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Utility Company

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ymd0630

Guest
What is the name of your state? Texas

My electricity was cut off today because of a charge added to the account that I was not aware of. This charge came from my husbands ex-wifes account. They have been divorced for 16 years and she currently moved and did not pay her bill. Since my husband's name was on the account the electric company added that amount to our bill. I had not yet followed up on this new amount that I just noticed was on my most recent bill and therefore the service was terminated. I immediately called to find out what was going on and was told this was from the ex-wifes account. I explained the situation to no avail and had to pay $500 to get the service turned by on ($196 her bill, $235 for deposit and $98 for reconnect fee).

Question: If the utility company will not work with me on this (getting my money back) what recourse do I have?

The ex-wife probably will not pay us back for this.

Thank you.
 
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djohnson

Senior Member
A few questions:

Was the bill incurred while they were married or since then?

If from after the divorce why did they not close the joint account?

I am in TN not TX so it may vary. The chances of getting your money back after you paid it are slim. If you had a legit problem you should have soved it when you were notified. You were probably given ample time.

If they were married then he would still be responsible and if she was suppose to pay it he would have to take her back to court. If they were not, then why was he still listed on the account?
 
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ymd0630

Guest
This was her Aug/Sep 2003 bill. They have not been married for 15 years.

I did see a line item on my bill a few months ago that stated "Transfer $". My complaint is that the electric company did not due a good job in notifying me that they were transferring an account from another household.

Another problem is that both me and my husband work full-time plus and if you have ever tried to call the electric company you are lucky if you can get someone to answer before you have been on hold for 30 minutes or more.

You are probably right that I have a slim chance of recovering my money but I had no choice but to pay the bill. They would not even give me additional time to address this issue and I had to have service turned back on, it was going to be below freezing that night.

I appreciate your input. Thanks
 

djohnson

Senior Member
You still didn't answer the question of why the account still was joint after all that length of time. That is probable going to be a major factor.
 
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ymd0630

Guest
You're right I didn't. You know I don't know why my husband did not take care of that. Also, I don't know why the ex didn't either. I suspect that she did not want to have to pay a deposit or anything. It was not something that ever crossed our minds to check on but we are going to make sure that there are no more suprises.

We did get the electric company to refund $89 dollars so far and are still working on another $89 dollars. I think I will still be left with $150 deposit on file and out the $196 for the ex's bill.
 

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