Another reason to hate Southwest Gas (credit card, gated, utilities)

[ajonesaz]

I pay my bill through my banks bill pay the same day every month. Imagine my surprise logging into Southwest Gas and finding out I am 10 days late on my bill!

Southwest gas keeps pushing my meter read date earlier and earlier, this results in most of my bills being 24-26 days. The result this year is that I have to pay two bills this month and I will have paid 13 bills total this year. I have no problem paying my usage charges, but this means they are tacking on an additional usage fee and set of taxes for the year. I believe they are adjusting meter rates to get an extra month of these fees from consumers. Sure $20 doesn't seem like a lot to each household, but if they are doing it to everyone, it can add up to big profit.

If you have Southwest Gas, take a look at your payment history, if you are on track to have 13 bills this year please file a complaint with the Arizona Corporation Commission. This is fraud and it needs to be fixed.

[Voebe]

Funny, SW Gas is probably the only one of my utilities that I don't hate! Cox and Qwest/Century Link vie for most hated. Have you talked to them?

I'm actually more concerned about APS meters, as they've been re-configured for "remote" reading - which in other cities has led to mysteriously inflated overfilling.

Have you ever filed a complaint with the Corporation Commission, and if so, how did it go? I haven't been too impressed with them so far.

[RevelationWriter]

Guess there's something to be said for having them bill you every month through postal
to receive your payment notice date for compliance.

[johnp292]

Originally Posted by RevelationWriter

Guess there's something to be said for having them bill you every month through postal
to receive your payment notice date for compliance.

How does that help?

I've noticed the same thing OP has, I'm convinced SWG does this to try to confuse people about due dates and get late fees. That's an old (and I think now illegal) credit card company trick. More good news...it's almost time for them to start adding those adjustment charges every month again.

This company needs to be investigated. And not by the Corporation Commission.

[Deelighted]

Does Arizona not have a Utility Regulatory Commission?

[ajonesaz]

Originally Posted by johnp292

How does that help?

I've noticed the same thing OP has, I'm convinced SWG does this to try to confuse people about due dates and get late fees. That's an old (and I think now illegal) credit card company trick. More good news...it's almost time for them to start adding those adjustment charges every month again.

This company needs to be investigated. And not by the Corporation Commission.

After filing my complaint with the Corporation Commission, it was forwarded directly to southwest gas. The lady called and told me that she didn't think there was any expectation that it was supposed to be a monthly payment. I think their goal here is to extract an extra service fee from every customer and get 13 instead of 12. The usage part of my bill is less than half this time of year, so its about $15 in fees and taxes. By extracting that extra $15 annually from every customer they are adding quite a bit to their bottom line.

[johnp292]

Originally Posted by Deelighted

Does Arizona not have a Utility Regulatory Commission?

We have an almost useless regulatory body called the Corporation Commission. Public utilities in AZ can get away with almost anything.

[johnp292]

Originally Posted by ajonesaz

After filing my complaint with the Corporation Commission, it was forwarded directly to southwest gas. The lady called and told me that she didn't think there was any expectation that it was supposed to be a monthly payment. I think their goal here is to extract an extra service fee from every customer and get 13 instead of 12. The usage part of my bill is less than half this time of year, so its about $15 in fees and taxes. By extracting that extra $15 annually from every customer they are adding quite a bit to their bottom line.

I would take that to next step and inform the CC that you don't feel SWG addressed your issue. It probably won't help though....

[observer53]

Originally Posted by johnp292

I would take that to next step and inform the CC that you don't feel SWG addressed your issue. It probably won't help though....

No harm in trying, that's what the Residential Utility Consumer Office (RUCO) is for. https://ruco.az.gov/

[Az_Mitch]

You can find the rules for how often SW gas can bill you here, http://www.swgas.com/tariffs/aztariff/rules/rule9.pdf

Basically their billing period can be no less than 25 days or more than 35 days. Those are the rules established by the ACC. Unless they have exceeded those standards then the ACC can't do anything about your complaint and neither can RUCO.

You can write each of the commissioners and tell them you think their billing period is not restrictive enough and because of this you believe they are collecting extra revenue each year due to the extra bill.