.
Monday, Esselburn received her bill for March in the mail.
It noted she overpaid $1.57 on her previous payment, so she would pay $539.13 this month instead of $541. It also showed the bill for March usage totaled $477.36.
Esselburn started with a balance of $2,149.70, before making a first payment of $542.57.
She still owes $2,086.06.