CL&P to reimburse woman $10k for screw up

CHESHIRE, Conn. (WTNH) -- CL&P is reimbursing a Cheshire woman more than $10,000 after billing her for more than two decades for electricity used to power street lights near her home.

When Grace Edwards put her house on the market she never expected to find out she had been overcharged by CL&P for 25 years. She was paying for two streetlights on Sir Walter Drive.

The mistake was discovered when a potential buyer asked for past electric bills. Edwards realized she was paying for more than she was using, approximately $20 a month.

"That's an incredible amount of money that she has overpaid," said Krista Bergin, neighbor, "but I"m really glad to hear that they did reimburse her."

At first CL&P refused to reimburse Edwards, but later apologized for the error and inconvenience. Edwards said CL&P even paid her interest, bringing the total amount of the reimbursement to approximately $10,000.

News 8 did speak to Edwards right after she just walked in the door. She says she's just glad this whole entire thing is finally all over with. She says the developer she bought the house from had an agreement with CL&P to pay for those two street lights for a certain amount of time. However, she says when that time was up and she took over the house CL&P never took it off the bill.

"I would have to probably kind of look at my bill and to kind of figure out what to look for, ya know," said Bergin, "because I wouldn't know what to look for at all. But I'll definitely take a look for sure. A closer look. Definitely."

Other folks tell News 8 they'll be doing the same.