CSA Alert 1 - Electric Meters Reported Stolen in Dallas
Community Managers in Dallas have reported electric meters stolen over night. This is a serious issue for owners and managers.
CSA Alert 2- Illegal Meter Reconnects in Houston
Community Managers in Houston have reported that strangers are approaching their residents, offering to reconnect service to Red Tag meters for a small fee. This is a serious issue for owners, managers and those residents who have their meters reconnected illegally.
Why would people steal Electric Meters?
In general, utility service personnel remove meters from electric boxes for service addresses that have been disconnected more than once and usually as a result of "Illegal Reconnect". This happens more often than you think. So what do people do without a meter? Options are pay the bill, go without electricity or replace the meter. What better place to easily find a replacement meter than an apartment complex. Most electromechanical meters are standard in size and can easily be interchanged.
What are Red Tag Meters?
Any resident scheduled for a service disconnect must be given proper notice by the serving Retail Electric Provider (REP) or the utility company. In Texas, the notice period is 10 days. After the end of the notice period, if the resident has not cured the situation, the serving Transmission and Distribution Service Provider (TDSP) who are in charge of wires and meters will be scheduled to disconnect the service at the meter. Meters are Red Tagged when service is disconnected. One of the reasons for a service disconnect is non-pay.
Why are Red Tags important to community Managers?
In most cases, if a Disconnect for Non-Pay (DNP) is issued by a REP other than the CSA REP, the service will roll back to the community CSA and there is not much that your CSA REP can do about it. However, if the DNP is for service to a unit that is served by your CSA REP, then service does not roll back to CSA with most REPs. This is the standard practice for most REPs so please consult with your broker or the utility representative about their specific practice. This is another reason to promote the CSA REP as the preferred provider to your Move Ins.
Electricity Theft is a Felony in most states!
Electricity theft is an ongoing problem for all electricity providers and it is punished by jail time, a fine or both. Tampering with electricity meters is dangerous and could result in a fire, shock or even death to the perpetrator.
What Should Community Managers do?
The following is our recommendation to assist community managers with these serious situations:
Step 1: Walk your communities once a week and note meters that are Red Tagged.
Step 2: Issue a letter to those residents that are Red Tagged informing them of two points:
A) Per the TAA Lease, the residents must have service in their rental unit during the entire lease term. Lack of electric service is a violation of the lease terms.
B) If they are approached by anyone, other than the TDSP service personnel, offering to reconnect their service, they should report the situation to the leasing office immediately. Managers may also want to inform residents of the hazards of playing with electric meters that could cause fire and or personal injury and it is a crime.
Step 3: Inform CSASecure as soon as possible. We can provide you information about your assigned TDSP and who to call or if you would like, we can contact them on your behalf.
Step 4:
In the event of meters reported missing or reports of suspicious people offering to reconnect meters for a fee, contact the Revenue Protection Department (sometimes referred to as Meter Diversion Group) of your respective TDSP or utility company. All utility companies (electricity and gas) have a Revenue Protection department responsible for dealing with such issues.
Step 5:
After discussing the Red Tag issue with your residents, please take action as soon as possible. If you feel that they are not going to become current on their electric bills then there is a good chance that other bad things will follow. This can be an indication of a potential skip.
Conclusion:
When residents don't pay their electric bills bad things are certain to follow. Service will roll to the community name or the resident may go "dark" depending on the REP, either scenario is not good news for the community managers and owners. When residents go dark for a long period of time, it will encourage "illegal reconnects", which can cause the service personnel to pull their meters. This action will lead to meters stolen out of necessity, which causes other problems for owners, managers and those residents whose service meters are stolen. Aside from the financial impact and the time managers have to spend investigating the matter, there are the risks of fire and worst, personal injury to residents and the perpetuator. So pay attention to Red Tag meters and make it part of your process to identify them and take action quickly. Please note that such incidents are not limited to Dallas and Houston and certainly not to the State of Texas. Utility theft is a major issue that costs utility companies, businesses and consumers billions of dollars every year.
