Dear Cleco Power Customer:

On Aug. 14, Cleco Power experienced a timing issue during our automated billing process. When our billing system began its normal billing process for one of our bill cycles, the actual meter readings were not available due to a quarterly meter maintenance update, causing some customers’ electricity usage to be estimated.

Customers impacted have a meter reading date of Aug. 14, a billing date of Aug. 15 and a read code of 1 which means the electricity usage was estimated.

The August bill you received was in this cycle. To provide customers with bills based on actual usage, you have been rebilled. Please disregard the bill you received with an Aug. 15 billing date.  The billing date on your new bill is Aug. 19 which is the bill you should use to make your payment. The read code also should be blank which means a meter reading was successfully obtained. 

The technology Cleco Power uses to read meters remotely is called Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), and it has been in place since 2013. Cleco Power receives meter readings from nearly 100 percent of its AMI meters daily, and the meter accuracy rate is very high at 99.95 percent based on annual periodic testing.

However, in the event the actual meter reading is not available at the time of billing, the system estimates usage by reviewing historical usage trends for the customer, including electricity used during the same time last year, the previous month or another similar period.

Additionally, any difference between estimated usage and actual usage is automatically corrected the next time the meter is read, and the customer is billed unless the company makes the decision to manually correct estimated bills, as we are doing in this instance.

Sincerely,

Andre Guillory
Cleco Power LLC
Vice President & Chief Customer Officer