ZERO stars. Horrible company! My daughter used autopay and did not notice her bill had jumped from $30 to $400 in one month for a 720 sq ft apartment, before it was already paid. As soon as we figured this out we called to get the meter checked, the Empire person, said it was obviously wrong. The meter was supposedly checked, but we were never informed of the results. I called again, the following week, and was told the $400 would be held in the account, the correction would be reflected on the next bill, and future bills credited. Then the next bill arrives, $299! WE went in person to the Branson office to check it, we were told the meter reader would go out again and check it. Again we were not informed of the result. We went to the Branson office AGAIN, 2 days later to check it and were told it was correct and we should talk to maintenance at the apartment complex, because they could tell by the meter reading that it was probably the furnace. The apartment maintenance man immediately found there was a problem, and called a heating company who arrived the next day and found a short in a furnace wire, so the heat strips were running in overload, and they fixed it. So one has to wonder why Empire couldn't alert the customer or the complex back in December when the meter was going crazy or anytime there after, it took my constant badgering to get an answer out of them. Empire so graciously offered to set up a payment plan for us to cover the bills which are now well over $700 we still haven't received the latest bill that will reflect 3 weeks of overuse. No thank you, we will cover the bills ourselves with no "help" from this nasty company. They have no explanation as to why they can't get back to a customer asking for assistance. I even looked at the meters myself and noticed that hers was well above ALL of the other meters for her building, which also has 2 and 3 bedroom units.They purposely let the bill keep running up. Common courtesy would have had them inform the customer or the complex, something was wrong. But, they do not care about their customers. We cancelled autopay and will not use their other service of averaging your bills over the year. I do not trust the business practices of this company at all. We will analyze EVERY bill and KW usage from now on. I am so glad that we have White River at our home. Unfortunately, our daughter is stuck with this company. Everyone beware of this company. read more
