Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Southside Electric Cooperative, Inc.'s headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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Southside Electric Cooperative, Inc. has 5 locations, listed below.

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  Southside Electric Cooperative, Inc.

  2000 W Virginia Ave Crewe, VA 23930-1072

• 

  Southside Electric Cooperative, Inc.

  19416 Carson Rd Eastern District Office Dinwiddie, VA 23841-2807

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  Southside Electric Cooperative, Inc.

  1712 W Virginia Ave Central District Office Crewe, VA 23930-1049

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  Southside Electric Cooperative, Inc.

  2370 Emanuel Church Rd Northern District Office Powhatan, VA 23139-5760

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  Southside Electric Co-op, Western Dist.

  3491 Dearing Ford Rd Altavista, VA 24517

  

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/30/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Power was cut day before it was due

  Business Response

  Date: 02/07/2025

  Complainant's bill was sent 7/25/2024 with a disconnect notice. The bill had an "Important Notice" message stating that the outstanding balance was due by 8/19/24 or the service would be subject to disconnection without further notice. The Cooperative tried to contact the complainant by phone on 8/12, the person who answered the call informed *** that we had the wrong number.  *** sent the complainant an email also on 8/12 informing them the service would be subject to disconnection on 8/22.  Complainant made a check payment of $1,005.44 via the cooperative's automated phone system on 8/19, at that time the caller placed the account on auto draft for future payments. That check was returned as *** on 8/26/2024. On 8/27 the complainant was sent an email that the check was returned *** and needed to be paid by 9/6 to prevent disconnection. The August bill was sent the same day (8/27) with an "Important Notice" that the account was still past due and subject to disconnection. Complainants service was disconnected on 9/16. Complainants auto draft from her bank account was attempted on 9/17 which returned on 9/20 for ***.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/19/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  This is a billing issue with Southside Electric Cooperative (***).I receive the *** invoice via email. I have 2 accounts on the same property. The bill I receive includes combined charges from the 2 accounts with ONE total with no breakdown of charges by account which is not a problem for me. . I pay the bill by thru my bank, however, *** on several occasions, only applies payment to the main account and not the second account listing the part which should be applied to both accounts as 'credit' When viewing the website, I see payment for the main account with a credit which is the total of the second account. But the second account is usually noted as a credit or past due rather than applying the 'credit' to the second account. If SCC email's the invoice as a single charge, then why don't they apply the payment to both accounts?? Upon contacting SCC's customer service, they were able to apply the credit to the second account but argue with me on why the payment is only applied to the main account. Quoting a famous character: 'D'oh. Fortunately, I have not received a late charge but I am concerned that an overdue payment may affect my credit. On several occasions I have received an email regarding the past due which requires me to contact SCC. I find it absurd that I receive a bill with one total charges but payment is only applied to the main account. *** needs to address their billing and payment services so that payments are applied correctly.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/26/2024

  Our member has currently chosen to be on the paperless billing option, meaning their notifications are made via email each month.  The email statement currently displays the total balance for all accounts; however, we are working to change that to include a separate line item or a separate email for each account number. 

  
  The body of the email contains a Pay Now tab which is a hyperlink to the members account in Smart Hub our member information portal.  Once the member logs in, they can select to pay on any active account for any amount and can see their actual bill/bill history. They can also log in at any time via our website or mobile app if they want to pay or review current or historical billing and payment data.

  
  The member did make a payment via their bank in May of 2023,but that seems to be the last time payment was made in that fashion.  Depending on how the payment request is made with the bank, it is possible that payments will be applied to a singular account, especially if only one account number is entered on the user side of the transaction. There were no late fees applied to the members bill and no information has been reported to the credit bureaus.

  
  We would be happy to contact the member and review our payment portal configuration and show them how to select the option to pay specific amounts on separate accounts. Please let us know and we will contact them for a review.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/26/2024

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's offer.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved. If the company does not perform as promised I can get back to you at: **********************************************.
  
  Regards,
  
  *********************
  
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/14/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I do have a past due bill. I called and spoke to a call center rep on Monday (2/12) to inform her that I can pay my full past due balance and current balance on (2/16): I set up an auto pay for that day. She said that she would add a note to my account and as long as the payment goes through I would be able to avoid disconnect. Today is 2/15 and my power was disconnected. Im still waiting to hear back from them but now I know that I am going to have reconnect fees as well that I thought I would not have since I called and made the arrangement.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/16/2024

  Complainant set up a payment arrangement on 1/11/2024, for a payment to be made on 2/7/24, however, no payment was made on that date. A review of our phone records for incoming calls during the month of February for the phone numbers listed on this account, show no incoming phone calls for the number ending in **** and 1 incoming call from the number ending in **** which took place on February 15, 2024.

  
  Complainant was disconnected for non-payment on 2/14. The complainant spoke to the Supervisor of Collections on the same date and was allowed to reconnect service for less than the total amount required. SEC agreed to allow complainant to pay fees and deposits with the future bill.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/19/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the offer and/or response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  I emailed them back and provided them with the representatives name that I spoke to.  (Email attached) If I would have known they werent going to honor the agreement or document it then I would have taken a loan from my employer like I had to do anyways because it was disconnected without notice.  Now I have all  of these additional fees on top of my next bill due for power that was off for 30 minutes and did not require anyone to come out since they did it remotely. 

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

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/15/2023

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Southside Electric was cutting trees down, hit the power line and caused my entire house full of appliances to fry. I emailed, I called and I was never gotten back to for them to figure out how they can reimburse me for the money I had to put out for all new appliances, and had to have a whole new panel box put in with breakers.I had to replace -Refrigerator -Stove -Clothes Washer and Dryer -Microwave -3 TVs -1 mid size Deep freezer -New panel ************** I had to go through ****** to get new appliances because I could not afford to fork out all the money for appliances after having to pay for a breaker box, breakers and the installation as I had to hire an electrician *** My power constantly goes out, lights are always flickering, bill steady rising and Ive put in complaint after complaint with them. ***** my dad is on o2 and because Im not on a monthly bill if my power goes out due to SSEC issues they told me they cant/wont notate my account as medically necessary. I do not believe it should matter how the bill is paid so long as its paid. This company is by far the worst electric company Ive EVER HAD. Some of the workers however that are in the office are more understanding then cooperate. Its very sad that they have not been held accountable for the lack and failure to provide decent electric service.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/11/2023

  Reached out to the complainant using the number we have on file and the phone number that is attached to this complaint and neither number was in service.  I sent an email to the complainant that included both my office and cell number. Once I hear from the complainant, I will work with them and guide them through our damage claim process.