TRINITY, N.C. — Herman Powell is always happy to talk about almost anything. On the day I stopped by his house he bragged about his wife’s garden and all the time she put it into it.
The garden is on the side of the house at the end of a road in Trinity. Powell and his wife have lived in the home for almost 25 years.
“We love it, it’s nice and quiet,” Powell expressed.
The community is part of an HOA, and it shows when you drive around the neighborhood. Most of the homes are well-manicured and have nice lawns and shrubs. On the edge of Powell’s property is a security light the HOA had put up a long time ago.
“The light’s been here as long as I can remember,” Powell said.
About four to five years ago Powell noticed the light had been out for several weeks and decided to call Duke Energy to see if someone could come out and fix it. It didn’t take long before Duke sent a tech out and the light was back on. Powell remembers thinking it was done quickly and didn’t think much about it after that.
The years went by, and Powell never gave that call he put in to Duke Energy any thought until he happened to take a close look at a bill, he received one month. The bill had an unusual charge of $9.53.
“It (the bill) stated it was for outside lighting,” Powell said.
After a couple of calls, Powell informed me the charge was for the light on his property. The light however was supposed to be billed to the HOA as it had been for more than a dozen years. When Powell called to have the light repaired, it seemed that something went wrong with the billing system and Powell was charged instead of the HOA.
Powell added up the amount for the 41 months he was erroneously billed and it came to $390.73.
“I called them (Duke Energy) I don’t know how many times explaining I don’t have a light,” Powell said. “I just kept getting the run-a-round.”
Powell said he finally got someone on the line who agreed to credit back 24 of the 41 months. Powell said he was thankful but was frustrated he had to pay for a mix-up that wasn’t his fault. After exhausting all other options Powell decided to reach out to us.
“Well I heard you were pretty successful at stuff like this so I said let’s check to see,” Powell said.
We immediately reached out to a representative at Duke Energy and explained the situation. It didn’t take long before we received a call that Powell would be reimbursed the remaining 17 months that he had paid for the light.
“Thank you so much, really, thank you,” Powell said.
Duke Energy sent us an email stating Powell was billed in error and that it had refunded all the money. It also apologized for any frustration and inconvenience.