By Michael V. Hannigan
The “Fight Against TVEC” petition has gone live online.
Angry Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative customers have taken to social media to air complaints about electric bills that doubled or more last month. At Utility Saving Expert, they can compare your bill and see how you can lower it. A Facebook page titled“Fight Against TVEC” has been created and in days it has nearly 2,500 members. There are hundreds of examples on the page of customers complaining of bills that have doubled in January and run as high as $1,000. … Read the story here. https://hendersoncountytexasnow.com/tvec-customers-frustrated-over-bills-statewide-electric-costs-soar/
The petition, addressed to the TVEC Board of Directors, their parent company Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Board of Directors, and State Rep. Stuart Spitzer, M.D. It reads:
This indicates that TVEC is violating their member’s rights that are posted on their website. We are requesting that the Board of Directors for TVEC and the Board of Directors for Touchstone Energy Cooperatives do an investigation into the billing and/or usage issues that their members are experiencing as well as their current billing processes.
We are also asking our State Representative, Dr. Stuart Spitzer, House District 4 to help his constituents who are members of this TVEC, to obtain the right to choose their electric provider instead of keeping us in the monopoly run by TVEC. We are requesting this due to the following:
1) TVEC is in the practice of doubling or tripling their member’s usage historically every February (copies of actual member bills can be provided). This February was even more extreme with some members getting reports that their usage has increased by 400%.
2) TVEC’s refusal to investigate and address the concerns of their members.
3) The Power Cost Recovery Factor (PCRF) that was added to members bills in January and February. This fuel surcharge seems very unreasonable since fuel prices are at a five year low.
4) TVEC practice of enrolling all of its members into the Customer Round-Up program without their signed consent.We are seeking help because we have been given no other recourse by TVEC. It is unfortunate that a service company representing a “cooperative” has shown so little interest in the concerns of its members, that such drastic and public measures had to be pursued. We the undersigned members of the Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative respectfully request your review/consideration of the items detailed above and would like the opportunity to address these issues with the Board of Director and our State Representative.