How to dispute a LUMA bill that does not add up

A bill inquiry is what LUMA offers when you disagree with what you were charged. It is one of several tasks the company groups under account services and maintenance, alongside new service, transfers, disconnection, meter readings and damage claims. It is worth distinguishing it from that last one: a damage claim is for when a voltage fluctuation or a service failure damaged your equipment or property, and it is filed in person; a bill inquiry is about the amount charged, and it has more routes.

It applies to any residential customer who disagrees with their bill. To manage the account it helps for the service to be in your name: if it is still in a previous owner’s or someone else’s name, the first step is the transfer, because otherwise you are not the person who can dispute that account. The credit for medical equipment consumption under Act 152 has its own requirements: LUMA asks for the credit application, a medical certification and an economic eligibility certification, and publishes the forms within the application itself.

• Disagreeing with your bill: LUMA frames the bill inquiry in exactly those terms.Verified against the official source
• Using one of the three routes LUMA publishes for the inquiry: Mi LUMA Web, calling 1-844-888-5862, or visiting a Customer Service Center in person.Verified against the official source
• If you are going to submit your own meter reading, including a photo of the meter showing the reading: LUMA asks for this expressly.Verified against the official source
• For the Act 152 medical equipment credit, the credit application, the medical certification and the economic eligibility certification — forms LUMA includes within the application itself.Verified against the official source

• The bill you are questioning, and previous ones if you want to compare the consumption pattern.
• A photo of the meter showing the reading, if you are going to submit your own reading.
• For the Act 152 credit: the Credit Application, the Medical Certification and the Economic Eligibility Certification.

1. 1

   Step 1: Check whether the bill says estimated

   Before disputing the amount, check where it came from. An estimated bill is not calculated from what you consumed but from a projection, and it is the cause behind a good share of charges that do not add up. LUMA acknowledges the problem and offers the way out in the same service list: submitting a meter reading.

2. 2

   Step 2: Submit your own reading with a photo of the meter

   LUMA puts it this way: if you prefer to avoid estimated bills, you can submit a meter reading through Mi LUMA Web or in person at a Customer Service Center, and include a photo of the meter showing the reading. This attacks the cause rather than the symptom: instead of disputing bill after bill, you correct the figure they bill you from.

3. 3

   Step 3: Request the bill inquiry

   If the amount still does not add up, LUMA gives three routes: Mi LUMA Web, calling 1-844-888-5862, or visiting a Customer Service Center in person. Unlike a damage claim, here you do not have to go in person if you would rather not.

4. 4

   Step 4: If the high consumption comes from medical equipment, request the Act 152 credit

   This is a different and specific remedy: LUMA has a credit application for the energy consumption of medical equipment necessary to preserve life, under Act 152. It asks for three pieces — the credit application, a medical certification and an economic eligibility certification — and the forms for both certifications come included within the application itself. LUMA states you can download the application and send it through Mi LUMA Web, in the Help menu under Requests, using the “¿Dudas? Pregúntanos” form.

5. 5

   Step 5: Make sure the account is in your name

   If the service is still in a previous owner’s or someone else’s name, pursuing a dispute gets complicated, because you are not the account holder. Putting the service in your name is a transfer, a separate process that asks, among other things, for the meter number.

Through Mi LUMA Web, by calling 1-844-888-5862 (LUMA), or in person at any LUMA Customer Service Center, which run on an appointment system. The meter reading is submitted through Mi LUMA Web or in person. The medical equipment credit application can be sent through Mi LUMA Web, in the Help menu under Requests.

• Disputing the amount bill after bill without submitting a meter reading, when the underlying problem is being billed on estimates.
• Submitting the reading without the photo of the meter showing it, which LUMA expressly asks for.
• Confusing a bill inquiry with a damage claim: one is about the amount, the other about damaged equipment, and they are filed differently.
• Not knowing about the Act 152 credit when the high consumption comes from life-preserving medical equipment.
• Trying to dispute an account still in someone else’s name, instead of doing the transfer first.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• LUMA Energy

  LUMA

  lumapr.com

• Mi LUMA Web and Mi LUMA app

  LUMA

  lumapr.com