Of particular note is that on about April 1, 2012 MP and PE changed over from the prior Allegheny Power billing system to the billing system of FirstEnergy. 
Within the eleven months prior to the initiation of the general investigation, customers of the Companies filed  approximately 750 Requests for Assistance (RFAs) related to billing practices in addition to nearly seventy formal complaints.
Staff noted a significant increase in RFAs concerning the Companies' billings beginning in January 2013, particularly RFAs directly related to estimated bills.

A major Staff concern is the future impact on MP and PE customers affected by recent problems whether storm related, related to meter reading staffing problems, or route renumbering projects that have been unreasonably billed. Since both estimation methods generally rely on historical usage data, how is MP, in the customer example of Attachment 3, going to produce reasonable usage estimates for that customer in the forthcoming "winter heating season" given the obviously bad usage data that has been generated? How for all other similarly affected MP and PE customers?

Staff is very concerned that the unreasonable billings sent to  customers who previously received bills based on unreasonable estimates will be  self-perpetuating. As both the estimation methods generally rely on historical usage data, it seems likely that MP and PE will produce unreasonable usage estimates in the future because they are relying on historical bad usage data the utilities based on bad estimates. Staff does not currently agree that the Companies' recently implemented initiatives, set forth on Page 14 of its report, are sufficient to resolve this proceeding without further investigation.

The Companies report that it reassigned meter readers to assist in storm restoration after Super Storm Sandy caused damage on October 30, 2012, which would account for MP averaging 27% of customers receiving consecutive estimated bills in November 2012 and PE averaging 23%. In December 2012, PE
continued to average 23% of customers receiving consecutive estimated bills and MP
averaged 31%.  While Super Storm Sandy went through West Virginia on October 30, 2012 FirstEnergy's responses and responses to individual complaints indicate that meter readers were reassigned to assist in storm restoration which presumably accounts for the November 2012 27% for MP and 23% for PE, but fails to explain why December 2012 was even greater for MP at 31% and the same for PE at 23%.
Technical Staff believes the trends shown on Attachments 1 and 2 are indicative of problems with the Companies' billing practices and cannot be attributed solely to the Summer 2012 Derecho and Super Storm Sandy.  The foregoing table and Attachments 1 and 2 indicate that MP and PE have current billing problems that are not likely to  disappear because the causes of those problems occurred in the past such as from the Derecho and Hurricane Sandy.

After reviewing the Companies' report and their responses to discovery requests, Staff believes it requires additional information in order formulate final recommendations in this general investigation proceeding. Staff is  seeking this information through a separately filed second set of discovery requests. Staff will continue to review this matter and submit final recommendations in accordance with a procedural schedule to be established by the Commission.

Two years ago, Greentech Media asked if utilities could rebuild trust with customers. According to a recent study by Accenture, it appears that it hasn't happened yet.

Less than one-fourth of consumers trust their utility, 9 percent below last year and the lowest figure since Accenture began the annual survey four years ago. Globally, customer satisfaction also dropped 12 percentage points to 47 percent in the past year alone.

The result is that people are increasingly looking past the utility for energy-related services. Home services providers, security companies and commercial retailers are all taking a piece of what could be new revenue streams for utilities. More than 70 percent of consumers surveyed by Accenture said they would consider a provider other than the utility for energy services if it were available.

“Utilities need to consider radically rethinking their customer satisfaction investments with a targeted approach to simplifying the consumer energy experience, addressing the concerns of dissatisfied consumers and closing the expectation gap,” said Greg Guthridge, managing director for Accenture Energy Consumer Services, in a statement. Increasingly, consumer engagement cannot just be a panel topic at smart grid conferences, but instead must become a core undertaking for utilities.

In the next few years, utilities will not only have to build out those platforms while also maintaining and upgrading an aging electrical grid, but also do it all while providing a level of customer service many have never had to provide before.

“Many utilities are at an inflection point at which they should redefine their role in consumers’ lives and refocus on building a base of trust,” said Guthridge. “The first step is making interactions simple, and in particular, getting the basics right the first time."

We will work tirelessly to assure:
1. Impartial and efficient resolution of all jurisdictional issues;
2. Public safety through inspections of motor carriers, railroads, and natural gas pipelines;
3. An increase in business investment, job creation/retention and the state’s overall competitiveness;
4. An improvement in the standard of living and quality of life for the people of West Virginia;
5. That consumers receive the best value in utility service from financially viable and technically competent companies; and,
6. That utilities receive an opportunity to earn a fair return on their investment in regulated services.

PSC Chairman Michael Albert’s recent remarks before a West Virginia legislative Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary epitomize the stagnant and captive nature of our current PSC leadership. Albert told the committee that the days of cheap utilities are over and that the only remedies for consumers who cannot afford higher utility costs are conservation or budget and consumer assistance programs. Instead of investigating creative solutions, which the PSC is empowered by law to do, Mr. Albert throws in the towel and goes along with the claims of West Virginia’s Ohio-based electric companies.

§24-1-3. Commission continued; membership; chairman; compensation;  quorum.
 
 (b) The Public Service Commission shall consist of three members who shall be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The commissioners shall be citizens and residents of this state and at least one of them shall be duly licensed to practice law in West Virginia, with not less than ten years' actual work experience in the legal profession as a member of a state bar.

Merger benefits increased significantly from '11 to '12 to '13. As I said, Gary's going to speak more to that, but this is the pretax earnings impact associated with those and you'll see that, that's in excess of $1 billion.

We're also targeting O&M reductions beyond the synergies of between $75 million and $175 million in 2012 and 2013. We expect asset sales in the range of $800 million to $900 million per year, and we expect to reduce debt by $1.5 billion to $2.2 billion over this time period.

...we continue to look for opportunities to reduce O&M. I just want to give you one, very quick example, of what we're doing on the O&M side.

We closed the transaction February 28 of last year. There are roughly 75 major applications that have to get integrated between the 2 companies. For some of the operating savings to occur, those systems have to be integrated. I'm pleased to say that our IT folks are basically going to integrate all of those applications in record time, and they'll make their cut-over shortly. They've had 5 test runs, so you'll see that some of the synergy has been accelerated and some of the synergies too, become, as we integrate our systems. And we're quite pleased with where we are. We'll continue to look for incremental costs. It's kind of our nature. But we're not going to do anything simply for a short-term benefit that puts the company at a longer-term risk. That's just not something we are going to do. Everything we are doing is to place FirstEnergy in the best possible forward position.

Meyers said the companies have been aware of the issues and will assist the PSC.

“It’s just an exercise that we need to go through, and hopefully, when we come to the end of the investigation and the recommendations and everything else, we can be stronger for it and have a good outcome for our customers,” Meyers said.

The problems stem from a series of issues connected with several large storms and with FirstEnergy's acquisition of the utilities' former parent, Allegheny Energy in early 2011, according to company spokesman Todd Meyers.

Bills are based on alternate months of actual meter readings and estimates, Meyers said.

During storm response — including, since the acquisition, Hurricane Irene in August 2011, the derecho in June 2012 and superstorm Sandy in October 2012, as well as smaller storms — meter readers may be called off their routes to watch lines that have been reported down until line crews arrive. They return to reading meters on schedule, so the readings that are missed during those periods aren't made up and result in three estimates in a row — which can result in large true-up bills when those meters are read in the fourth month.

In addition, as FirstEnergy began transitioning from Allegheny's system in which meter readers conducted meter maintenance and other functions as well to its own system in which they only read meters, some staff in the Potomac Edison service area switched to other positions, creating a temporary staffing shortage in mid-2012, Meyers said.

And another phase of transition in early 2013 called "renumbering," in which routes were adjusted, also resulted in a one-time long billing cycle, he said — which, again, created problems primarily in the eastern panhandle.