One group in Memphis thinks Memphis Light, Gas, and Water (MLGW) should honor the zero-balance receipts customers received on Saturday, July 8, during the time of a glitch on some 100 pay kiosks across the city.
In a Facebook post, the Memphis Coalition of Concerned Citizens (C3) explained that customers who were legitimately and sincerely led to believe that their balance was zero based on the official MLGW receipts that the machines produced should not be held accountable.
“Unknowing ratepayers should not have to pay for the errors, negligence, and/or purposeful trickery of Memphis, Light, Gas, and Water,” the group posted on their Facebook page.
Therefore, C3 is “demanding” that the utility forgive current or overdue balances of the customers who were affected by the software glitch.
Acknowledging that that particular action might not be feasible, the group is also proposing that the utility should allow customers to utilize MLGW’s 72-month grace period option, which would allow for the amount owed to be divided by 72 and paid along with customer’s monthly bills over the course of 72 months.
Additionally, despite officials with the utility stating that there was no breech in MLGW’s systems, as well as no customers’ personal information being compromised at the time of the network glitch, C3 members are not convinced, claiming that utility companies are known to have the most vulnerable systems for an unauthorized system breach or hack.
C3, convinced that MLGW officials have not been completely honest with the public, is saying that some customers’ personal information might have been breached and that the utility is responsible for paying any damages resulting from that.
