Latest news with #LibertyUtilities
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'We all deserve some money back': Liberty Utilities hears from upset customers at Town Hall meeting
AURORA, Mo. – On June 5, starting at 6 p.m., the Missouri Public Service Commission held a town hall to investigate the customer service and billing practices of Liberty Utilities. According to Forrest Gosset, Communications Director at Missouri PSC, the investigation was launched due to a significant number of Liberty customers expressing frustration over increased billing prices and a lack of communication from them. 'What the commission told our staff to do is go out, invest and report back to us what's going on, what you find. So, there's no preconceived notions about what we're going to find,' says Gosset, 'We just want to hear people talking tonight. It's really about the consumers being able to ask questions. The (Liberty) Utilities are going to be at the table.' Customers were able to stand at the podium for 2 minutes each, asking questions and speaking directly to Liberty representatives. 'We all deserve some money back, a lot of money!' one woman stated before leaving the podium, which was met with applause from other customers. City council approves funding for rental inspection pilot program 'I'm going to be honest here; you're billing process sucks,' said another man, which caused the room to erupt in laughter. Heather Nickum said she and her family's bills had inaccurate amounts due to their billing, which has made them skyrocket in cost. 'There's been bills that have been tripled, quadrupled, and I call them to get help on that,' said Nickum. 'I get passed along. I get told, 'Oh, check your appliances, check this, check that.' No, it's not from our appliances.' Charity Tweed is the City Manager for the City of Miller, who states that she and others are being taxed, even though the city is tax-exempt. When she tried to get answers about it, she claims there was little to no communication from Liberty. 'The problem was all the customer service representatives I talked to, including management, said they had no direct line to billing, no emails, no phone numbers,' said Tweed, 'They didn't even know who worked in those departments. Every single one of them I talked to.' FEMA teams in the Ozarks survey Memorial Day storm damage Kelli Price, the Communications Director for Liberty Utilities, says that they have been listening to their customers' concerns. 'We did implement some new systems and that did include a new billing system. And for some of our customers, it has been less than an ideal billing experience for that,' says Kelli, 'We do want to start first by just apologizing. Our customers do expect and quite frankly, deserve to have timely and accurate billing.' Kelli states that 'all customers deserve a good billing experience,' and they are currently addressing the problems and are working to fix them for most people. 'We have been making steady progress. About 99% of our customers are being billed as they should, but we still do have some areas where we are still continuing to work, particularly for our customers who maybe have more complex billing,' Kelli says. 'But we are seeing improvements. So fewer calls to our call center, for example.' According to Gosset, there are more town halls scheduled in the next few days, with one happening at Branson City Hall on June 11 starting at 12 p.m., as well as one in Ozark that same day and then in Joplin on June 12. Missouri PSC also is holding Liberty's currently pending electric rate case during the week of July 21-25. If you would like to make a comment regarding Liberty's customer service or billing issues, please visit the Missouri Public Service Commission Press Release and click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Public hearings set in Southwest Missouri over Liberty Utilities rate hike
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Beginning in July, the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) will host in-person and virtual public hearings for Liberty Utilities customers in Southwest Missouri regarding Liberty's request for an electric rate increase. Liberty is looking for an increase of $152.8 million per year from rate revenues and to raise the monthly fixed residential customer charge from $13 to $16, PSC says. The hearings will consist of a public information and Q&A session, followed by the Commission taking public comments. Those interested in attending are encouraged to go to the meeting location closest to their service area. Missouri Public Service Commission investigating Liberty Utilities billing The in-person public hearing schedule is as follows: July 21 at 6 p.m.: Joplin, Missouri Southern State University, Corley Hall, 3950 Newman Road July 22 at noon: Nixa, City Council Chambers, 715 West Mount Vernon Street July 22 at 6 p.m.: Bolivar, Southwest Baptist University, McClelland Joe Roberts Room, 1600 University Avenue July 23 at noon: Branson, City Council Chambers, 110 West Maddux Street July 24 at noon: Aurora, Recreation Center, 126 West Hadley Street There will also be two virtual local public hearings on July 23 at 6 p.m. and July 25 at noon. To attend the hearing by telephone, you can call toll-free at 1-855-718-6621 and enter the access code 2861 936 9973 when prompted for the July 23 meeting and access code 2866 586 9948 when prompted for the July 25 hearing, then press #. If prompted for a password, enter 0261. To attend a virtual hearing online, visit or download the Cisco WebEx application on your mobile device, computer or tablet and join the meeting by the hearing time and entering the access code and password above. Individuals who cannot make the hearings can also submit a written comment through the methods on the PSC website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Missouri PSC to hold town hall to hear from Liberty customers
The Missouri Public Service Commission has scheduled hearings next month in Southwest Missouri to hear from Liberty customers who have experienced or are still experiencing problems with service and/or billing practices. The commission on Feb. 27 ordered its staff to open an investigation after hearing from a number of customers commenting during a pending rate case by Liberty about faulty billing and poor service. The staff of the PSC will host a series of town hall meetings on the topic June 10-12. A town hall in Joplin is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, June 12, at Missouri Southern State University's Criminal Justice Center Auditorium, 3950 Newman Road. Three other town hall meetings are scheduled in the area: • 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, at the Aurora Recreation Center, 126 W. Hadley St., in Aurora • Noon Wednesday, June 11, at the Branson Chamber of Commerce Council Room in Branson City Hall, 110 W. Maddux St. • 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 11, at the Ozark Community Center in Ozark, 1530 W. Jackson St. PSC staff is currently in the process of gathering information and will file a report when completed. 'The purpose of these meetings is to hear directly from you, the customer, about your experiences with Liberty Utilities,' the staff said in a written release. '... Collecting information directly from customers will assist Staff in its investigation and provide a forum for customers to interact with Liberty, OPC and Staff.' The OPC is the Office of Public Counsel, a separate agency that represents ratepayers in hearings and rate cases before the PSC. In a separate filing, the staff said it it had issued 74 data requests to Liberty and had received responses to 41 of those requests. It said responses to the remaining data requests were expected as they came due in the coming weeks and the staff anticipated it would need to issue new data requests as it learns more about issues related to recent complaints with customer service and billing. Missouri Sen. Jill Carter, from Granby, held a town hall with Public Service Commission staff and Liberty officials, including Tim Wilson, president of Liberty Central Region Electric, and others on March 9 in Joplin. At that meeting, customers spoke about receiving inaccurate bills and about not receiving bills for months at a time and getting no help over the phone or in person from Liberty's customer service representatives. Wilson acknowledge problems with billing since April 2024, when the utility launched a change in its computer operating system of all the different utilities at Liberty to a common system used nationwide. 'I stand here before you tonight to own those,' Wilson said in March. 'And that's not been good for our customers. We implemented companywide, not just Empire, but companywide. We operate multiple utilities and in multiple states across the United States and all of them were on different operating systems. And so you can imagine the inefficiencies that come about whenever you have multiple operating systems over multiple companies.'
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Yahoo
Liberty Utilities ‘reckless' in Missouri blast that killed boy, attorney general says
The Missouri Attorney General on Monday filed suit against Liberty Utilities for last month's natural gas explosion in Lexington, Missouri, that killed a 5-year-old boy, sent his sister and father to the hospital with serious burns, destroyed three homes and damaged multiple others. Attorney General Andrew Bailey claims Liberty Utilities (Midstates Natural Gas) Corp was 'reckless' and violated the Missouri Underground Facility Safety and Damages Prevention Act after failing to properly mark a gas line in early April. That, Bailey said, ultimately caused the explosion. 'Defendant falsely reported to an excavator that it had marked all of its underground gas pipelines,' Bailey wrote in the suit. 'Relying on Defendant's assurance that it did not have a pipe in the area, the excavator drilled into the ground and punctured Defendant's pipe, allowing natural gas to leak into the community. 'Defendant's actions put a residential community at risk, caused an explosion that shook the community of Lexington, Missouri, and grievously harmed an innocent family.' Bailey wrote that his office was bringing the action to penalize the company for 'its reckless actions' and to insure that it 'takes every reasonable precaution to prevent such horrendous tragedies in the future.' The lawsuit, filed in Lafayette County Circuit Court, is the third filed in the tragedy, which occurred on April 9. 'This was a preventable tragedy,' Bailey said in a release Monday afternoon. 'These companies must take their responsibilities seriously. The law is clear, the process is simple, and the consequences of failure are catastrophic. We're holding Liberty Utilities accountable to ensure that every utility in Missouri does its due diligence to prevent future disasters.' The family of Alistair Lamb, who was killed in the explosion, and his father, Jacob Cunningham, and sister, Camillia 'Cami' Lamb, filed a wrongful death suit on April 21. That suit names Liberty Utilities Corp. as a defendant, along with United Fiber LLC, Alfra Communications LLC, and Sellenriek Construction, whose workers were involved in digging to lay fiber optic cable in the hours prior to the explosion. Earlier this month, a second family, Shayne and Alicia Billings, filed suit in Lafayette County Circuit Court against The Empire District Gas Company, which does business as Liberty Utilities or Liberty, along with United Fiber, Sellenreik Construction and Alfra Communication. The Billings family claims that the companies were negligent in contributing to the gas leak that destroyed their family home near the point of the explosion, at 17th Street and Franklin Avenue. Bailey's suit comes a week after the National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report showing that days before the digging began, Liberty Utilities sent a locator to mark all buried utilities in that area. But the section of the line involved in the explosion 'was not identified or marked during this process,' according to the preliminary report released May 5. Just after 4 p.m. on April 9, the subcontractor who was among the crew helping install fiber optic cable in the area of Franklin Avenue and 17th Street began drilling into the 'unmarked section of a capped underground gas distribution main,' the report said. More than three hours later, after neighbors had repeatedly reported smelling gas, the explosion occurred inside Cunningham's rented home along Franklin Avenue near 17th Street. In a press statement, the Missouri Attorney General noted that the Missouri Underground Facility Safety and Damage Prevention Act requires utility companies to respond to 'locate' requests and mark the location of underground facilities within two working days. 'Liberty Utilities not only failed to do so, but also falsely reported that the site was marked,' the Attorney General's Office said. Since the day of the explosion, neighbors surrounding the area, which is part of the town's antebellum historic district, have been angry. The odor of natural gas had been wafting through the neighborhood for hours on April 9. Neighbors have repeatedly complained that no authorities — either police, fire department or utilities — warned them of possible dangers or suggested they evacuate. Yet the NTSB's preliminary report said Liberty Utilities directed that a business about 15 feet from the leak be evacuated before the explosion. Cunningham's family has said that he and his children returned to their home adjacent to the gas leak in the early evening. The explosion reportedly occurred when Cunningham turned on a light switch to his home. The explosion could be heard for miles, and shattered windows in more than a dozen surrounding homes. Flames and black smoke shot into the air. 'Tragedies like this are exactly why this law exists,' Bailey said in the statement. 'It's imperative that companies follow the law — not just to avoid penalties, but to protect lives. When they fail to do so, my office will hold them accountable.'
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Yahoo
Missouri attorney general files lawsuit against Liberty Utilities after deadly gas explosion
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Monday, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a lawsuit against Liberty Utilities after the company's failure to properly mark a gas line caused a deadly explosion in Lexington, Missouri. The April 9 explosion killed a 5-year-old boy and severely injured the boy's father and sister. His father filed a lawsuit against Liberty Utilities and three other companies in April, and the couple who lived next door also filed a lawsuit against the same companies last week. 'ChiefsAholic' sentenced for 2022 Oklahoma bank robbery Now, Bailey is following suit, accusing Liberty Utilities of violating the Missouri Underground Facility Safety and Damage Prevention Act. 'This was a preventable tragedy,' Bailey said. 'These companies must take their responsibilities seriously. The law is clear, the process is simple, and the consequences of failure are catastrophic. We're holding Liberty Utilities accountable to ensure that every utility in Missouri does its due diligence to prevent future disasters.' Missouri's Underground Facility Safety and Damage Prevention Act requires utility companies to respond to 'locate' requests and mark the location of underground facilities within two working days. Attorney General Bailey said Liberty Utilities not only failed to do so but also falsely reported that the site was marked. Section 319.045 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri authorizes the attorney general to seek injunctive relief and civil penalties against any person who violates this Act. Under Missouri law, Bailey said 'he is duty-bound to enforce compliance with public safety statutes and take legal action against entities that endanger Missourians through negligence or misconduct.' Second lawsuit filed by neighbors of 5-year-old boy killed in Lexington gas explosion 'Tragedies like this are exactly why this law exists,' he said. 'It's imperative that companies follow the law—not just to avoid penalties, but to protect lives.' Bailey is seeking the maximum penalty allowed by law, as well as mandatory safety training, the appointment of a compliance monitor and a permanent injunction barring further violations. . Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
