Thousands of Coloradans learned last week that they have no control over the temperature in their own homes when they saw a message from Xcel Energy on their thermostats saying the temperature had been locked at 78 degrees due to an “energy emergency.”
Now, some Coloradans are speaking out and saying that they never even signed up for the program in the first place.
In fact, one Greeley resident who is not part of the Xcel green program spent $99 to have a AC technician come out to her home only to inform her that there was nothing wrong with her system. She later confirmed with Xcel that she is not on the AC Rewards program.
ABC Denver has more on the story:
Shen Lisa Bledsoe’s Greeley home hit 80 degrees last Tuesday afternoon, she thought her air conditioner was broken and shelled out $99 for a service call.
“Then they came out, and the guy just turned it right on. “There’s nothing wrong with this,”” she said. “I felt so stupid until I saw the story you did. I realized maybe that’s what happened.”
Bledsoe said she confirmed with Xcel that she is not on the AC Rewards program. However, a decade ago, she signed up for the Saver Switch Program, which “cycled her air conditioner” for several hours on Saturday with no warning.
Another Coloradan tell ABC Denver he never signed up for the program and Xcel still hasn’t gotten back to him even though it’s been a week since he got in touch with them:
“I’ve never signed up for that program. I’ve never gotten any rewards. And they still took control of my thermostat,” said Thomas Nunley, who saw his thermostat locked last week with no notification. “When I called Xcel, they said they didn’t have any supervisors on hand that could talk to me and that they would get back to me. And that never happened. That’s been over a week.”
What’s the response been from Xcel Energy? They say there’s likely more forced AC lockdowns on the way, so get ready!
“We’ve had a lot of hot summer this summer, and we’re going to see more opportunities for these programs to be used, I think, as heat continues, so I think I think it’s something to keep in mind,” said Emmett Romine, Xcel’s vice president of customer solutions and innovation. “It’s possible we’ll see some additional events if the heat continues to rise.”