Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Access Energy Cooperative's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Access Energy Cooperative

  1800 W Washington St Mount Pleasant, IA 52641-3009

• 

  Access Energy Cooperative

  PO Box 440 Mount Pleasant, IA 52641-0440

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/16/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************** the dark. And I'm suppose to call in the boring even though I have no power to charge my phone.. I made my requestt during business hours. And nobody informed me until 830pm that it needed to be inspected and that I worked have to call in the morning. I told them just come out and inspect it no nope I have to find a way to call them and Then they will come out and turn my pro back on. Why wasn't I told this during business hours?! Very unprofessional and I want compensated for the ******* room I am going to have to go get because they failed to inform me that it needed inspected and only can be fine DURING BUSINESS HOURS

  Business Response

  Date: 06/29/2023

  6/28/2023
  RE: ***************************** complaint
  We appreciate this matter being brought to our attention and being given the opportunity to make sure the record is accurate.  Access Energy Cooperative is a rural electric cooperative, providing electric service at retail to its member-consumers.  Our Cooperative is dedicated to exceeding members expectations for safe, reliable, efficient service while being a good citizen in our communities.  
  We have investigated the complaint that was filed.  Our records indicate that Access Energy Cooperative received a call about power being turned off due to a fire at this location on 6/14/23. A local fire department tripped the breaker below the meter so electricity could be turned off to extinguish the fire.  Access Energy Cooperative was not notified of the fire and was not involved in tripping the breaker. The breaker is placed below the meter, so a member can turn off electricity on the members side of the meter without shutting off the power being delivered to the meter by the Cooperative.  
  The complaint alleges that the member was told to "cap off" the power to the damaged room and then give them (presumably Access Energy) a call.  An Access Energy Cooperative employee was not on scene the night of the fire and therefore, did not advise the member to cap off the power to the damaged room.  It is unclear who would have advised the member to take this action.  Access Energy Cooperative did receive a call from the member requesting reconnect.  The member was told that we do not have an outage showing on our system at this location and to check the breaker under the meter from our outage center.  The member then talked to the supervisor on call and it was explained that if an outage crew was dispatched to this location and the outage was on the members side, the member would be charged for the call.  The member did not want to take the chance on whether the issue was on the members side.  On Friday, 6/15/23, the member called the cooperative stating they were out of power.  An employee was dispatched to the location and upon arrival, it was verified that power was on to the location from the Cooperative; but the breaker was tripped below the meter.  We have reviewed our outage logs and the last time this location was without power from the Cooperative was 5/31/2023 due to a transmission power supply issue. Electrical service was on to this location and the service breaker was tripped; thus, the location never lost power from the cooperative.  Unfortunately, it appears the member believed the Cooperative needed to do something to have the power restored; but the member just needed to re-set the breaker below the meter. 
  The complaint references calls made before and after business hours.  For clarification, the Cooperative's business hours are 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  We do have an after-hours call center that answers calls and can dispatch crews in an emergency situation after hours.  It appears as though some of the members calls may have been fielded by the after-hours call center and there may have been some misunderstanding about the situation at the member's premise based on what the after-hours call center was being told by the member.  ********** had in fact been terminated or disconnected by the Cooperative due to a fire, an inspection would in fact be required prior to reconnection.  However, since that was not the case, no inspection was required.
  The Cooperative was unaware of the Member's concerns about this situation.  Our first knowledge of the complaint was when we received the letter from BBB.  We did not receive a phone call before the letter to explore what happened.   Our goal is to address any member issue and come to a mutual agreement between both parties.  We have reached out to the member to discuss the situation and would be happy to talk with the member; but our phone calls and messages have been unanswered.  Perhaps the above explanation will aid the member and the better business bureau in understanding what has transpired; however, if the member would like to visit further, we encourage the member to contact us.  We do not believe any refund or expense reimbursement is required at this time.