We returned from a few days in Door County this week to a rather disturbing phone call from, of all places, We Energies.
"This is Eric from We Energies, how are you today?" the voice on the line said.
"Fiiiiine," I responded, with suspicion already creeping into my voice because We Energies never calls me.
AT&T, maybe occasionally. Time Warner, once in awhile. We Energies has never called, and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like it.
Eric then proceeded to tell me that We Energies was calling its budget customers (those of us who pay the same amount each month year-round to avoid big bills in the winter) that budget amounts would be adjusted in August, and if I had any questions after I got my new monthly amount, I could call the We Energies 800 number.
I have to admit, this sent up my radar.
"It always adjusts in August and We Energies has never called me," I said to Eric. "Is this a warning because it's going sky high?"
Eric laughed a little in a somewhat awkward way, and said that he had no specific information about my account. It could be going up, it could be going down (yeah, right).
The reason he was calling was just to make sure that we looked closely at our bill in August and didn't just automatically pay the same amount as we had been, he said. To avoid mistakes, he said. It is just something new We Energies is doing, he said, making all these calls. Ha, ha, he chuckled a bit, he's sure it will all be just fine.
Ha, ha.
Ha.
I told him I was pretty sure it wouldn't be "just fine" if We Energies was taking the time to prepare each of its customers personally with a phone call. I'm feeling confident that a personal phone call means you better be ready with a home equity line of credit to pay these new bills.
So if you are on the budget plan and don't, by chance, get one of these phone calls, consider yourself warned.
And try not to worry too much. Eric's sure it's all going to be just fine.
