TERREBONNE PARISH, La. — Some residents in Terrebonne Parish say they were shocked to receive their latest power bill.
"I've lived here over five years and I've never paid, I don't believe, over $130 a month," Jami Tifrea of Houma said.
Tifrea is one of several Houma residents who say since Hurricane Ida, her bill has doubled since her last payment. She says some of her neighbors received bills that tripled or quadrupled.
Unlike the normal 28 or 30-day billing cycle, parish President Gordon Dove says resident's bills account for two months.
"We will try to work anything out that we can. We don't want anyone to have any hardships over utility bills," Gordon said.
Terrebonne Parish was a hard-hit area, devastated by Ida. Nearly two months later and families are still in the process of rebuilding, and in some cases still trying to find a way to move back to their home. Tifrea says she and her fiance were lucky to not have gotten a lot of damage from the storm, but they were still blown away when they saw their power bill was over $200.
"I started looking into the bill a little bit because it was piquing my curiosity and was like, 'ok why is this so large and we didn't get power restored until the 15th of September?' That's half a month that we've only used so my bill is double what it normally is. How is that possible and I didn't get power until the 15th of September?" Tifrea asked.
Dove says his office understands the hardships families are facing right now and says the bills reflect two months' worth of service because bills weren't sent out in September when service was down.
"Our people have already been given orders by me to workout whatever we can within our office which is Terrebonne Parish law,' Dove said.
For Tifrea and her neighbors, the numbers still don't add up and she says Dove's explanation isn't enough. She says she feels taken advantage of while so many in her community are at a low.
"Why didn't they come out and read the meters as soon as the power was restored? You know, that way we have a before the storm reading and an after the storm reading and they could make the adjustments," Tifrea said. "Numbers are not adding up. I normally go through 800 to 900 kilowatts a month and it's like they took that 800 or 900 kilowatts and added it on to this month and called it a day and that's what we're being charged for. I don't think that's fair considering half the month, last month, we didn't have power."
Dove says no one is going to be penalized for any late payments and there won't be any late fees or other surcharges if families can't pay their bills right now. He's also encouraging residents to apply for FEMA assistance if they need it.
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