Share Your RG&E Story

You're not alone! Over the years, many of us have had bad experiences with RG&E, from minor inconveniences to major crises. High energy bills, poor service, and inhumane shutoffs are just some of the things we know need to change. Tell us your story to help show why we need to take our community's energy future back from greedy corporations like RG&E, and replace RG&E with a public utility!

Metro Justice often shares stories posted here on social media to build awareness around RG&E issues and momentum for a public utility as the solution. If you have any questions regarding how Metro Justice may share your story, please don't hesitate to reach out to our Organizing Director, Mohini Sharma ([email protected], 585-397-3534) or our Organizer and Policy Specialist for the RED Campaign, Michelle Wenderlich ([email protected], 585-397-3539). 

 

  • Christina Marie Fiordeliso
    commented 2022-12-23 17:51:13 -0500
    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!
  • Janet Begley
    commented 2022-12-22 11:04:07 -0500
    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.
  • Anna
    commented 2022-12-22 00:34:21 -0500
    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.
  • David Sell
    commented 2022-12-21 08:44:26 -0500
    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.
  • Mike Coniff
    commented 2022-12-20 14:41:05 -0500
    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!
  • Maryellen Eckert
    commented 2022-12-20 09:26:45 -0500
    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.
  • Colleen
    commented 2022-12-19 18:16:03 -0500
    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!
  • Linda
    commented 2022-12-17 13:10:18 -0500
    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
  • Sarah L.
    commented 2022-12-16 13:43:53 -0500
    I am writing to you with deep concern, not only for myself and my elderly mother— but for all Rochesterians who use and trust the online meter reading system through Rochester Gas & Electric Company.


    I will give you a short history of my tale that has led me to send this email and pursue media exposure and possible class action legal action against this crooked monopoly.


    During 2020, I, like many others lost my job. As a single parent— I felt grateful for the unemployment stipend— but didn’t anticipate being out of work for almost a year. During this time, my daughter and I moved in with my aging parents. It was a win-win for us both: since we couldn’t qualify for a new lease without proof of employment— having steady housing was a blessing. My father was suffering from dementia and needed more support; I was able to help out with yardwork and home improvement tasks. Everyone benefitted.


    Fast forward to our first energy bill. During COVID, RG&E estimated my parents’ bill and their monthly bills were in the $130 range. Affordable for 2 retirees on social security and one pension. Then, after a year, they requested a meter read— so I did what I had done in previous apartments: I took a picture of each meter and emailed it to the customer service email with the account number and account holder’s name. A few days later I received an email that my meter reading was received and I felt a sense of peace. I had assumed this meant a human had recorded the numbers and they would reflect in my parents’ next bill.


    Fast forward to the next bill: and it is $100 more!!!! Yes, 2 more people were living in the house, but the energy usage wouldn’t have gone up that much. The meter read I sent was also reflecting the past month— when my parents were living solo. Needless to say, this stressed my parents out immensely. Being on a fixed income, they immediately got on the phone and waited the 45 minutes to an hour most people have to wait to speak to a human on the line and were told that the meter read sent meant that RG&E was underestimating my parents’ bill. Thus, they tacked an extra $800 onto the next bill to reflect what they underpaid last year— and tacked it onto a “payment plan”. My mom started sobbing.

    As I was not an account holder, I was unable to speak to a customer service agent on their behalf. I continued to send in the picture readings for them— assuming it would balance out. It went up. And kept going up.


    Fast forward to today: as I sit in my new apartment that has its own RG & E account. Because my apartment has baseboard heating, I called the energy company to find out the estimated monthly bill before renting. They told me it was $84. I thought that sounded reasonable. After a month of inhabiting my new— albeit rather small one-bedroom apartment, I have to call RG&E again because I can’t access my online account and I didn’t get an email that my meter reading was received. After my hour-long wait— the customer service and billing representative tells me some very disconcerting news that inspired me to write to the media.


    She said, and I quote: “Don’t send meter readings in through email or the app— they normally don’t work and end up messing up people’s bills. Your best bet is to call them between 7 and 8 am when you won’t have to wait. Do that a few times and then you can call in can do it through the automated system when you feel comfortable with sharing the meter reads.”


    I literally couldn’t speak for a moment. I was in complete shock. My jaw dropped. I remember seeing news stories and reading local articles about people with thousands of dollar bills beside themselves. Was this why?!?!


    I bluntly asked her, If your online system isn’t working, why are you still having people use it? Isn’t that just messing up people’s bills?


    “Yes,” she said, very matter-of-factly. I knew she was low on the totem poll, I knew I had to go somewhere big with this information. I was literally shaking inside when I hung up the call.


    Okay, she gave me the secret, but what about the thousands of Rochesterians that don’t know and continue to use the app or send in pictures and are overpaying as my parents did— and still are?!


    My deep concern here is: how are they justifying this glitch? Their system is archaic. They don’t have the manpower to update it— and they are letting things go on in a crooked way so that good people suffer. People on fixed budgets are forgoing basic needs for heat. It is not right. If this doesn’t speak class action lawsuit, I don’t know what does!?


    It seems like we would benefit from some undercover reporting of the issue or an inside whistleblower. I am personally going to take this information down to the Waring road location and see what can be done to rectify my mother’s energy bill now that she is a widow. My father passed away during this process and this is one more stressor she doesn’t need.


    One final fact I will share: this representative also shared with me that the best thing to do was let them read my meter in lieu of sending in email or app readings. And the budget she quoted me: over $200 for my apartment! She told me the previous representative was reading information from my last apartment. My latest energy bill (and I haven’t sent in meter readings because now I don’t trust their system AT ALL) was $274!!! At this point, I am going to have to move, as this cost, coupled with my rent is way beyond my single parent budget. I’m counting pennies as it is in my daily life!


    In sum: what is going on there is a mess— from poorly trained customer service reps—to perhaps being understaffed (but definitely not underfunded) and technologically in the dark ages.


    What happened to the NYS Green Initiative? I don’t know about you— but I’m ready to jump on the solar power train. This big bully has to be stopped. It’s going to take more than one voice. You with me?
  • Sarah L.
    commented 2022-12-16 13:43:51 -0500
    I am writing to you with deep concern, not only for myself and my elderly mother— but for all Rochesterians who use and trust the online meter reading system through Rochester Gas & Electric Company.


    I will give you a short history of my tale that has led me to send this email and pursue media exposure and possible class action legal action against this crooked monopoly.


    During 2020, I, like many others lost my job. As a single parent— I felt grateful for the unemployment stipend— but didn’t anticipate being out of work for almost a year. During this time, my daughter and I moved in with my aging parents. It was a win-win for us both: since we couldn’t qualify for a new lease without proof of employment— having steady housing was a blessing. My father was suffering from dementia and needed more support; I was able to help out with yardwork and home improvement tasks. Everyone benefitted.


    Fast forward to our first energy bill. During COVID, RG&E estimated my parents’ bill and their monthly bills were in the $130 range. Affordable for 2 retirees on social security and one pension. Then, after a year, they requested a meter read— so I did what I had done in previous apartments: I took a picture of each meter and emailed it to the customer service email with the account number and account holder’s name. A few days later I received an email that my meter reading was received and I felt a sense of peace. I had assumed this meant a human had recorded the numbers and they would reflect in my parents’ next bill.


    Fast forward to the next bill: and it is $100 more!!!! Yes, 2 more people were living in the house, but the energy usage wouldn’t have gone up that much. The meter read I sent was also reflecting the past month— when my parents were living solo. Needless to say, this stressed my parents out immensely. Being on a fixed income, they immediately got on the phone and waited the 45 minutes to an hour most people have to wait to speak to a human on the line and were told that the meter read sent meant that RG&E was underestimating my parents’ bill. Thus, they tacked an extra $800 onto the next bill to reflect what they underpaid last year— and tacked it onto a “payment plan”. My mom started sobbing.

    As I was not an account holder, I was unable to speak to a customer service agent on their behalf. I continued to send in the picture readings for them— assuming it would balance out. It went up. And kept going up.


    Fast forward to today: as I sit in my new apartment that has its own RG & E account. Because my apartment has baseboard heating, I called the energy company to find out the estimated monthly bill before renting. They told me it was $84. I thought that sounded reasonable. After a month of inhabiting my new— albeit rather small one-bedroom apartment, I have to call RG&E again because I can’t access my online account and I didn’t get an email that my meter reading was received. After my hour-long wait— the customer service and billing representative tells me some very disconcerting news that inspired me to write to the media.


    She said, and I quote: “Don’t send meter readings in through email or the app— they normally don’t work and end up messing up people’s bills. Your best bet is to call them between 7 and 8 am when you won’t have to wait. Do that a few times and then you can call in can do it through the automated system when you feel comfortable with sharing the meter reads.”


    I literally couldn’t speak for a moment. I was in complete shock. My jaw dropped. I remember seeing news stories and reading local articles about people with thousands of dollar bills beside themselves. Was this why?!?!


    I bluntly asked her, If your online system isn’t working, why are you still having people use it? Isn’t that just messing up people’s bills?


    “Yes,” she said, very matter-of-factly. I knew she was low on the totem poll, I knew I had to go somewhere big with this information. I was literally shaking inside when I hung up the call.


    Okay, she gave me the secret, but what about the thousands of Rochesterians that don’t know and continue to use the app or send in pictures and are overpaying as my parents did— and still are?!


    My deep concern here is: how are they justifying this glitch? Their system is archaic. They don’t have the manpower to update it— and they are letting things go on in a crooked way so that good people suffer. People on fixed budgets are forgoing basic needs for heat. It is not right. If this doesn’t speak class action lawsuit, I don’t know what does!?


    It seems like we would benefit from some undercover reporting of the issue or an inside whistleblower. I am personally going to take this information down to the Waring road location and see what can be done to rectify my mother’s energy bill now that she is a widow. My father passed away during this process and this is one more stressor she doesn’t need.


    One final fact I will share: this representative also shared with me that the best thing to do was let them read my meter in lieu of sending in email or app readings. And the budget she quoted me: over $200 for my apartment! She told me the previous representative was reading information from my last apartment. My latest energy bill (and I haven’t sent in meter readings because now I don’t trust their system AT ALL) was $274!!! At this point, I am going to have to move, as this cost, coupled with my rent is way beyond my single parent budget. I’m counting pennies as it is in my daily life!


    In sum: what is going on there is a mess— from poorly trained customer service reps—to perhaps being understaffed (but definitely not underfunded) and technologically in the dark ages.


    What happened to the NYS Green Initiative? I don’t know about you— but I’m ready to jump on the solar power train. This big bully has to be stopped. It’s going to take more than one voice. You with me?
  • Megan Maley
    commented 2022-12-12 11:50:12 -0500
    I have been getting astronomical bills for a 700sqft apartment that has been EMPTY since July 2022. Over $300 some months with ZERO credits the next. My online account has been suspended and every time I call I receive rude and inaccurate information. Transfers from one person to another back to the original, refusals to speak to the supervisor. Finally I was able to shut off the service but got zero communication when it was done or how they entered the building since they don’t have a key. It’s absolutely disgusting how they are gauging individuals and blatantly lying about it.
  • Pedro & Laura Maneiro
    commented 2022-12-10 11:37:42 -0500
    Hello, our story has been an ongoing one for some time. In August we decided to try out their budget billing. They estimated our monthly budget to be approximately $273.00. But we have not been charged this amount as agreed. I had to call them at least once or twice a month to try and get things straightened out. Each month we’ve been billed over the budget amount and this past week we ended up paying over $600.00 for gas and electric. I was on the phone for over 3 hours with customer service to find out that our usage was actually cheaper than our budget amount and I was assured that if I paid the excessive bill for December I would receive credit back next month if I went off budget billing. So, I agreed to pay. Today I received a late notice email and after canceling my budget billing I was charged the $273.00 even after I paid my bill! I am beyond frustrated with their system and their inability to resolve problems after spending multiple hours on the phone month after month! Our house is not big either. We own a ranch style home and a few years ago we installed a new energy efficient furnace and air conditioner.
  • Betty Rodgers
    commented 2022-12-07 12:55:13 -0500
    Good afternoon my story is RG&E is charging me for a bill for August 2020, but I move to the resident in 09/2021. They are telling me it’s my problem, but how can they estimate me in 2020 and I moved in 2021. I need some answers but my bill from November to December 2022 is $749 and some change .
  • Susanna Guarino
    commented 2022-12-02 19:56:22 -0500
    For some reason, RG&E didn’t send me any bills over the summer even though I’m on budget billing at around $90/mo. Suddenly, in September, I received a $400 bill. I was surprised but paid it. Then, it October, a $630 bill. I thought there must be a mistake (I live in a small apartment and didn’t use any gas over the summer) and called. I was on hold for, of course, almost an hour. When I did talk to someone, she couldn’t help me and referred to another department. A woman in that department said there was no mistake, I owed RG&E about $1200 because they had been under-billing me (news to me!) She said I would pay this off over the next two months and then budget billing would be reduced again in January, 2023. However, in November, I did not receive an invoice or bill to pay. Confused, I called them again. Again, an hour on the phone!! It took a long time to explain the situation to a representative, who said that I owed a late fee for missing my payment, but she agreed that no invoice had been sent and my online account was saying I owed $0. I asked how I could possibly pay an invisible bill. She said I would have to talk to a different department, so I was on the phone again for 45 minutes on hold. I had to hang up because I had to get back to work (I work full-time, I don’t have 2-3 hours per day to be on hold with RG&E). I called back after work and finally got through to someone else who told me that, lo and behold, the $1000 bill was a mistake after all! RG&E overcharged me $1000!! However, she said I will have to wait 2-3 weeks to hear from them because ANOTHER department has to go back in time to correct the erroneous billing from the last few months. I have no confidence that this will actually be resolved and definitely expect that I’ll have to waste another several hours on the phone with them in a few weeks. In the meantime, if they shut my power off because I didn’t pay an invisible bill for money that I don’t actually really owe them, I will be very, very upset. I was so angry today that I texted a friend who told me Metro Justice already has a campaign to get us a public utility. This is so needed. I hope the city and county pay attention!
  • Deanna Romanowski
    commented 2022-12-02 19:48:39 -0500
    We received a bill for $47 in October and a letter that said our meter was estimated and no one had been by to read the meter. We were credited for our previous 3 bills due to this. The next month we received a hill for over $1100. We are being told that noone read our meter for the last year (even though we submitted a few times) and that when they came to read our meter in September they saw they under estimated it and that it the difference of the underestimate. They also tried to tell my husband that the gas meter was read which did not happen since it is inside our basement and we did not approve anyone in our home. We usually average $180-$250 a month so being that far off does not make sense. Now we are expected to pay a large bill for the lack of RG&E s organization.
  • Barbara Stewart
    commented 2022-11-29 12:10:28 -0500
    Confusing $3,000 credit followed by almost daily bills ultimately resulting in $1,300 balance due.
  • Linda
    commented 2022-11-27 12:02:27 -0500
    I am a 67-year-old disabled senior with an open complaint against RG&E with NYS PSC, and I qualify for special protections under the law. RG&E just violated my rights and NYS PSC orders and just put me and my property under serious jeopardy by shutting my gas service off yesterday without any warning. They need to be replaced immediately!!!!
  • Shawn Trim II
    commented 2022-11-26 09:28:00 -0500
    I’ve had 3 appointments scheduled since July to get my gas turned on after getting the necessary repair they said i needed to make and no one has yet to show up. I’ve even took those days off to make sure someone was there. I can’t even begin to tell you the amount of times I’ve called and the amount of hours I’ve spent on hold to only get disconnected. I went to the Warring road office only to discover that it was permanently closed. I’m really frustrated because the weather is getting colder and I’m afraid my pipes may burst and I’ll be left paying for the repairs. But what really frustrates me the most is that I’m getting billed every month for estimated gas charges. MY GAS IS NOT ON RG&E!!! WHY AM I GETTING BILLED?!?!?!
  • Mike McBride
    commented 2022-11-21 20:24:19 -0500
    Does RG&E realize that many financially challenged families in Rochester, will have to decide between food and fuel this winter! Does RG&E really care at all about customer service at all? If they were sincere, RG&E would be creating local customer service centers to answer questions and assist people with complicated billing concerns.


    Instead, their outreach centers on Waring Road and West Avenue have actually closed down. Now customers must wait on the phone for hours with an out of town answering service, that hardly even know what they are talking about! We have in essence become RG&E hostages with no place else to go.


    At one time RG&E was truly a Rochester company, with all our electric coming from nearby Russell Station, Beebee Station and the Ginna Nuclear Plant. Now we are dependent and at the mercy of a foreign Spanish company, who probably never even heard of Rochester, NY. This is a serious security problem which should be investigated by Federal Government.
  • Mike McBride
    commented 2022-11-21 20:22:59 -0500
    Does RG&E realize that many financially challenged families in Rochester, will have to decide between food and fuel this winter! Does RG&E really care at all about customer service at all? If they were sincere, RG&E would be creating local customer service centers to answer questions and assist people with complicated billing concerns.


    Instead, their outreach centers on Waring Road and West Avenue have actually closed down. Now customers must wait on the phone for hours with an out of town answering service, that hardly even know what they are talking about! We have in essence become RG&E hostages with no place else to go.


    At one time RG&E was truly a Rochester company, with all our electric coming from nearby Russell Station, Beebee Station and the Ginna Nuclear Plant. Now we are dependent and at the mercy of a foreign Spanish company, who probably never even heard of Rochester, NY. This is a serious security problem which should be investigated by Federal Government.
  • Sertzai Weld
    commented 2022-11-20 20:45:34 -0500
    I appreciate what you guys are doing. Always Monopoly is no good. I’m glad people like you stood up for the Rochester community. I fully support you.
  • Carah Taylor
    commented 2022-10-27 07:41:54 -0400
    I have not heard from RGE since May. I tried calling and emailing them. I have not paid anything and I am concerned if they will shut off my utilities in the middle of winter.
  • Olivia Staff
    commented 2022-10-25 14:19:48 -0400
    We received an $800 extra charge because RGE didn’t read our gas meter for over a year, now we’re on a payment plan to pay it off. After we called to ask how this happened, they increased the bill even more to $936. We’re still trying to pay this off with our monthly bills. It’s insane and ridiculous to expect people to be able to afford this on top of their regular bills.
  • Darryl Huskey
    commented 2022-10-19 10:16:30 -0400
    RG&E charged me 522$ for aug-sept bill when my normal charges are under 100$ my normal usage is around 300kw but they said I used 3500kw in a month when half of the month due to work I’m not at my apartment. Tried getting an explanation but I get no answers due to the 2hr+ hold times. I would totally understand if they weren’t reading the meters over the months and back charging me , but saying I used 3500kw in a 1 bed 1 bath apartment in a single month is not right.
  • Scott Kobel
    commented 2022-10-02 19:25:41 -0400
    They never read the meter, the technology is horrible, frequent power outages and just a month or so ago I received a $513 bill, that’s insane!!!
  • Jane Doe
    commented 2022-09-19 15:27:33 -0400
    I moved out of Rochester, and actually out of NY state. 1 year later, I see an email from credit karma letting me know that my name is with a collections agency for a $40 debt from RG&E. Long story short, they had “undercharged me” apparently for a bill, while I was living there. After I moved, they caught the mistake and charged me the difference. They didn’t email or call or text. They simply put a notification on my account. To which I had to ask the customer service operator “How often do you check the accounts you’ve closed 1 year after you’ve closed them?” And why wouldn’t anyone email me. I spent 6 weeks calling the collections agency and RG&E. The collections agency was my saving grace as they helped me figure out how to dispute the claim. RG&E was HORRIBLE. They’d say “you should just tell the agency XYZ and they’ll take care of it” and the agency would say “they told you that you can just tell us to waive the debt? They need to call us directly” Then I had to call RG&E every few weeks to check if they had filed it as a mistake so it could be removed from my credit.

    I should say, it is not the front line employees who are the problem! They are doing their best underneath some terrible management and even worse corporate polices.
  • Linda Mangione
    commented 2022-08-18 10:34:06 -0400
    Have been getting higher than usual bills. At times they have charged for two months in one bill. I read my meter so I don’t get estimates. Have had them enter my read wrong. Called with new reading after high bill , guess I read it wrong, took 4 calls before I got a new bill.
  • Anthony Tyler
    commented 2022-08-05 15:46:53 -0400
    It’s fairly simple: RG&E, in one month’s billing time, raised my utility bill from $146 to $728. I called to find out what exactly was going on and a couple things happened… 1) The customer service rep was quite flustered and didn’t give me much to go on other than what’s been reported since March of 2022 and that I was billed for two months of gas usage – 2) I found out that my billing or meter or whatever are listed as Commercial and Non-Residential. So, I was transferred to the meter changing department and was facing an hour and a half wait time. No thanks. It’s something to experience this for the first time in years and not in a good way. It’s completely unreasonable, what they’re doing.
  • Jesse Esan
    commented 2022-06-15 08:03:34 -0400
    They revised my bill a year after it was paid. Lost a 10k credit and then billed me 4500$ more half a month. My bill has never been over 1200$ a month.

    My rental had the tenants move out Nov 2031 and I put RG&E in my name to re due the kitchen. 5 month later, no work was completed by my lazy ass and I have a 450$ bill. No heat on, no laundry machines, maybe just a light on and off here.

    Down with the horrible monopoly!
  • Franco Campos
    commented 2022-06-14 19:32:48 -0400
    I am tired of the same excuse all the time “Bill for 2 months because there’s a problem with the meter or just call every month to verified your readings are correct.” Enough I want to use a different company.

Donate What We Do Events

connect

get updates