A Texas utility firm apologized after sending customers erroneous bills alleging they owed $200,000 in natural gas consumption amid the freezing storm.
CenterPoint Energy customers said that they’ve received shocking emails claiming that they had consumed $202,102.16 in natural gas with a due date of March 4 and that “Your CenterPoint Energy bill is ready to view, print, and pay online.”
“We are aware of a recent technical issue caused by the power outage in Houston which led to the issuance of incorrect natural gas billing e-mails to some customers,” the company said in a tweet.
“If you have received an e-mail in the amount of $202,102.16, please disregard it. You do not owe this amount.”
“The power outage in Houston caused a technical issue that generated bill notification emails that were sent to some CenterPoint Energy customers in error,” the company said in another statement.
“We inform customers to disregard this notification and that they did not owe this amount. This was only an email message error, not a billing error. Impacted customers received a new email with the correct amount due. We apologize for the error and appreciate customers continued patience.”