Residents cry foul over double electric bills; bank error alleged By Ronald Sitton A few city residents were shocked when their August electric bills arrived in the mail. Dick Gregory, of 4016 Emerson Dr., said his water and electric bill stated the account was overdue from the previous month. For example, his electric bill showed he owed $346.82 for August with $126.45 of that overdue. Gregory, who previously held an account at Union National bank, was somewhat perplexed. He was not charged any late charges or penalized in any fashion. According to Bob Sisson, director of the Finance Department, 263 city residents who formerly held a Union account had their account numbers changed when Worthen Bank bought out Union National. He said similar problems have occurred when savings and loans were bought by banks in previous years. Worthen's Kay Cook said savings and loan transit routing numbers change when a takeover occurs. Apparently, some numbers did not key in correctly and the bank draft which pays the bills was rejected. The bank sent the city a list of corrected numbers, she said. Cook said most bills were corrected but some were not. On those not corrected, the customers did not receive a shut-off notice or late penalties and their payment record was not affected. Cook said the bank does not plan to change any procedures because the electronic notices do work. She does not believe the bills were a problem since the customers were not wrongly charged. Sisson also believes there is no procedure problem since very few residents were affected. Very few changes can be made because of the individual account numbers of each resident, he said. "I think in this situation, everybody did everything they could," Sisson said. "Had we charged them for anything it would have been a problem, but it's not." The only problem may be to explain the malfunction to the residents. Jeanie Dewberry, an office assistant at the Utilities Accounting Department, said most residents have understood the problem. "It has been a burden to explain it to the people over and over," she said. "I don't blame them. If I were on their side, I would feel the same way." Dewberry said there have been a few residents who were mad even after the problem had been explained. This article first appeared Aug. 26, 1993 in The North Little Rock Times.
© 2004 Ronald Sitton Revised 20040909 - hhttp://www.sitronspost.com/obs/pf/doublelectric.html |