PARMA, Ohio — A small family business in Parma turned to News 5 Investigators after getting an electric bill they say was way off. Within hours after we started asking questions, the story took a positive turn.
David Fesz says a commercial account manager with the Illuminating Company called him the same day about making some billing adjustments.
He hasn’t skipped a beat at SVF sales, his family’s plumbing supplies business, even though a big electrical bill added a little extra stress around the warehouse, he says.
"You've always got one last breath,” said Fesz.
Fesz reached out to News 5 Investigators when that bill came in the mail for more than $2,200.
He told us nothing has changed with the equipment and they even installed more energy-efficient LED lights.
“It was over and done with, they told us it was done and we had to pay what we owed them,” said Fesz.
News 5 reached out to FirstEnergy about his bill and what he said was a discrepancy in meter readings.
He pointed to photos he snapped of the digital meter he said wasn’t working right.
"They've only estimated twice out of the 12 months last year but this year they estimated six times in a row and I assume they were estimating because they couldn't read the meter. And it went up significantly during those estimates,” said Fesz.
FirstEnergy told News 5 they recently installed a new meter at the business and a customer support rep would reach out about bill adjustments.
RELATED: Parma businessman blames malfunctioning electric meter for higher bill
"I got a phone call from my commercial account manager,” said Fesz — a call on Monday that Fesz says brought relief.
"He had apologized for the misunderstanding and said they were going to take care of the issue by looking at our past usages over the last couple of years and do an average,” said Fesz.
Fesz said he was told to disregard the bills, don’t pay them and wait for a new bill.
We asked Fesz about the $400 he said he paid to keep the lights on.
"They'll take that into consideration and deduct that from putting that into the equation,” said Fesz
Fesz expects to get a new bill in the two-to-four-hundred-dollar range he’s used to, but says he will wait and see what comes next in the mail.
"I'll let you know either way how it turns out," he said.
This story came about through a tip. If you have something for us to look into, reach out at investigatortips@wews.com
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