A few weeks ago I wrote a letter to this newspaper about the antics of Blue Ridge Electric and it was not printed the way I worded it. I wrote in my letter that I was being charged three times the amount of electric I used. In other words I use 50 cents worth of electric and I get charged $1.50. This is no lie. I am on their flex pay system and it is printed out every day for me. It is no lie they charged me $300 just to turn the power on. Now in today’s newspaper I see they are admitting this. We try to economize when we are on a fixed income and are demonized by this company. I know when they changed the meters I was using 9 KWH the new meters said I was using 19 KWH their excuse was the old meters were running slow.
How many times can this company lie to its members and get away with it? If we are members we should be included in all decisions and we should not have to pay a customer service fee if we are indeed members. I called Blue Ridge and was told the monthly customer service charge was $27, add another $1.54 and that is close to $30 a month which is more than I pay in Florida for my full monthly bill and I have more appliances than I do here. Have you ever driven by their new building during nighttime hours? It is lit up like a Christmas tree — all 102 acres of the sprawling complex along with decorative lights along the highway. This must cost a thousand in a single night. Who is paying for this? Their dumb members of course. That building and land cost a total of $33 million. Where did that money come from? It was unnecessary. One excuse was they had to keep up appearances with Brasstown. The other was the trucks pulling out of the old place were a danger to the public. Well, they are still pulling out on the opposite side of the road. It is all lies folks. They are scamming us.
This is a breakdown: BRMEMC New HQ Project Summary
• Property Purchase = $3,966,876.79 for 102 acres.
• Purchased Jan. 29, 2008 for $3,850,000.
Initial estimates and contracts:
• Phase 1 - Georgia DOT improvements, Panattoni Construction = $1,076,690.00.
• Phase 1 - sitework, Panattoni Construction = $4,126,936.32.
• Phase 2 - Building construction, Evergreen Construction = $18,327,868.
• Total Initial Contracts Awarded = $23,531,494.32.
• Total paid for HQ Project = $27,283,684.80 (total includes all costs plus contracts).
• Total other itemized costs = $1,857,268.29 (Total includes technology, dispatch and furnishings costs. Some expenses would have been incurred regardless of building project.
• No unpaid balances remain except retainage currently held in the amount of $77,500.