(WJAR) –
PAWTUCKET, R.I.โ – A Pawtucket man who received an unexpectedly high electricity bill exceeding $26,000 โคis seeing his accountโ adjusted after contacting NBC โ10 News.
Jeffrey Gomes first reached out to NBC โข10 earlier โขthis week after hisโ bill, for his solar panel-powered home, initially totaled over โ$20,000 and then โincreased โขto more then $26,000. He describedโ feeling overwhelmed, stating,โ “My chest got tight. It feltโข like an elephant was sitting on my chestโฆI literally called out ofโค work, took a cold shower, tremored a little bit and was โlike, ‘No, this is absolutely wrong.'”
After NBC 10 reportedโค on Gomes’ situation Thursday, the balance on his account dropped to $6,000, according to Gomes, who took a screenshot of the updated amount.
Rhode Island Energyโ confirmed Friday that the โฃinflated โคbill โstemmed from a meterโ malfunction and is working to rebill Gomes for the correct usage.โ
“I’m โคdefinitely going to be more apprehensive moving forward. I’mโ never again using auto pay, absolutely not,” Gomes said.”But, I โmean my home has โenergyโค so I can’t talk too much rubbish in the sense that Iโ have running electricity.”
As of Friday, Gomes’ account showed no past charges.He is awaiting final confirmation of the corrected bill but expressed gratitude for NBC โ10’s intervention. “If it wasn’t for you โguys, I’d probably be homeless as when I made calls, they really didn’t seem to care,” Gomesโ said. “It was only upโฃ until you guys were notified that things started โขspeeding โคup along.I’m very gratefulโ for this โขnews station. Thank you!”
A Rhode Island Energy โคspokesperson stated theโ correction process should be completed byโค early next week.