ComplaintsforPolk-Burnett Electric Cooperative

• Initial Complaint

  07/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In the winter of 2020 a series of items kept breaking in our home, it started with ceiling fans not working, to water pressure tank, washing machine, dryer, light bulbs, microwave, tvs, and finally our hot water heater. (more items even to list) Looking back it seems obvious that this was a electricity issue however we were young first home owners and chalked it up to bad luck. We went and purchased a hot water heater (among other things) and when we installed it was alarming out. So we called the warranty for the hot water heater and they set an expert out to install the hot water heater correctly. It was then when the expert couldn't figure out why it was alarming out he checked the voltages and the usual amount of amps going to a home is 200, the reader from the expert was reading over 290 amps. The expert told my husband to hurry and turn all the breakers off and to call our electric company. The electric company came out and confirmed that the transformer that regulates the electricity from the street into our home stopped regulating and we were receiving full power. They apologized and said "never in Polk Burnett history" have they had something like this happen. We told them how everything in our home broke and they informed us the damage is probably even more so since the half-life of everything plugged in should have never received power such as that. They told us they have insurance for this type of thing and not for us to worry. The story ends with their insurance said the transformer breaking was act of god and therefore not covered and our home insurance only covered things hardwired in (so our hot water heater was covered, but not the washer, dryer, microwave, fridge, etc.). We did not pursue legal action since it was the beginning of covid and were worried our bad luck would continue and there was the chance of being laid off.

  Business response

  07/20/2023

  Polk-Burnett Electric Cooperative responded to Ms. ******** high voltage concerns on February 7, 2020.  During our investigation, it was determined that the padmount transformer serving the location failed causing the high voltage event.  We replaced the transformer immediately.  ****************** submitted a damage claim for $3,173 that was submitted to the Cooperatives insurance company. A response was sent to ***************** on February 14, 2020 explaining that equipment failure is not something that can be foreseen and is considered and Act of God.  The Cooperative cannot guarantee that there will not be voltage fluctuations or outages that are out of our control.
  
  As with any damage claim, to be able to consider reimbursement of a claim, there must be evidence of negligence on the part of the Cooperative.  The Cooperative did not do anything to make the transformer fail and the insurance company had to respectfully decline reimbursement.  

  Customer response

  07/20/2023

  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.
  
  [Please type your response here.]

  I would argue there was negligence on two parts. One, our house was receiving the excessive voltage for weeks. Double what a house should receive and surely double what our home typically receives. Why was there no safeguards to detect when something out of the norm such as that happened? 
  

  My second argument is negligence on your part. Just a year prior your workers were out at my house and besides killing some pines with the underground wire or whatever they ran, who is to say the worker at that time didnt adversely malfunction the transformer. Its suspicious the transformer has worked just fine for 40+ years and then shortly after your worker comes out, we have this issue. 
  

  Your company failed to fully investigate the matter and tried to distance yourself from the situation as soon as possible. Im sure if this happened to yourself or your daughter you wouldnt roll over so easily. 

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

• Initial Complaint

  07/07/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  ****** from the Polk Burnett called me on 07/06/2022 and told me that my **** was late and stated she would need me to pay the overdue amount of 131.00$ tomorrow which would be 07/07/2022 or I would be disconnected. I woke up on 07/07/2022 and my power was off. I drove up to the electric companys office and spoke with ****** who stood there with a smirk on her face as she told me there was nothing she could do and in order to be reconnected i would need to agree to be on a prepaid account and pay 560$. Or I could pay 980$ to be back on monthly billing. After paying the 560$ I know have a prepaid account and only have a 50$ credit. The staff was so rude and as I stood there crying trying to figure out how i was going to come up with the money she stood behind the desk smirking and said, well you should have paid your **** on time. Even though I was told i could pay it today. Im tired of this company ripping people off. There is no reason to pay almost 1000$ to be put back on monthly billing when I only owed 131. I have been at the same address for the last 20 years and have had Polk Burnett electric service the entire time. ( not by choice). In that ************************************************************* all this extra money is sickening.

*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. ↩