Columbus, Ohio - Columbia Gas' Insane Billing Practices
Hey fellow Columbus property owner/managers,
I'm hoping someone can offer a solution to our issue. We're still relatively new (2.5 years, and it's part-time) to managing a residential property, so I am thinking "there has to be a better way" to deal with this problem. Here it is:
Every time a tenant moves out of one of our units, the Columbia Gas account automatically switches into our business account. Each time, we renovate the unit a bit more (we have been doing it all ourselves with this first 4-unit but won't continue with future properties as we have learned the hard way all the reasons you shouldn't do this yourself, but that's another story). So, the gas bill ends up being in our name often for an odd amount of time. Columbia Gas' policy is to charge a fixed monthly service charge ($27) for a full month even if it's only few days into a billing cycle and even if you do not use any gas.
The last time we came across this problem a few months ago, I spent a lot of time on the phone with Columbia Gas representatives, and with PUCO (Public Utilities Commission), who first told me they could "help with my situation", then later that "there's nothing they can do". I ended spending so much time on it I ended up frustrated, and just paid the bill rather than continue to argue with them, and filed a formal complaint with PUCO.
Here we are again, a unit was vacant for around 5 weeks (partially due to our vacation, not that it wouldn't have rented). Columbia Gas charged us for 3 MONTHS of gas service, since the account switched into our name a few days shy of the start of the cycle (whenever that is, the bill doesn't say the service period), and a few days into the third month. During this time, we used 3 ccfs of gas, and we're being charged $85 for the 5 weeks. We're going to call them again tomorrow, but I first wanted to reach out to you all in case there is some way to work around this mess. It is simply not right and of course they do not care. They told me the last time I spoke with them that they charge our tenants the full service charge for the same month we're paying for it because "they have to manage the account and send a bill". So in the last few years they've charged several extra months for our property, and it's infuriating!
Does anyone have a solution? Do you have the same problem? Thanks in advance for your advice.