Utah: Angry power customers descend on city councilman

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Utah: Angry power customers descend on city councilman

SPRINGVILLE, Utah (AP) - Councilman Craig Conover arrived at the city offices Monday morning to find about 30 furious residents clutching astronomical August power bills.

Not only was the new 5.3 cents per kilowatt hour cost adjustment added to the bill, but a city power employee - who no longer has a job - had estimated meter readings in three districts of the city.

As a result, about 30 residents received power bills for as much as $600 for the month.

Conover and Councilman Fritz Boyer reside in one of the districts where the meter reader estimated power use last month.

Conover said the city sent out letters warning residents in the one district of the incoming bills, promising the errors would be corrected at a later date.

However, the employee also had estimating meter readings in two other districts and those residents were not warned.

"The guy just guessed," Conover said. "People are mad, what can you expect?"

Conover said the City Council will meet Sept. 19 to discuss payment options and to talk about the future of Springville power.

"We're going to try to work out something so those people can pay the city over time and not be penalized in any way," he said. "Our problem is that we've got to pay the city's power bill right now. This has created a pretty serious cash-flow problem."

http://www.trib.com/HOMENEWS/STATE/UtilityAnger.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), September 12, 2000


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