PSC’s Presley Gets $1.2 Million Refund for School
Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley announced today the reimbursement of $1,230,313.55 to Hernando High School by Entergy Mississippi for over a decade of high electricity bills. From September 2001 to July 2012, Entergy over billed the school for electricity usage for an amount just under a million dollars. At Presley’s insistence, Entergy agreed to additionally pay interest in the amount of $236,312.56.
“To make the taxpayers whole, I believe the only fair response is that Entergy pay interest on the money that taxpayers were denied use of because of high bills. Entergy’s original offer to pay only the amount over billed was unacceptable,” Presley said.
The cause of the overbilling was a meter multiplier Entergy installed at the school. For large customers, a traditional meter cannot physically handle the enormous amount of electricity flowing through it. A multiplier diverts and samples a fraction the actual electricity flow and then precisely scales up its calculation to reach the correct amount of electricity actually used. In the case of Hernando High School, however, the company’s multiplier was incorrect, resulting in monthly overcharges. Presley’s office is currently investigating the number of meter multipliers Entergy has in the field and how long it will take Entergy to conduct a system wide check of all meters of this type.
WCBI
4/8/13
