Duquesne Light Company: billing error
Call Duquesne Light before the due date, then write, then file an informal complaint with the PA PUC.
What does this mean?
Grade C (use with care: check the source of each value before relying on it). 100% of 24 sources are the organization's own pages or government sites; 4 value(s) were read from a search snippet or an archive copy.
Collect
- the disputed bill
- earlier bills
- meter readings (the bill marks each reading Act or Est)
- call notes with reference numbers
Steps
Call before the due date. Check whether the reading on page 2 of the bill is marked "Act" (actual) or "Est" (estimated) and ask for a correction.
If the call does not fix it, write to Duquesne Light with the account number, the charge and the correction you want.
MailWritten correspondence (from the bill's "Contact us ... in writing" line) Duquesne Light Company, 411 7th Ave., Ste 3, Pittsburgh, PA 15219If it is still not fixed, file an informal complaint with the PA PUC.
Facts you can cite
- Process
Duquesne Light's bill says to contact it with billing questions before the due date, and that its website has rate schedules and how to verify bill accuracy.
Source: duquesnelight.com, verified 2026-10-13
- Process
The PA PUC says that for most concerns you must contact the utility before you file a complaint through the PUC, and recommends the informal complaint process first.
Source: puc.pa.gov, verified 2026-10-13
Rules in force
- Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA) negative option requirements15 U.S.C. 8401-8405
A seller that charges consumers online through a negative option feature (for example an automatic renewal or a free trial that converts to paid) must clearly disclose all material terms before taking billing information, get the consumer's express informed consent before charging, and provide simple mechanisms to stop recurring charges. The FTC enforces ROSCA.
Source: law.cornell.edu, verified 2026-10-12
1 citable point
- Policy
The seller must obtain "a consumer's express informed consent before charging the consumer's credit card, debit card, bank account, or other financial account".
Source: law.cornell.edu, verified 2026-10-12
- Policy
If that fails, escalate
Go up one step at a time. Keep the reference numbers and dates from each contact.
Customer service
Supervisor
Duquesne Light does not publish a separate escalation line. Ask for a supervisor and a reference number.
Written complaint
MailWritten correspondence (from the bill's "Contact us ... in writing" line) Duquesne Light Company, 411 7th Ave., Ste 3, Pittsburgh, PA 15219State agency
Your state’s utility commission. Find it in the list of state agencies (also as JSON:
states/<code>.json, for example states/ny.json).Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), 1-800-692-7380. The PUC says you must contact the utility before you file a complaint; use the informal complaint process first.
State agency
Your state’s attorney general. Find it in the list of state agencies (also as JSON:
states/<code>.json, for example states/ny.json).Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, Bureau of Consumer Protection (1-800-441-2555, per a 2019 Duquesne Light release).
Watch out
- duquesnelight.com HTML pages return no text to automated fetches; PDFs under duquesnelight.com/docs and newsroom.duquesnelight.com are readable.
- The damage-claim channel (a phone number and an online claim) appeared only in a search-result summary without a clear source page, so it is not listed. Ask customer service for the claim process.
Let your AI agent handle this
Escalate Anything is a free, open-source MCP server for Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI, Codex and other AI apps. Your agent gets this playbook, keeps a case log with reference numbers and follow-up dates, and drafts each message for you to approve.
1. Set it up (needs uv):
uvx escalate-anything setup2. Ask your agent:
Duquesne Light Company charged me [amount] on [date] for something I did not order. Use Escalate Anything to get it corrected.Source code, other install options and the Claude Code plugin