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. "We made a public-policy decision years ago in this state that we were going to put in place certain protections for the individual utility consumer. "What it gets down to is the individual consumer," said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine in response to the Dispatch findings. The problems stem from an absence of regulation, a blind spot in Ohio law that affects an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 housing units in the Columbus area, and that has the potential to affect any of about 3 million Ohioans who live in apartments or condominiums. If the customer fails to pay, the companies sometimes resort to collection tactics that would be illegal for regulated utilities, including shutting off heat in winter and even eviction. Her August bill was $176.24, which was 30 percent more than she would have paid for the same usage at regulated prices.Ī 10-month investigation by T he Dispatch found that residents pay markups of 5 percent to 40 percent when their landlords enter into contracts with certain submeter companies. "They pretty much told me that I don't have a choice and this is how it is," said Rachelle Sexton, who rents at the Enclave at Albany Park in Westerville. Unlike most states, Ohio allows unregulated, third-party "submeter" companies to make big profits by reselling electricity and water to residents of apartments and condominiums. Consumer protection for utility customers sometimes stops at the apartment door in Ohio.
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