Hello back 20 years ago I had my first one bedroom apartment (I was 18 at the time around 2004) I got pregnant and went on HEAP. RGE billed heap a $25K

RGE bill for my one bedroom. Which bill was current prior to heap ( bill was around $180 per month) well HEAP

paid the bill everything besides $5K! Which they stated I owed .. I refused to pay they said it was an error and it would be fixed .. it never was fixed I just went to get RGE put in my name 20

Years later and they said I still owe and billed me the 5k put it on my new address and sent it to collections

I lived out in fair Heaven from August 2021 toAugust 2022.We went to Florida over winter break and we came back to our bill being 1600 and we’re still going up so we had to move but I am still responsible for that bill and it is still up in the thousands and I called Rochester gas and energy to find out why the bill of sale sky high and they said all that was normal for the Bill to be like that and we just moved out there and when we moved out there my first bill was $27 and some change and then it went up to 1000 thousand 600 no that’s wrong and I appreciate I don’t appreciate what I have to go through to pay it and and it is hurting me because now I have two electric bills to pay for and it’s not fair to me

I received a phone survey from RG&E. One of the questions they asked was, “How likely are you to recommend RG&E to a friend?” What am I going to do? I can either recommend RG&E or tell them not to use gas and electricity. RG&E can’t even write reasonable survey questions.

I got a $996 bill for this month and a $460 bill for last month. My house is not even 1100 Sq feet. I called numerous times to see what’s going on and they say it’s accurate. I am so perplexed. I’ve lived in my home for 9 years and my bill has never been over $250 on the coldest month

I am Jamie Cucinelli owner of Avid Indoor Golf, in Greece NY. In 2015 I opened the business with an average RGE bill of $300/month during summer months and ~$700 during winter when the business is open.

In September ’21 RGE stopped billing for 7 months and I received bills in excess of $9,000. My bill almost doubled to ~$1200 per month with blame on American power & gas. American power confirmed their itemized charges with me and RGE was adding extra charges or seemed to be duplicating charges.

From May to Jun of ‘22 I spent countless hours on hold with RGE, no help, hung up on and then RGE disconnected my service in error without me knowing.


In June 22 I filed 1st complaint with PSC and spent many more hours of calls to get my RGE account back online and service restored.

Even though my business was closed for summer season, I was still billed ~$1000 per month for basically outside entrance lights and a basement sub pump. RGE claims high rate now is due to my on-demand smart meter and will not admit there is a billing or meter problem. They say the problem was in years past and was previously inaccurate by RGE. Even though I am not using anywhere close to $1000/mo energy, the only option is to disconnect my service which I can’t do since basement will flood without the sub pump.

8/22 RGE autopay stopped again in error same as previous year. After my 2nd PSC complaint and many more calls, they billed me in January of this year 2023 for the previous months.

Now my bill averages over $2000/month more than double previous years and nothing has changed inside my business or building with the same equipment. RGE blames short staff, errors in their billing and energy estimations in the past that are now ‘read each month and accurate’.

I just paid $600 for one month of RGE service and I have made it a point to send in the meter readings. For years my bill was between 2 and 3 hundred a month. It literally doubled out of the blue and I can’t get through to anyone with any explanation. It’s not sustainable. I can’t imagine how families can keep this up.

During the last ice storm, had lost power and heat. I am 71 y/o and have multiple helath concerns. My next door neighboor was 9 months pregnant. The crew told neightbors on Little Brook they would not be going down Falling Creek to correct the issies. There were just a few families, we could just wait. These workers do not deserve to be employed. This just adds to all of our negative feelings towards RGE

My bill is up to $500-600/month, and it used to be ~$100-125. I live alone in a 1300sqft apartment, and my energy use has not changed drastically. Getting through to any supervisor at RG&E is extremely difficult, and when you can get one on the phone, they blame the customer for not doing the meter readings. I reminded them today that I am not actually an RG&E employee, and that they need to do the meter readings themselves unless they’re planning to add me to the payroll. They told me that their policy is to read the meter once per year. Then perhaps they should only bill me once per year? My friends in Fairport pay about $60/month to energize an entire house! How can RG&E justify gouging the entire city of Rochester? They are swimming in profits by massively overcharging us for energy,. We have no alternatives available. How is this not a monopoly? Where are the local politicians? Public utility is the only way forward!

I live in a 1000 square foot home and I have a bill that is worth $1,622. I have lived in my house for 8 years and I have never paid over $200. I have tried to call RG&E multiple times to speak to a supervisor and they refused to speak to me. They told me they would shut off my power if I didn’t pay or they told me to read my own meter since they wouldn’t send someone out since they were just there. Once I left my name and number they said they would call me back. They called me back during regular working hours which I was not available for. They left me a voicemail saying they would call back at 8AM the next day. The next day came around and no one called me, so at noon I called them. I was put on hold for 40 minutes (more than my lunch break) which I had to hang up and attend to clients. I have filed two complaints against the company. I cannot pay this bill and it’s infuriating the type of customer service they have.

I received a bill from RG&E for $4,325.18 in January of 2023. I was shocked at this amount as our usual bill ranges from $300 to $700. In digging into the issue I found that the last time RG&E read my gas meter was in August of 2020. Every bill since that time was an estimated reading until the Jan 2023 bill. When I called to complain about the bill they said they would put my bill on hold while they investigated. Several days later I received a contract in the mail that stated I still owed the total amount but I could make payments until I paid the amount in full. There was no acknowledgement of my complaint. They refuse to accept any responsibility that they are at fault for failing to read my meter for 2.5 years. I am not confident in their billing practices and I can’t see where they have taken into account what I have paid for in estimated readings over the past 2.5 years. They have terrible customer service and unclear billing practices. I spoke to 5 different people during a 1.5 hour phone call and I had no resolution of the problem. This company should not be allowed to continue these practices and they should be investigated for fraudulent billing.

Accidentally I double paid bill. I called same day, requesting a refund credited back to my bank. Now two weeks later I’m told new bill for next month is issued and my money will be credited to new month. WHAT?

I had a 404.00 bill because they for got to bill me even though I contacted them to get the current one that month and the rep told me I only had to pay a hundred 20 some thing dollars and change. Meaning I had a 530.00 bill wtf crazy i had a bonus of 399.00 from my work tg because other wise i might be in the hole with RG&E. I got lucky that it all worked out in the end. But I can’t help but wonder where would I be right now if I did not get lucky in that moment?

Yet again: I submitted my meter readings for both gas and electric on the RG&E website. I get my bill today: it shows that the readings are estimated, and the bill is $323.30—another preposterously high amount for a 950sf house with one occupant, house at 65 degrees using a heat pump. Meter readers have not been to my house in months. I am beyond outraged.

My story is short each month is progressively getting higher last month my bill was $500 this month it’s around $400. I have extra service fees and charges. I got charged multiple times for merchant function charge for Nov, Dec and Jan and I’m still getting currently charged for those on this bill IRS FEBRUARY!!!!! The rep. told me last month the we’re guessing my meter readings. Then rep then proceeded to tell me that a service guy came out and checked my meter on Dec 21st I checked both ring cameras and also that day I was home nobody came here and they put a high meter reading so I got billed for something that doesn’t matches bills have not gone below $400 this year. During the summer I never received a bill from RGE I called every month and they couldn’t tell my why I wasn’t receiving a bill. I wish we had a different electric service because this is ridiculous. Capitalism sucks!

Our story is very simple, our bills have gone up threefold, and we don’t even know why, no one has any answers at RGE.

I am ready to see who are genie and looking for a class action lawsuit and a bunch of people to join me. I will pay the piling fees and I’m getting ready to do so. I had asked them for a whole year to send me updated billing information and they refused all of a sudden I Got two weeks to pay a bill that’s three times the amount of my highest bill ever.What other company gets to do this year later? I’ve been dealing with Harji for 30 years and for 30 years they are noncompliant an unproven of their billing.I am going down to the small claims court and filing a petition to take them to court over this building. If anyone would like to join me I would be more than happy to have you with me. I am now asking that the metro justice league join me in this class action lawsuit along with others who would like to join.Stephen A Falzoi

I have a crazy back bill on a property I was renting from. The RGE guy read the meter had not been read in 10 years, and they back billed me the charges from the property. I don’t think this is fair.

I have never paid more than about $350 for an RGE bill. My last two bills were $900+ , and most recently over $1,000.

I live in a pretty small house and nothing has changed as far as electrical or gas usage.

They have not been able to provide me an answer as to why my bill is so high, they just send me screenshots of my bill via email. Forget trying to call, I was on hold for over an hour the last time I called and ended up hanging up before I was able to speak to a human.

NY is just giving us more and more reasons to move away out of the state. Like there weren’t enough reasons prior..

I moved out of Rochester in the middle of August 2022, and my landlord emailed RG&E to terminate my account promptly. However, I still received electric bills for my Sep and Oct electric usage. I called customer service to clarify that I didn’t cause this usage and should close the account, and they blamed me for giving my landlord the information to open the account on my behalf. They also denied that my landlord ever emailed them the termination notice, even after he forwarded them the previous email again. This is such a terrible company and should not handle our community’s life-essential services.

I have a seasonal RV for which I had them turn off the electric service early Dec. They sent me a huge estimated bill for November and then another large estimated final bill for Dec. Charged for over 400 kw I did not use. I submitted the actual reading and was transferred from person to person for over two and a half hours. Their answer was that it was the final bill and we cannot change it to be accurate. I was charged for over $100 for electricity that I did not use and you can see from my usage over the past year that these estimates were way out of line. Their attitude is you pay we will not change it. I will be filing with the Public Service Commission because I have no choice.

During the recent wind and ice storm, RGE did not service the far end of Falling Creek Pittsford, because we were just a few customers, Everyone on Little Brook and one half of Falling Creek had emergency crews working to restore services, This is so wrong on many fronts We just werent imoirtant enough to rush to restore our service

Called 10 am live power lines down all over my backyard and a utility pole of power lines. Someone came 5 hours later just to tell me they wont get to it for days and not to go in the backyard or touch the fences as there is live electricity wires down and it’s running through the fences and we will be instantly killed if we go near the backyard or fences!!! But they cant fix it for days!!??

I’ve been an RG&E budget customer on a budget plan for 15 to 20 years. My $97 a month budget plan has recently jumped up to $170 a month in August, then $350 in Sept/October, and most recently $430 for Decembers bill. No recourse and no answers, just pay our else. I’m a single home owner, and there is no way I am consuming this much in utilities to warrant this huge jump!

Moved here 3 yrs ago. 1)Im on heap & Never saw the heap credit on my bill ~all saw was got enrolled in budget plan. 2)Called & was told that RGE doesn’t take heap payments so they just put “those” people on the budget plan. 3)I paying $70 more a month and never see it being used or put towards anything. 4)Shut off gas furnace in May(only thing uses gas in the house) & still was charged $30mo for gas even tho the meter #s stayed the same (at 0482) til turned heat on in Nov. Call the readings in & recording says “check it again doesn’t match prior usage”. Added insulation & It’s summer!! 5)Yet they “read” gas meter & said was up: 0482 to 0484 to 0486, etc. Even tho my pictures of the meters show #s haven’t changed. 6) Was charged $100 cuz “wasn’t here to let them in to check the meters” A) was here=I’m disabled I don’t work. And B) The meters are Outside on the side of the house! Maybe they wanted me to escort them from the sidewalk, across the yard, to the meters?? 7) Got bill & 1 part said "don’t owe anything. 2nd part said You have $290 credit. 3rd part said you used $170 this month. 4th part said the $170 Is Past Due And It’s Due Immediately.(!!) 8) Every time they announce they’re adding another 1 time payment to heap accounts I get “charged” that amount. Tried to cancel the budget account & told “if you do you loose that money in the account and you’ll loose your Heap qualification & won’t be able to get it ever again”. I’ve heard more BS from them that I now realize that what they say is loaded with what farmers call the best fertilizer ever. I grew up in Monroe county, I remember when RGE only had the city and some suburbs, before it bought/ sold/took over/ was taken over. I’ve lived & had both Fairport & Spprt electric. It’s ALOT cheaper, no problems with communication, could pay at the bank, the town or village hall. What I’ve experienced the last 3 yrs does tarnish the “good memories” and my cheering and rooting for RGE. If I move again, after what I’ve heard and went through, the next place will HOPEFULLY NOT have RGE. I’m done with the lies.

My move in read was 8393. I recently discovered they had the wrong move in read so when another actual was taken the charge was astonishingly high. As a result they have over charged me by hundreds of dollars. After many terrible rounds of customer service reps, long hold times, and weeks, a rep adjusted my read.

After he adjusted my read, the bill was once again readjusted to the wrong read and I was recharged the same amounts I was credited. I received 7 bills due on one day to bring me right back to the same gas reading error. It’s caused great stress. The representatives make it clear they do not care and will not help. I am very stressed over this. I’ve never had to deal with an RGE error so I didn’t realize how aweful this company was. I want to change vendors but how do you even do that? It’s truly unbelievable.

Every month I take pictures of my gas and electric meters and email them in. I rarely read my indecipherable bill, but noticed that the reads on my bill for a couple of months was listed as estimated. I called and after the usual very long wait was told that when the guys who input readings from email get behind, they just throw in an estimated reading.


I have noticed that, as well, for the past few months that the meter reading guy never comes anymore. I have had to call and make an appointment to get actual reads. In one of my calls I asked why they haven’t been by and the CSR said that there is no guarantee that they will come or not. What???


Last and final straw: my bill for November was $87.66…about average. My latest bill was for $317.61 and I knew that cannot be right. I called and after the typical long wait, I was transferred to several folks as I tried to get an explanation why the bill was so high. I never got any explanation that made sense to me and was told that I was wrong and that the amount was correct and “a bit higher” because of a prior billing deficit—which I find impossible to believe. I hung up being frustrated and angry, as I feel I have no other recourse than to pay it. I totally support your efforts to make RG&E a public utility, because the way it is now is nothing less than a totally dysfunctional entity.

As a housing provider for New Americans (refugees and asylum seekers) Rochester Refugee Resettlement Services been consistently frustrated with the service of RG&E. Our New American tenants may not receive a bill for months, then get hit with a bill of several hundreds or thousands. They bring it in and I see that the bill is estimated.

Calls to the customer service line can cause a wait of close to an hour. Even then the answers are disappointing.

I have been an RG&E customer since 1970. RG&E customers have always paid a premium for utilities and service, but it was tolerated because of good service (and no alternative). Now the RG&E can only be described as a seriously mismanaged and expensive operation. And we have no alternative.

Time for a change. Public utility like Fairport is a great idea. I vote yes!

I’m trying to get electric activated at our build site. I’ve sent three emails and have called twice. There is no response to my emails and I’ve been left on hold for over an hour to no avail. This is to start service and they don’t respond.

Recently made a payment arrangement with RG&E because heap covered our propane cause they felt it was what heated the house ( in a way that’s correct,but I need electric to turn on furnace anyways) so they wanted 100 plus down to start agreement now mind you this bill was going on 3 months old all through summer air conditioning and fans and what not to keep cool so in sticking with same old ways except air conditioning cause it’s December opened up recent bill after 3 days on coffee table thinking it’s gonna be an extra 60 on top of bill WOW! amount due$1316.50 with a recent meter read actually at this time my husband is on phone if I could record this woman you would think she just started with company!

Note: This is an update to my previous post – I am a 67 disabled senior and was facing a very serious situation since I originally opened a case with the PSC against RG&E. I was threatened by RG&E with gas & electricity shut offs was charged $200 in fines because I was unable to allow workers to come into my home to do a routine gas inspection. I have numerous incurable medical conditions and I am severely immuno-compromised so I am under strict doctor’s orders not to allow anyone into my home unless it is a dire emergency which this is not. I have even had to stop getting in person medical care that I desperately need, and all medical encounters have had to be via telemedicine for the past two years. This is a permanent situation for me and will never change, so this applies to all attempts to enter my home for any reason by RG&E (which also includes future electricity smart meter installations and fines for opting out as well) not just this one. Therefore I was asking the PSC and RG&E for a medical exemption/waiver be put on both of my accounts, not to be ever contacted again about entering my home unless I personally contacted them that I was having an emergency. The fact that RG&E was forcing me to make the choice between dying from getting a deadly virus, or dying from having my gas & electricity shut off which controls the necessities of life that I need to live in my home is abuse of an elderly disabled person and should not be allowed under any circumstances.


Ever since I opened my case I was told that I would I was never to be fined or have my gas shut off while this case was being resolved both by the PSC & RG&E. Yet on 9/8/22 RG&E fined me $100 per each account and after I received both of the bills with the fines I contacted the PSC on 9/19/22 to inform them about the situation and was told that RG&E would be contacted about it. I never heard from RG&E at all so I contacted the PSC twice again on 9/20/22 and spoke to two different people there and they advised me to just pay my regular bill and not to pay the fines as they were never supposed to be charged to my accounts while my case is under investigation and review. So I paid the basic bill on both accounts as the PSC staff advised me to do.


Then on Saturday 11/26/22 RG&E shut off my gas without any warning and after 1 hour on the phone with the gas emergency department they refused to turn it back on. My rights state that RG&E is not allowed to shut off utilities on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or during holidays. Since they turned off my gas on a Saturday and on a holiday weekend they violated that right of mine.


I also qualify for Special Protections which state that RG&E cannot disconnect service for 30 days if you are elderly (I am 67) or if you are disabled and a doctor certifies that you have a medical emergency. I have a certified doctor’s letter stating that, and also a Social Security letter verifying proof of disability which I submitted to RG&E more than once and they confirmed receipt of them via e-mail on 10/22/22 and again on 11/10/22, and per my phone conversation with Julie on 10/18/22 in the billing & payment department she confirmed stated that the Special Protection notice was put on record for both of my accounts with them. I have two accounts which this shut off affects. Yet even though I qualify with both criteria they also violated this right of mine as well.


Also because of the gas shut off they just took away my right for the PSC to possibly decide in my favor which would have eliminated the need for anyone having to enter my home at all and putting me in danger. Therefore I was forced against my will to have to face serious injury or death and the stress of it all amongst other things has severely impacted my health.


My gas service was shut off for 17 days (11/26/22 – 12/12/22) making it extremely difficult to function in my home at all. This put me in grave danger for all of the health reasons I outlined in my previous letter to you, and I was constantly worried that home was going to be destroyed as well, if the loss of heat caused my water pipes to freeze and burst. I was also very worried about the damage the cold could have done in many, many other ways. There is potential major structural damage to all of my walls and ceilings. My home is very old and all of those are made of plaster not drywall which cracks when it is cold. Then there many items too numerous to list, and which are irreplaceable, which are also negatively impacted by the cold as well. My home has several floors and rooms – basement, first floor, second floor and an attic which were all fully properly heated and this was impossible to do. I cannot have anyone come in to repair any damage or replace any of the items that could have been getting damaged because of this outage and I have been too sick to evaluate that possible damage at this time. My quality of life was seriously harmed and again due to my health issues I cannot have anyone enter my home to repair the damage that the gas shut off could have caused. Also stress is the worst thing that anyone with illnesses especially as many as I have should have to be exposed to. The stress that this situation has forced me to deal with has greatly exacerbated all of my health issues now and the toll this has taken on both my physical and emotional health is indescribable beyond words.


There is no good excuse for they did and there must be some way that they can be held accountable for it! Therefore I am asking that the PSC fines and takes whatever other actions they can against RG&E for what they have done to me. Nobody, especially a disabled senior should ever have to be put through the nightmare that they forced me to endure!


Linda – Very concerned RG&E customer