HOUSTON – Just two days after our investigation, CenterPoint Energy sent a notice to all retail electric providers letting them know they'll make the actual location of street lights available by releasing the real addresses and ZIP codes online.
"We all pay enough taxes; and paying ones that truly aren't owed is just not right," said Brad Rendl.
Rendl lives in Cypresswood, 22 miles from downtown Houston. But according to his subdivision's electric bills, all of the street lights in this neighborhood are shining brightly right on Polk Street.
"I don't see any skyscrapers out here even though the ZIP code for those street lights say 77002," joked Rendl.
Local 2 discovered all 395,000 street lights CenterPoint Energy manages carry a 77002 zip code when 39 percent of them are outside the city limits altogether. It meant neighborhoods nowhere the city were paying city taxes since 2002, adding up to thousands of dollars they didn't actually owe.
"That's why I called Amy," said electricity broker Michael Harrington. "How do we stop it? How do you get CenterPoint to classify those street lights with the correct ZIP code of where they're located?"
Before our story aired, a CenterPoint Energy spokesperson told us it wouldn't change the practice or correct the ZIP codes. Two days after the broadcast, the utility company decided to post the actual ZIP codes of where all of the street lights are located on its internal website that is accessible to all retail electric providers.
Homeowners Associations will still need to communicate with their electric companies to get a refund for any taxes that were inaccurately assessed.
We did ask CenterPoint Energy if someone would talk with us about this decision. Again, a company spokesperson declined our request for an on-camera interview. He sent the following statement.
"CenterPoint Energy does not render electric bills. We do not assess or collect gross receipts taxes from end-use customers; the REPs do that. And we do not tell the REPs what taxes to collect from their customers.
"We routinely provide REPs with aggregate billing data for their customers with streetlights, but can and will provide itemized data to any REP who needs that data to prepare correct customer bills."
CenterPoint Energy did not make any money from assigning the incorrect ZIP code to the street lights. The taxes billed all went to the state. That's why HOA's and homeowners who overpaid have to request a refund through their electric provider. The company must get the refund and then forward it to you.