Is Lakeview Light and Power gouging its customers with late fees?

My name is John Arbeeny, Lakewood resident since 1985, a retired US Army officer and past Lakewood council member and Deputy Mayor. I have a commercial building located at 9702 South Tacoma Way SW, Lakewood, WA 98499 that is serviced by Lakeview Light and Power for electricity. I have 3 vacant units and house electric (signs, security lights, etc.) which use minimal amounts of electricity and typically my bill for any one of those accounts is less than $30.00 and as little as $7.00 a month. I pay my bills at the end of each month and have had an excellent payment history.

I received  4 electric bills in mid February 2013 dated 2/7/2013 which had a due date of 6 March 2013 a change from past due dates on the 7^th of each month. On 28 February 2013 I wrote a check for $59.25 to Lakeview Light and Power as well as separate checks to Pierce County Sewer, Lakewood Water District, a landscaping company in Lakewood, and my mortgage holder located in Philadelphia PA. All these checks were mailed on 28 February 2013 from the Oakbrook post office early enough for the afternoon pickup.

I received my next 4 electric bills dated 3/7/2013 on about 10 March 2013 and 3 of them had a $20.00 late fee each. That’s a total of $60.00 penalty on electrical charges $52.55! Additionally the $59.25 paid on 28 February 2013 wasn’t credited to any of my accounts.

On 18 March 2013 I called Lakeview and demanded an explanation. Their customer service gentleman told me that the bill was due on 6 March 2013 and that Lakeview hadn’t received my check until 7 March 2013 and so I was assessed a total penalty of $60.00 for being a day late on 3 of the bills. I asked him if he was telling me it took 8 days for mail to go from Oakbrook to their office on Bridgeport Way. He answered “Yes, that’s what I’m telling you” and that I “…..should take it up with the postmaster.” Typical bureaucratic response: Lakeview has a problem receiving or handling its mail and it expects me to solve it.

I went to my bank and pulled my checking account statement account to determine when the other checks written on 28 February 2013 had cleared. What I found was interesting. The landscaper’s check cleared 1 March 2013; Pierce County Sewer’s check cleared on 4 March 2013; Lakewood Water’s check cleared 5 March 2013; and my mortgage company (located 3000 miles away) check cleared 5 March 2013. This means that these checks arrived at least that day or earlier at each of these locations. Incredibly, it took 8 days for the mail to arrive at Lakeview Light and Power’s from only 2 miles away and its check cleared 8 March 2013.

I called back with this information and spoke to a manager at Lakeview Light and Power and questioned the late arrival of my check at Lakeview when compared to other local and even distant recipients. I expressed my concern that Lakeview was sitting on its mail and not crediting payment on the day received. The manager strongly objected, stating that Lakeview wasn’t sitting on checks. Then she related Lakeview’s mail handling procedures. She stated that Lakeview receives its mail in the afternoon which is not opened and recorded until the next business day! Incredibly she had just shot herself in the foot with this admission. I can only wonder what happens to mail that arrives Thursday afternoon? Does it not get opened and recorded until Monday?” That’s holding mail for at least 4 days! 

Yes, Lakeview Light and Power sits on its mail for at least a day or more and does not credit payment on the day received but rather on the day they get around to opening it up and recording it. This causes at least one day’s delay in payment of everyone’s electric bill and potentially adds a $20.00 penalty undeservedly. How many people have been ripped off by Lakeview for late payments that are unjustified without contesting it? Many, I suspect. In the end the manager cancelled the late fees warning me  ”….but just for this one time only!” This as though ultimately the late payment was my fault and that Lakeview was doing me a favor.

Lakeview had better do a thorough review of its billing and mail handling procedures if it expects to be viewed as a professional business and avoid the prospect of returning a significant amount of money to clients they may have ripped off in the past. If the mail is indeed being delayed by the post office, I’d suggest Lakeview contact the postmaster.  I would strongly suggest that anyone who feels they have been victimized by Lakeview do their research and confront the Lakeview for removal or reimbursement of unwarranted late payment penalties. I’d also suggest that customers pay careful attention to the due dates which now seem to dance around month to month. In the last 3 months my due date has changed for the 7^th to the 6^th to now the 3^rd of the month. If you wanted to set up a system to generate late payments, Lakeview has certainly got all the pieces in place. When you design a system to fail, it invariably does so.