PG&E customer charged for neighbor’s bill in Paso Robles

PASO ROBLES, Calif. – Josh Nelson lives in Paso Robles and contacted Your News Channel about issues with being charged for his neighbor's bill by PG&E.

"I moved into this particular unit about five or six months ago, and the first bill that I got was  astronomically high. And I called PG&E and asked him why my bill was so high, and it was determined that they were billing me for a neighbor's electrical usage," said Josh Nelson.

Nelson said PG&E told him it could take up to a year to fix the problem.

"That was really frustrating to hear because  my neighbor's usage is a lot higher than mine and this can actually end up being hundreds or thousands of dollars more than what I need to pay."

After waiting a couple months, Nelson received a notice from the utility company saying that if he didn't pay his bill, his electricity would be shutoff, even before fixing the issue.

"They had told me that there's like 10,000 people ahead of you and you're just going to have to wait."

Your News Channel reached out to PG&E about the issue. Carina Corral, a spokeswomen for PG&E, confirmed the issue in a statement.

“I can confirm the customer is being billed for the wrong meter. Corrections for switched meters are complex as they are made both in our billing system and outside of the system to ensure the customer is correctly billed for both current and retroactive charges. When making retroactive corrections, we often need to recover purged meter data which can be timely. We recognize this issue is frustrating and burdensome for the customer and we’ve escalated this issue for top priority completion.”

Shortly after News Channel reached out to PG&E, Nelson's issue was resolved.

"The customer’s account has been corrected. His current status account is showing a credit and a request has been submitted to update his address in our system. The incorrect address will not affect his billing, as we will off of meter numbers not addresses," said Corral in a statement.

"I hope that  the other people that have been experiencing this same issue also have their problem resolved," said Josh Nelson.

Corral recommends people experiencing a similar issue are urged to call the customer service line at 800-743-5000 so the utility company can begin a 'switch meter case.' Corral warns cases like his take up to three months or longer to gather information and make corrections.