LAKEWOOD, Colo. — When people at a Lakewood apartment complex found their Xcel bills had doubled — or even tripled — they started asking questions, but said no one would help.
"I moved into Whisper Creek Apartment Complex in November of 2020, and I kind of thought I lucked out with one of the better apartments that was on the market," said Kasie Mooney.
Mooney said the complex, located near Highway 285 and Kipling, was perfect for her small family, until her Xcel bills started to soar.
In 2020, Mooney's Xcel bills went from less than $100 to more than $300 for several months in 2021, and her family was struggling to keep up.
"My August bill was $361, and I knew something was wrong," she said. "After that large spike in my bill, I honestly wasn't able to recover."
Her next-door neighbor, Shay King, has experienced the same sticker shock after her Xcel bills went from about $80 per month to more than $200.
"They put in some new meters, and ever since then, for a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment that's under 1,000 square feet, I'm paying over $200 a month for this small place," said King. "I think it's ridiculous. "
After new meters were installed, Mooney went looking for help from Xcel and confirmed in July that they had not even sent a technician to check the meters.
"[Xcel] sent someone earlier, but they checked the wrong meters," Mooney said. "Even though they hadn't sent anyone, they said their meters were correct. They said that I would have to talk to my apartment complex, and the apartment complex would say, 'Well, it's not our property, we don't have any control over it. You have to talk to Xcel.' I felt like I had nowhere to turn to."
Mooney reached out to Contact Denver7, and we reached out to the property managers, CWS Apartment Homes, and Xcel. While consumer reporter Jaclyn Allen was there, Xcel crews showed up at Mooney's building.
"I'm glad I called you, because in the couple of hours that you've been working on this for me, you've gotten a lot farther than I have in the year I've been trying to deal with this," said Mooney.
Mooney still owes Xcel almost $1,000 from what she believes are meter mistakes.
"I kept getting threatening letters saying that if I didn't make my payments, they were going to turn off my electricity. And I have a 2-year-old. I can't let that happen," she said.
Mooney and her family decided to move, and they found a new home twice the size with half the utility bill.
"It's predictable, and it's safer to be here," said Mooney. "I was just really disappointed at the way Xcel handled this whole situation."
An Xcel spokesman released a statement saying the company is looking into the matter, but that it did not meet its customer service standards.
"We will be sure to keep the customer updated with our findings in an effort to resolve the situation. While we investigate, it’s clear this situation does not meet our customer service standards.
"Regarding the call between the Xcel customer service representative and the building’s representative, we take customer privacy seriously. We typically do not discuss billing details without express permission from customers to do so. However, this was clearly a missed opportunity for us to inform the building manager of their responsibility to hire licensed professionals to trace the service if tenants believe their meters are measuring the wrong unit. Xcel Energy can only respond and correct the meters once we receive the findings from these assessments.
"We encourage all customers to reach out to our Customer Care team at 1 (800) 895-4999 with any billing questions they may have. Thank you for bringing this to our attention."
CWS did not respond to requests for comment.
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