- Target:
- TVEC Board of Directors, Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Board of Directors and State Representative
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- www.facebook.com
This Petition is addressed to the Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative Board of Directors; their parent company Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Board of Directors to review billing issues and usage issues from the undersigned Members of the Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative.
Board of Directors Board of Directors
Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative (TVEC) Touchstone Energy Cooperatives
1800 E. U.S. Highway 243 4301 Wilson Blvd, #803
P.O. Box 888 Arlington, VA 22203-1860
Kaufman, TX 75142-0370 (703) 907-5500
(972) 932-2214
This Petition is also addressed to the State Representative Rep. Stuart Spitzer, District 4 on behalf of his constituents who are Members of the Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative to request his help in giving these constituents the right to choose their electricity provider in his district.
Rep. Stuart Spitzer, District 4
Room E1-316
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
512-463-0458
Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative has approximately 50,000 members and the group Fight Against TVEC on Facebook has over 2,539 of these members who have seen their electric bill for February increase sustainably (200%, 300%, 400% or more). These increases in usage seem highly suspect since we have had a very mild winter and a large portion of these customers use alternative sources (propane heaters, fireplaces, etc.) to heat their homes.
This same group of members contacted TVEC Customer Service regarding their bills. TVEC informed these members that the increase was due to the colder weather during this billing cycle or that the customer must have faulty electrical appliances (Ex: water heater). These comments were made to customers without TVEC doing an investigation. When these members asked to dispute their bill, they were told disputing their bill was not an option. But, according to the “Your Rights as a Member of Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative, Inc.” it states:
V. SERVICE AND BILLING DISPUTES:
Disputed Bills: In the event of a dispute between a member and TVEC regarding any bill for electric utility service, TVEC shall make such investigation as may be appropriate under the particular circumstances, and report the results thereof to the member. In the event disputes are not resolved, TVEC informs members of the complaint procedures of TVEC.
Members shall not be required to pay the disputed portion of the bill which exceeds member's average monthly usage at current rates pending the resolution of the dispute, but in no event more than sixty (60) days. For purposes of this rule only, the member's average monthly usage at current rates shall be the average of the member's gross utility service for the preceding twelve (12) month period. When no previous usage history exists, consumption for calculating the average monthly usage shall be estimated on the basis of usage levels of similar members and under similar conditions.
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.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Fight Against TVEC petition to TVEC Board of Directors, Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Board of Directors and State Representative was written by brigitte ragan and is in the category Consumer Affairs at GoPetition.