Southern California Edison [SCE]
reviews and complaints

I've been living in my home for a year and a half. I've kept my bill up to date and when necessary I've asked for an extension and have been meeting my due dates. In April I received a bill in the amount of $3, 700 that is not my bill. I immediately contacted Edison to let them know that they have made a mistake on my bill. They asked me to provide proof that I did not live at this previous address. It said that this bill is from my last address which was not my address. My account number is [protected] I do not feel like I should be providing my information to the company. If I lived at this address and this is my bill please provide proof or take this off of my "current" bill. I am currently on unemployment and cannot afford to pay for something that is not mine. Especially something that is of this amount. I've kept up with my bill please remove this amount from my account. I keep asking the Customer Service Reps to remove this or send me to someone who can figure this out. All they have been doing is pushing my time to another date. This is not helpful I need this removed since it's not mine.

My husband moved to his home in 1996 with his Mother. I moved in the home in 1998. They paid a deposit of $200 when they first moved in. They bill was in my husband's and mother-in-law's name. I ended up paying the bill online. Fast forward to the present. My husband had a Spinal Surgery which caused him to have a stroke. He then suffered brain damage and became partially paralyzed. Just before that our dog became paralyzed. I am now a disabled senior. Before my husband got sick and had to stop working, his Mother died. I read the SCE website and it states that if you have someone who is ill and cannot have electricity shutoff, then you should get Medical Baseline. Since the bill had to be in the name of the disabled person and my husband's medical does not go into effect till December 2016, I had my Doctor fill it out. SCE said I needed to have the bill in my name and not my deceased Mother-in-law. I explained to them she died in 2009 and I had the bill changed to me and my husband. They informed me it was only in her name. I was shocked, because I reported it in 2009 and have always paid online, so they went ahead and changed the bill to my husband's name, kept the Medical Baseline in my name, plus charged us $220 for a deposit, that was already paid. They told me if I did not pay the $220, then they would shutoff our electric. At the time we had zero money in our account, so our electric was shutoff for 5 days and we just went grocery shopping. I had a pay, net arrangement for $75 a month and we owed $289 on our bill. The next thing I know is that they took off the payment arrangement and all of a sudden our bill said we owed $1700. I asked how could that be possible and they replied that my Mother-in-Law owe $1100, so it carried over. I said that was our bill and my Mother-in-Law never paid it, I did. They would not listen. I was able to get help from a program that paid $1000 towards our bill. I then requested a payment arrangement and they refused, stating I needed to pay $589 by Sept. 7th 2016 or they will turn off our power. So much for Medical Baseline. We only have $50, so now they will turn off our electric and where we live it is over 100 degrees.

I moved in Jan/14/2013 in corona with new ownership. I started turn on the services with edison company and all of a sudden power shut down 2/14/2013 in the evening. My mom was stay alone in house and she fell down from steps and she was delivered to ER. Now she has fx of right arm. I called SCE and asked why power has been cut down without notice. They told me they tried to contace me different number that number unable to leave voice message. I told them that was not the number i given to them and asked why you didn't send me a email or mail at my house if the number was not able to. They also told me that was not their policy and I had to update recent phone number myself. Excuse me. I gave recent phone number and Edison have diffierent # that i didn't give to.
Finally I talked this issue with supervisor and she also told me that if I want to reconnect service right now I must pay over 1000 that previous owner owned Or I must send my driver license and SSN and Grant deeds then they will investgate within 48 hours. It doesnt completely make sense and insane process they provided for me. My mom was injury and fracture now because i cutting off the power without notice.

Found offer for rebate for energy efficient appliances puchased in 2012. Took MY TIME to submit rebate request for Whirlpool Refirgerator Model #G16FDRXXY which was listed (July, 2012) as eligible for the bigger rebate ($75) because its annual Kwatt useage was less than 480. No rebate, no notification of why no rebate - only a telephone number to call where you get put on hold for an hour+. Phoney offer, don't waste your time. And for God's sake, don't purchase an appliance based on a supposed rebate from this utility. The model was subsequently removed from their list of eligible appliances - Nov 2012, when I rechecked.

So don't waste your time...They're just diddling ya.

I have been trying to rectify, with monthly friendly patient let them do what they can to correct the problem phone calls on a mistake THEY made for three months ... and today was the final straw.

I do not normally write scathing reviews, but today's that's what I'm writing.

In April my LEVEL PAY sum went up. I called to have it returned to its previous $65 level. I felt that that was a very reasonable request, given that my previous year of Level Pay program brought to me having an overpayment balance where I didn't have to pay further for 2+ months. That agent's reply to my request: basically, not a problem.

THAT's when the problem began.

Instead of adjusting the Level Pay sum (an action request that I've had done in years previous without a problem), I was REMOVED from that payment plan. So, the next month, May, I get a bill and the ENTIRE sum is due ..and of course I'm on auto-pay so I'm looking at that full sum getting pulled from my checking account. I call them/SCE in May to go over the situation and what can THEY do to fix this so I'm not having to pay that full sum as a result of THEIR error.

So they say they can do a one-time stop, and then x, y, and it'll get corrected. The stop-pay happened, I sent in the $65 payment. Now, for JUNE the bill comes and AGAIN the whole sum is written up as being due, and of course auto withdrawal. I call yet again, and get what I think (foolish I am) is someone who is hearing me and is doing his best to find a solution that will protect me from having that whole sum withdrawn.

I get his name, his ID #, he outlines what will happen. All seems good. Today, mid June ... checking account is emptied beyond empty. I am so freaking pissed off! I call them ... and basically all I freakin get is the agent and the supervisor repeating in circles what today's policy is. Gee, the policy that was outlined to me last week by this other agent sounded awfully correct and accurate, matter handled to me. And what was said to me the month prior had the some ring of honest accurate truth to it. Nope, we're going to have you think that, and the screw further with you. Today's agent and supervisor in no way acknowledged my words that THEY have a problem in the training and competency of their customer service account reps, that over three months that I have had to call and not have this fixed to where today, I have my bank account emptied.

I am just so livid. And anywhere that I can voice my opinion on the obvious incompetency of management in equipping the customer service agents to accurately handle problems I will go there. This is also a company that is just obviously way too big, that a problem THEY made that THEY cannot fix in 3 months. It'll just proceed on status quo and screw the customer. Oh, and they're not all that sorry about it.

If I could possibly go to another company, I absolutely would. Basically, don't believe anything they say about how a billing issue will be handled. Be ready for the worst outcome. That is the motto an SCE customer has to do business with by.

The following is a written complaint I have also submitted directly to SCE:
“As per the recent "Smart Meter Opt Out" program announcement I have received in the mail, I am happy to see that you are being forced to comply with the wishes and rights of your customers, however; please respond with documentation regarding EXACTLY what is constituting the $10 per month penalty fee when I opt out of the program? Did you refund me $10 / month when I had the new meter installed and over the many months I have had it? Of Course Not. Have you reduced your rates since I have had the smart meter? Of Course Not. How, then are you justifying what amounts to an arbitrary rate increase?
I haven't any doubt this is simply a coercion method and attempt to penalize customers that wish to return to a system that allows us some modicum of control over our energy consumption. I would like to see what you have to say on your behalf.
I look forward to your response.”

I paid my electricity bill online, receiving no error messages during the process and a payment confirmation number at the end. Nearly 2 weeks later, I received an e-mail threatening disconnection. When I called SCE, I was told the payment had not gone through after all because of a typo - one incorrect digit - on my checking account number. Immediately I went back online and paid the bill in full. My next bill from SCE showed a $9.00 "Returned check charge" for this very minor typo, which is unreasonable, and unjustified because no check was returned or even involved. Further, typically, a mistyped checking account number will return some kind of error message by the online payment program, but none was received here, and the payment was fully confirmed. Thus, I thought everything was fine and had no way of even knowing about the typo, if there was such a typo at all.

BEWARE! I think SCE has devised another consumer rip-off scam here. By giving the false impression that my account was paid in full, then waiting 2 weeks to send me an E-MAIL notice (which had a completely vague subject line that didn't even hint that this was a disconnect notice), I think what they wanted was to disconnect my electricity to generate even higher reconnection fees. But, because I know SCE is full of dirty tricks, I went on and read that e-mail instead of ignoring it, and paid the bill before they got a chance to shut the power off. So all they could do was drum up a bogus "returned check charge, " which they refused to reverse, forcing me to waste time filing a complaint with the Public Utilities Commission. BE WARNED! SCE is unethical and guilty of a number of fraudulent consumer practices! This is just their latest scheme! DON'T PAY YOUR BILL ONLINE ANYMORE! SEND THEM A PHYSICAL CHECK!

SCE shut off my power with no warning (no email, no text, no notice on the door except to put the notice on my door that my power was already shut off). The issue arose when another tenant in the apartment complex submitted my address as the address to turn on the service for. Instead of checking their internal database (which would have concluded that there was already a tenant with a current service contract), they changed the ownership to her name and when she didn't pay the deposit, they shut off my energy. There was no indication of this in my monthly email statements (the statements didn't show my name, it just showed how much I owed so I didn't know that a transfer of ownership occurred) and no calls to ask if I had moved or why there was a transfer of ownership.

The worst is instead of admitting that they were wrong for shutting off my power and working diligently to restore it (due to their mistake), they inconsiderately stated that it would take another half day to full day to restore my power and that it wasn't their fault. They were just doing what a "public utility company" is required to do: provide power to those that request it. That may be true, but I asked "shouldn't you have a system in place to prevent situations like this, whether accidental via typo, etc or intentionally (i.e. a prank). All it would take is for the new account manager to check the system to see if there is a current account already set for that address. If there is, then the employee would call the person to verify the transfer of account before shutting down the current residents power. SCE refused to accept that sound advice and improve their business practice and said that this occurs rarely and until enough customers complain about it, it's too cumbersome to add that additional 5 minutes of work to their employees.

I moved into an apartment building in September of 2010. I live alone. Work 2 jobs so I'm rarely home. My first couple of bills were in the low $100 range and I didn't think much of it, I used to rent a room from a buddy in his house so I had no idea what electricity would cost (I was lucky, I know!). My bills progressively increased, as I continued to try and use less and less electricity in my home. My thermostat now lives at 72 degrees when it's on, which is only when I'm home at night (sleeping). I don't use the stove (don't cook), I prefer the dark so lights are only on for a minute when I need to find something, I don't use the dish washer (because I thought it was adding to the bill). The only thing that's constantly drawing power in my apt. is my refrigerator (energy efficient), and my internet modem, oh and my alarm clock. As of last month, my bill reached $240. I'll remind you, I'm a single person that's home 2 hours tops (while I'm awake), who uses nothing but my tv for maybe an hour a day (which is an energy saving tv plugged into an energy efficient plug). I noticed that my bill almost doubled when someone moved into the apartment next to me, yet SCE refuses to send someone to check my meter for any type of cross between the apartments. I've been calling SCE for 4 months now trying to clarify that I continue to use less power, as I move back into the stone age using fewer and fewer appliances, yet my bill continues to go up. I've given up using my thermostat/heat now, leaving it off as a test to see if my bill escalates even further this month. One customer service rep advised me to "wake up @ night to turn off my thermostat in order to save on power usage". You've got to be kidding me.

Just to reiterate, I'm a single person, home 2 hours a day while I'm awake, don't use the stove/dishwasher/lights, only use thermostat which is set at 72 at night while I'm sleeping, turn ALL lights off unless I'm looking for something, OH and use my computer for maybe a total of an hour a week (which is also on an energy efficient plug). Am I doing something wrong?

I live at the address above. It belongs to my dad. He does not live there. He rents out rooms. one of the former renters that moved in june or july 2006 was paying the electrioc bill as part of her rent. The electric bill was put into her name and she paid the bill for 2 years(july2006-july2008) until she moved out suddenly. Shortly after, the edison co wants to check the meter and they ask for Brooke Smith(.the one responsible for the electric bill), My xhusband who was liveing here at that time, told them she moved a month ago. The investigator said we should change the billing to my husbands name since brooke no longer lived here. Ater checking the meter he informed us that it had been tampered with and he was going to take it and would bring a new one back in two weeks. So he disconnected our electric service and retuned in two weeks with a new one and said it would cost us 250 dollars for the new meter and to pay the remaining balance on the x tenent Brooke Smith which was 165.00. So my husband paid it and I have the receipts to prove it. So they connect our service and change the billing to fred ross with a new account. We pay the bill the first month and a week later we get a bill from southern cal. edison/revenue department saying we owe approx 5000.00 dollars for unauthorized use during the billing period of july 2006 thru july 2008. We explained to them I was not aware that someone had tampered with the meter and was not aware the bill was only approx. 50.00 per month instead of its usual 160.00-180.00/pm. We were not aware of what was going on with the billing or the tampered meter. The edison co/revenue dept. said fred ross is now responsible to pay that balance because everyone in the house did benefit from it.
We have been living off a generator and candlelight ever since around jan 2009. going on two years. Not only is it expensive 2 gallons of gas a day/30 days a month, well you can figure tt out! And the noise! Our neighbors are not too happy either! And not to mention all the fumes from the generator and breathing the soot from the candles at night time, With my health problems is not good for my lungs, for anyones lungs. Not only an exspense and health issue but a fire/safety hazard also.
During this time we have had a couple of renters try to hook up the electric service with an account in their name and so colif edison/revenue dept. says we cant have any electric service here until fred ross pays the balance of 5000.00 which isnt even his debt to begin with.
I made. a complaint to the public utilities and explained to them about our service and they said they would get back with me after contacting the edison co. When they did contact me by mail they said the so.calif.edison/revenue dept did an investigation and said the same peolple were still living here and we all benefited from it, therefore responsible to pay the 5, 000 dollars. And they are within their limits charging us 5000 dollars
I find this so unfair and impossible to ever have our service restored. I am living off a government program called GR - general relief with the department of public social services. DPSS. and barely making it. Believe me, if I had five thousand dollars I would just pay it because it is such an inconvienance living like this. I wish there was some other alternative but unfortunately southern california is the only electric service.
I feel we have suffered enough and isnt there any way to come up with some kind of a comprimise or agreement of some sort that could benefit everyone. I dont mind paying something on the past bill but I dont feel responsible for the full amount. And I honestly did not know there was a problem with the meter. I wish they would have let us know when the problem with the meter first started. instead of 2 years later with unauthorized use for two years/ equalling five thousand dollars, making it impossible to pay that amount.
Can you please look into this for us and get back with us as soon as possible. I just dont feel we are responsible for someone else bill. But we need electric service. Those were just a few of the problems i mentioned above when forced to live with a generator. I just want to return to a normal lifestyle. There are so many other issues to deal with. It would be a big relief to settle this issue. I would appreciate it so much. thank you very much.

kim ross

fred ross