After eight days, two million Peco customers have access to their accounts again
Online services had been inaccessible since 7 p.m. last Wednesday.
Peco customers could once again access their online accounts and digitally pay their bills Friday morning after being unable to log in for more than a week.
The inaccessibility was the result of Peco’s prescheduled conversion to a new billing system, a process that some customers said they weren’t directly notified about and that ended up taking three days longer than the utility company had anticipated.
Peco, which provides electric and gas service to about 2.2 million residential and business customers across the Philadelphia region, announced the restoration on its website.
“Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to fully transition to an upgraded billing system,” read an alert at the top of Peco.com. “Customers can report power outages and make payments via their MyAccount. Please know these functions may become temporarily unavailable at any time as this transition continues.” MyAccount is customers’ online account portal.
The nonemergency customer service phone line had already been restored. Since midday Wednesday, Peco representatives had fielded more than 14,000 calls, including from customers looking to pay their bill or stop, start, or move service, spokesperson Greg Smore said Friday. Phone wait times have varied.
Employees continue to work on this conversion around the clock, Smore said, with a focus on minimizing customer impact. Peco will not assess late fees or shut off service to any customer who is unable to pay during this process.
“It’s a transition of a significant magnitude,” Smore said, involving the migration of tons of data and the integration and testing of sophisticated systems. Peco has said this update will lead to improved customer experience in the future.
As a result of the conversion, online, app, and phone services — aside from reporting of emergencies such as gas leaks and downed power lines — had been inaccessible since 7 p.m. Feb. 14.
Still, some customers told The Inquirer earlier this week that the lapse in online service made them anxious about unpaid bills and cash-flow issues. One couple said they had to delay a move by a week because they couldn’t transfer their electric service to their new home.
In Exton, Jack Bosley, 63, said he was almost victimized by a scammer who may have been trying to take advantage of Peco customers’ inability to log into their accounts. Neighbors told Bosley they had received similar calls.
Last Saturday afternoon, Bosley received a call from someone who said he worked for Peco and indicated his service would be shut off in an hour due to a billing system issue. When Bosley questioned whether the call was a scam, he was transferred to a second person, a “customer service representative,” whom Bosley said knew his Peco account number and address. The so-called rep asked Bosley to make a payment or risk losing service by Monday.
Bosley was unable to confirm the legitimacy of the call via Peco’s customer service line or his online account amid the ongoing system conversion. He was prepared to read this person his credit card information instead of risking a shutoff. Worst-case scenario, Bosley said he thought at the time, he’ll contest it with his credit card and get the charge reversed.
When the caller said he would only accept payments made directly from a bank account, Bosley paused.
“I pulled up my account and I said, ‘This doesn’t sound right,’ ” he said. “I was like, ‘I’m not going to do this. I’m not going to transfer money out of my bank account.’ ”
Peco will never ask customers for payment over the phone, Smore said, and the company follows regulated disconnection procedures that involve advance notice. Customer information has not been compromised prior to or during the conversion, he added.
How Peco customers will be impacted by the new system
When users log back in, they will have a new 10-digit account number, though old numbers will also continue to be associated with accounts through March, according to the company.
“Peco recommends you start using your new account number — especially for payments — as soon as possible,” the company says on an FAQ page about the conversion. “For a few months after the introduction of new account numbers, customers attempting to apply payments on PECO.com (e.g., Peco AutoPay) using their old account number will be successful in posting the payment to their new account number. The system will look up the new account number and apply the payment.”
The 415,000 customers who use auto-pay directly through Peco don’t need to do anything.
People who pay their Peco bill via a third-party service, such as a credit card or a money-management software like Quicken, must alert their provider or update their profile on the third-party platform.
If you are one of about 500,000 Peco residential customers who opt for a competitive energy supplier through the PAPowerSwitch.com marketplace, you won’t need to tell them the new account number. Instead, share with them your new Energy Choice ID, which will appear in the top-right corner of bills.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story inaccurately stated the total number of Peco customers.