MEMPHIS, TN. — Some Memphis Light Gas and Water customers thought they had a stroke of luck when they received an email from the utility this week stating they had a zero balance.
It turns out it was a mistake that MLGW said it has since corrected.
“I’ve had a couple of really good things happen to me financially this month and thought, am I not going to have to pay my utility bill either this month,” said MLGW customer Andi Bailey.
Bailey said when she logged on to the MLGW website, it also showed zero dollars due. Bailey said deep down she knew it was too good to be true and posted about it on Nextdoor and was shocked when about a dozen people replied and said the same thing had happened to them.
“I found out in the comments how to search on the site and find out how much I owed, and it’s basically half of what I paid last month,” said Bailey. “I was going to pay what I paid last month. So, that would have been twice the amount I should have paid.”
At least three WREG employees also got the $0 balance notification.
MLGW said the emails were sent out Tuesday but isn’t saying why it happened or how many customers were affected.
The utility said customers who received an email showing they owed nothing should go online and follow these steps:
- Login to My Account
- Click on “Bills & Payments”
- Look for the “Action” button
- Select “View Bill” to see the current balance
MLGW has been criticized in recent months for its lack of customer service. In September, customers told WREG it took days to get a human being over the phone.
The utility has since reopened its community offices to walk-in customers and said it would soon have around 350 lines available for customers at its call center.
Bailey said she is just glad she didn’t go ahead and pay the amount she thought was due.
“I’m pretty sure they weren’t going to reimburse my overpayment. Just credit my account,” she said.
