ONCOR Meter Tampering Allegations

3,000 Views | 9 Replies | Last: 6 mo ago by Ribeye-Rare
RaggieFan10
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9:04a, 8/24/23
Received a letter from ONCOR stating that "meter tampering or electrical theft has been detected" at our house in Woodway. We've lived there since 9/1/2018 and have never messed with the meter.

After a phone call to ONCOR's tampering team they informed me that one of their technicians recently noticed a seal was broken/cut on the meter (meter was replaced in 2020 without my knowledge) and this is what triggered the letter.

If they determine me to be at fault I would be responsible for the cost of replacing the meter as well as any "benefits" received due to the tampering. No idea what the potential costs are.

All of this without any sort of "due process" IMO.

Not sure if it's relevant but I pestered ONCOR about a year and a half ago about relocating a utility pole because the Guy Wire was preventing me from parking my camper trailer in my side drive. They eventually installed a new, taller pole immediately next to the existing pole and just raised the anchor location on the pole.

Anyone have experience with ONCOR making similar allegations? If so, what was your experience with disputing the allegations? Know any good lawyers that might be able to help?
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Ribeye-Rare
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11:44a, 9/16/23
AG
Unless you're some type of tech expert, it's pretty tough to pull off a meter-tampering job with the new electronic meters.

I would simply compile a history of your electrical usage over the past several months (and perhaps from the same months last year) and show them that it is consistent with the norm.

Assuming you can show consistency, I would then tell them that either (i) one of their techs cut the seal to access the meter and forgot to re-seal it, or (ii) some neighborhood kid must have done it for kicks.

With the old electro-mechanical meters, I've heard of guys drilling a hole in the glass case and inserting a small wire to stop the wheels from turning. This was done only during certain times of the month and was always removed prior to the meter reader making his visit.

I've also heard of folks turning the meter upside down so that it would 'run backwards' during part of the month.

I know these things because I had a somewhat shady guy who worked for me for a while who bragged about doing these very things. When the new electronic meters came out, I told him that I guess his days of trickery were over.

He told me he was experimenting with disrupting the meter by placing a large magnet on it. The criminal mind is something else.

I haven't seen that guy in years. Makes me wonder what he stole from me!
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EMY92
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4:37a, 10/10/23
AG
Any update on this?
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RaggieFan10
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In reply to EMY92 • 11:33a, 10/31/23
Yes.

Back in July two employees from Pike Electric popped by the house and talked to my wife about performing some work (didn't specify) and needed to shut the power off. I didn't really put two and two together until I spoke with ONCORs tampering team a third/fourth time and asked them for more evidence. All they provided was a time frame of when the meter was removed and replaced (date and times where power was off)

Luckily when Pike rang my video doorbell it recorded the conversation prior to them beginning their work. They also rang the bell after to let us know that they were finished and power was back on (wife and kids were out of the house at this point due to no power).

I was able to provide ONCOR the video where the Pike employee explicitly says they are performing work "on behalf of ONCOR" just minutes before ONCOR's recorded outage as well as video of the same employee ringing the doorbell immediately after ONCOR's recorded restoration of power to their meter.

ONCOR called me and admitted their error. There was some internal miscommunication between their contracting department and their tampering team. So they say...

Unfortunately ONCOR had already instructed my energy provider to charge me for the meter replacement fee (around $670) and the fee had to be processed until my energy provider could confirm that the charge was a mistake on ONCOR's part, which I had to call my provider and explain the issue since ONCOR never reached out to them to stop the charge and only admitted to the mistake after I complained to the provider.

Got my money back though...so, yay.

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EMY92
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In reply to RaggieFan10 • 11:36a, 10/31/23
AG
Wow. Glad that worked out for you.
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RaggieFan10
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In reply to EMY92 • 11:43a, 10/31/23
Luck doesn't usually associate with me but she fancied me in this case. Had they not rang the doorbell I'd likely be out nearly $700 with no recourse.
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Ribeye-Rare
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In reply to RaggieFan10 • 8:15p, 11/1/23
AG
RaggieFan10 said:
Luck doesn't usually associate with me but she fancied me in this case. Had they not rang the doorbell I'd likely be out nearly $700 with no recourse.
Man, that's piss poor service on the part of Oncor.

With the time you spent and the hoops you had to jump through to fix their screw-up and mistaken billing, they should comp your delivery charges for about a year.

I'll bet, though, that doesn't happen. Customer service - call the EPA, it's gone extinct.
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RaggieFan10
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In reply to Ribeye-Rare • 1:49a, 11/2/23
I couldn't get over the fact that ONCOR could just "blindly" charge whoever they want based on scant evidence. They absurdly state in their tampering report that even if I was unaware of the tampering I still benefitted and am therefore responsible for the associated costs.

But at least some ****** nozzle called to "sincerely apologize" without offering any other solution/mitigation plan and then telling ME that I SHOULD be the one to call my provider and let them know what's going on.
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GIF Reactor
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4:44p, 11/2/23
AG
That is ridiculous.

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Ribeye-Rare
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In reply to GIF Reactor • 8:06p, 11/2/23
AG
GIF Reactor said:
That is ridiculous.

Yeah. Or as I saw in an old TV series about the gangsters in the Chicago Outfit -- "You fix it, or you get fixed."
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