Utility Partners Of America [UPA]
reviews and complaints

Utlility Partners of America came to our house on March 16, 2017 to replace the meter on our house. We were told it would be a four hour job. We have two dogs that are normally contained by an invisible fence and a 125 gallon aquarium with 15 discus fish worth over $1, 500. They dug a trench in the back yard to put in the grounding wire and I was concerned with where they were digging because of the invisible fence. After four hours, I asked how much longer it would be because I was concerned about the fish not having heat or filtration on an unusually cold day. I was told that they couldn't tell me how much longer it would be. They wouldn't even give me a ballpark estimate on the time. I called Duke and they got me in touch with their supervisor named Ashley. There were several trucks that came out to check where the digging occurred and to find out what was happening. Ashley had a generator on his truck and arrived at my house around 1:00 pm. but I didn't know who he was. My husband called to complain to Darrell Grindstsff at 4:20pm and nobody could tell us how much longer it would be and we were also now concerned with our food going bad. The FDA says food is no longer good after four hours without power and by now, it had already been eight hours with no power. Darrell said the food was fine & they would try to locate a generator. At 4:30, Ashley knocks on my door gives me the plug to hook up my aquarium. The generator was in his van the whole time but they were mad at me for calling in the Calvary and totally ignored our concern until my husband got involved. When my husband came home, they had no problem telling him that the meter they installed took 6 hours to hookup or telling him how much longer it would be. Ashley has aquariums of his own, so he understood the life support needs of fish and chose to do nothing until my husband got involved. I find their lack of response to our urgent need offensive and discriminating against women. This caused a great deal of intentional and malicious emotional distress. Two of the fish got really sick. The aquarium was visible through the glass door directly beside the panel they were replacing. I filed a claim with UPA and thought it was resolved but when the check came, it only had my husband' name on it. I feel that UPA has a deep seeded disrespect for woman and Duke Energy should reconsider partnering with Utility Partners of America.