undefined
Posts
undefined
Followers
Woman ‘Outraged’ After Learning She Paid Neighbor’s Electric Bill for a Decade, Given Partial Refund
By Jason Hughes,
2 days ago
A woman in New York City couldn’t figure out why none of her cost-saving measures were working until she discovered she’d been paying her neighbor’s electricity bill for the past decade.
“For 10 years, I was afraid to use my air conditioning,” Nicole Niceforo told Fox affiliate WNYW in an interview published Thursday, October 29.
The Queens resident said she was “outraged, but also relieved” to finally discover the truth after fruitless efforts to keep her energy costs down failed. She even washed dishes by hand for years, she said, only to watch her electric bill continue to rise.
According to Niceforo, she first reached out to Con Edison in September 2016 and asked them to send a technician to inspect her meter. She said she was directed to building management instead, and it took nine years of pushing before it was discovered that her account had been switched with the apartment one floor up.
“I spent a lot of time and energy repeatedly calling,” Niceforo said. “It’s frustration beyond belief.”
In a letter shared with WNYW, Con Edison admitted the error in January 2026 and has since issued more than $6,000 in refund checks, but Niceforo said that only accounts for the past six years.
“Con Edison values its customers and works with them if they believe their energy use is not correctly reflected on their bill,” the company said in a statement to WNYW. It also confirmed that billing adjustments are limited to six years.
Niceforo said the State Department of Public Services declined to intervene with Con Edison on her behalf. The New York Post reported that the six-year refund period has been accepted by state lawmakers as a long-standing utility norm that the Public Service Commission follows.
The regulator told WNYW it had no record of a formal complaint filed by Niceforo with them in 2016. The station reported it had obtained emails from Niceforo showing she had been questioning her bills that year.
Add to Preferred Sources
