Is the Electric Company Insane?
Day 24
Yesterday I brought up “the system.” Sometimes things go suspiciously well. Sometimes things are completely crazy. Try on today’s experience with the local electric and gas utility, We Energies.
One of our co-chairs placed a call to We Energies this morning to get the electric service switched into the name of the refugee family. The We Energies representative refused. She was told that it is not permitted to apply for electric service for someone else. What?
Apparently, the utility does not allow 3rd party applications on new service contracts. Due to privacy policies the rep couldn’t even tell our co-chair what procedures needed to be followed. He would not even disclose the location of their office so that they could apply in person. (Apparently the electric utility is a covert operation!?) Instead he recommended that the applicant call in and ask for an interpreter.
The co-chair proceeded to the house of our refugee family and called back with the father of the family on hand. She asked for a Burmese interpreter and explained why she needed one. An interpreter was brought on the line. Then the father and the interpreter talked for a while. At one point he handed the phone back to the co-chair.
The interpreter then asked, “Why did he end the conversation and hand the phone back to you?” She told him that, “while he may understand what the interpreter said, he couldn’t do anything about it, because he can’t explain it to me. I don’t speak Burmese and he doesn’t speak English. So you’ll have to tell me what you told him.” What a complete waste of time!
Next stop — the We Energies satellite office. After knocking on the hidden door and presenting the secret handshake, they were allowed in. (OK, that part isn’t quite accurate, but you’d think there’d be some security like that after the initial treatment.)
At the office they had to present an application form, a copy of their lease, and the I-94 form (acting as a photo ID). This has to be presented in person not mailed or faxed in. Then all of this information will be faxed over to the main office where they will make a decision as to whether they will or will not provide electric service. We Energies will call the applicant to discuss the results of their decision.
All of this in the name of the Positive ID Act!
After the trip to the secret We Energies office they proceeded to the grocery store. With a $100 gift card in hand, they spent $99.57. No one was planning or adding up the costs, it just happened to leave 43 cents on the card. Not bad.
They also stopped at a community clothing store called the Clothes Closet which provides donated clothing to low-income families. (The Clothes Closet is a program of the Cooperating Congregations of Waukesha County.) Each person was able to select up to 10 items of clothing and shoes.
The family did not identify clothing as having intended gender. They picked out what they liked regardless of whether it was originally created for a boy or girl, man or woman. If the jeans or the sandals fit, they’ll be worn. Maybe our normal ideas of gender and clothing might be a bit exaggerated.
Tomorrow is garbage day so we had to demonstrate how to take the garbage to the curb for pickup.
And, the surprise for the day? We learned that the husband of the 20 year-old woman in the family (who was separated via a different resettlement) will arrive tomorrow morning at 10:00 via bus. He’s coming in from somewhere in Nebraska. While this may mean we’re helping to take care of yet another person, he also represents the potential for another income stream in the family.
We apologize for the inconvenience this situation caused for the families and members of your organization who were trying to help this refugee family. Fortunately, we were able to process the application successfully and provide the requested services after the application was filled out in person.
We understand that the additional step of filling out an application in person can be frustrating, especially when starting utility services is just one of many tasks when you’re trying to resettle a refugee family. Please understand that we take this extra step to protect our customers’ personal information and to follow requirements spelled out in the “Red Flag Rules,” which are part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction (FACT) Act that was signed into law in November 2008.
The FACT Act governs how companies such as We Energies must request and process personal identification information. The rules were developed to protect consumers’ personal credit information and decrease the risk of identity theft.
We’re usually able to verify personal identification information over the phone or through our Web site. However, when we can’t verify personal identification information, we can’t process the request. Also, regulations do not allow third-party requests for services, except where permitted by law.
When we’re not able to verify personal identification information over the phone or on the Web to start service for a customer, we ask them to fill out an application in person. This enables us to verify the information and provide the service the customer requests. The goal of this requirement is to comply with the privacy laws while we provide reliable service to every customer we serve. Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. We’re glad this family now has the service they requested.
Rick James
Manager-Business Communications
We Energies
Thanks for chiming in Rick. While We Energies is the utility we work with in Wisconsin, the rules and situation will probably duplicate with other utilities around the country. So this is good information.
We’re also grateful for your help in getting this situation resolved for this particular case.
The trouble remains when a third party is necessary because of a combination language and cultural barrier. If there’s anything we can do to proactively help resolve this issue for future resettlement efforts, let me know.