Questar, customers settle billing dispute
582 underbilled Utahns have to pay $224,070
The company, along with the Utah Division of Public Utilities and the Committee of Consumer Services, signed the agreement. The settlement resolves a dispute over back-billing that stemmed from errors created from faulty transponders used by the company to calculate customer bills. The transponders are devices that read meters automatically and transmit that information to laptop computers inside company trucks as they drive by homes and businesses.
This spring, Questar had told hundreds of customers that miscalibrated transponders had resulted in underbilling. Some customers were underbilled as much as $2,000. The company apologized for the problem but said it expected the customers to pay for the gas they had used. Customers took their complaints to the Division of Public Utilities.
Under the settlement, the utility would forgive $480,000 in underbilled amounts resulting from the error, while each customer would pay an average of about $385 for the underbilled gas they consumed. The utilities division estimated that 582 customers were underbilled due to transponder errors.
The terms of the agreement also will apply to any future transponder cases, he said.
Questar spokesman Darren Shepherd said the disputed billing amount totaled about $1 million. The balance of $296,000 not included in the settlement would be spread among the company's 850,000 Utah customers, at a cost of about 35 cents per customer, he said.
The division's investigation found fault with Questar for the company's slow response in discovering transponder errors and for allowing large volumes of unbilled gas to accumulate, which resulted in the substantial back-billing of affected customers.
The division recommended that Questar bear some financial responsibility for the unbilled gas and that affected customers be back-billed for six months, instead of the 24 months that Questar had originally sought.
Michele Beck, director of the Committee of Consumer Services, said the settlement was fair.
"Those who were underbilled will not be burdened with such a large bill, and all other consumers will not be hit with a large price tag for these mistakes," she said.
Shepherd said the company was satisfied with the outcome, and the agreement offers a fair resolution for customers. He also noted that the implementation of the transponder program is saving the company $5.2 million annually in reduced costs that will help keep customer bills down.
E-mail: jlee@desnews.com
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