A renter has been left thousands of dollars out of pocket after an administrative error revealed she had been paying her neighbour’s electricity bill for a decade.
Nicole Niceforo, who lives in the New York borough of Queens, had struggled for years with a concerningly high power bill.
In a bid to reduce costs, she rationed her air-conditioning and washed her dishes by hand, but her bills failed to drop.
It wasn’t until this year that the tenant learned she was the victim of a mix-up by US energy company Con Edison, which had swapped her account details with the apartment one floor up.
“For 10 years, I was afraid to use my air conditioning,” Niceforo told Fox 5 NY last week.
She first raised concerns in September 2016, contacting her provider to ask for a meter check. Instead, she was referred to her building manager as the bills continued to roll in.
“I spent a lot of time and energy repeatedly calling them … it’s frustration beyond belief,” she said.
It took more than nine years before the mix-up was finally discovered following a meter inspection.
“In error, your account had been billed using readings from [a meter] which supplies services to a different location,” Con Edison wrote to Niceforo in a letter dated January this year.
“We sincerely apologise for this oversight.”
The letter, shared online by Fox 5 NY, stated Niceforo was refunded $US6020.71 ($8,585.44).
However, that sum covered only the past six years, leaving almost four years of potential overcharges and interest unpaid.
Niceforo contacted the New York State Department of Public Service, which cited Con Edison’s six-year statute of limitations.
In a statement to Fox 5 NY, Con Edison said it works with customers who believe their bills do not reflect their actual usage and stood firm on the six-year cap.
“Con Edison values its customers and works with them if they believe their energy use is not correctly reflected on their bill,” the statement read.
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