"We are moving toward complete transparency with the residents and the developers," said Mike Palackdharry, Nationwide Energy's president, interviewed at the company's Arena District offices. It gets a grade of D from the Better Business Bureau, compared with a B- for Nationwide Energy. In contrast, American Power is less responsive to customers and consumer groups, and it is more aggressive in collections. It also works to resolve complaints and help those unable to pay, customers said. Nationwide Energy provides a detailed explanation of its fees, and it has a call center to respond to customers. While there are many similarities, the companies have some big differences. American Power is part of a group that includes Ardent Property Management, and Nationwide Energy was founded by the chief executive of Lifestyle Communities. They sell services to property owners, read meters and handle billing and collections.īy acting as intermediary between utility and resident, the businesses perform functions of a utility without regulation.īoth companies have close ties to large apartment owners in the region, serving their tenants and others. The Dispatch investigation focuses on two central Ohio companies: American Power & Light and Nationwide Energy Partners. ![]() There is no value added for the customer." Made in central Ohio "They aren't providing the customer with any real service that they wouldn't otherwise get from the utility company. "Allowing markups for submetering is just bad policy," said Janine Migden-Ostrander, the former Ohio Consumers' Counsel who is now a principal at the Regulatory Assistance Project, a national nonprofit group that advises regulators on utility policy. In this way, Ohio is unique, with companies whose business models depend on the lack of rules. What those states do not have is evidence that companies are using gaps in the system on a large scale. That leaves just a few other states where it is allowed: Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah and Washington. In many other states, this type of utility resale is banned by law or rule. He said high bills have thrown off his budget and forced him to cut back on spending in other areas. His most-recent bill was 23 percent more than it would have been at the regulated price. ![]() "We're being victimized," said Dustin Flowers, who rents at Northpark on the Far North Side. The program served 41,160 households in Franklin County last year. Submeter customers also are ineligible for PIPP Plus, a federally funded subsidy for low-income residents available to anyone served by a state-regulated utility. ![]() Instead, the submeter company is the only option. This includes the "choice" program, which allows customers to select a utility provider from among several. "We had consumers state that they moved from a larger residence to a smaller apartment and had their utility costs increase," she said.Īnd, when a building is served by a submeter company, tenants are not eligible for money-saving programs available to most Ohioans. The most-common complaints are about high bills and unresponsive customer service, said Joan Coughlin, a vice president in the office. And the submeter companies have names that sound like big, well-known businesses - names such as Nationwide Energy Partners and American Power & Light.Ĭomplaints and questions about these companies are on the rise, with 5,137 inquiries to the Central Ohio Better Business Bureau about submeter companies since October 2012, up 33 percent from the year before. In some cases, the submeter companies are owned by principal owners of the apartment complexes. It then buys electricity or water, or both, from utilities and sells them to tenants, often at inflated prices and with fees. Here's how it works: A submeter company buys the utility meters and distribution system within an apartment complex. That would require action by the Ohio legislature, DeWine said. ![]() Yet no state agency has the authority to respond. That, to me, would raise a lot of questions." "It seems to be a problem when you have a small minority of consumers who do not have those protections.
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