Exclusive: NYC tenant spent 10 years unknowingly paying neighbor's electric bill

A Queens woman says she knew there was an issue with her electric bill for a decade, but it took years to prove she'd been paying her neighbor's bill all along. Con Edison has since admitted the mistake, but she has proof that she raised the red flag's years before the problem was even discovered. All right, so what took so long and why does she say the utility still owes her money? Fox 5's Kelly Kennedy has the exclusive investigation. Nicole Nicheparo spent years washing dishes by hand and barely turning on her air conditioner, even on sweltering summer days. But it wasn't because she was especially eco-conscious. She was desperately trying to keep her electric bill down. I really tried. I would unplug things around my house when I would go out. But no matter how much she conserved, she was still unknowingly paying for someone else's electricity. For 10 years, I was afraid to use my air conditioning. Turns out the electric meters for her Long Island City apartment and the one directly above her had been switched. So what was your reaction when you finally realized you had been paying your neighbor's electric bill for a decade? I was outraged. Bottom line, outraged. These emails from September 2016 show she asked Con Ed to send a technician to inspect her meter. Instead, the utility blamed higher summer temperatures and eventually directed her to building management. who decided to do a test in 2016 that they said proved her meter was working. And they said, okay, we're going to do a test with your microwave. Put a glass of water in the microwave for 15 seconds, and then we're going to have one of our staff on the other floor with the meter to see if the needle moves. So I said, really? But every summer, her bills kept climbing, and she kept pushing but says she didn't get anywhere. I just felt like I had no recourse. More than nine years later, Nicheparo pushed for another test, this time shutting off power to her apartment. That's when building management finally discovered the mix-up. A few hours later, I get a phone call. My building manager is all excited because he figured it out, and he took photos showing me that my electrical meter was wired to a different apartment, not to mine. In January of 2026, Con Edison admitted the billing error in writing, and the difference was shocking. In August 2020, she was charged nearly $180. Her corrected bill? Just $41. I spent a lot of time and energy repeatedly calling them. I mean, you know, you call a utility, you don't speak to someone immediately. You go on hold for sometimes 45 minutes. And, you know, I've done this multiple, multiple times. And, again, mostly got the runaround. Now, Con Ed has since paid Nicheparo $6,000 in refund checks, but here's the catch. They will only go back six years, so that leaves potentially four years of overcharges and interest payments that she never received. And she feels like she shouldn't have to pay for someone else's mistake or for electricity that she never even used. And as for exactly how much she's owed, she doesn't know for sure. But after a decade of fighting for answers, the fact that she still hasn't been fully reimbursed has her temperature rising. Nicheparo also turned to the State Department of Public Service, but the agency declined to require additional reimbursement, saying it has no record of her filing a formal complaint with them in 2016. In 2016, I thought the battle was to be fought with Con Ed. I didn't even think to go to their regulator. In a statement to Fox 5, Con Edison says it, quote, values its customers and works with them if they believe their energy use is not correctly reflected on their bill. The utility went on to say it makes billing corrections when a switched meter is discovered. The utility says billing adjustments are limited to six years. But as for what caused the mix-up, that remains unclear. Con Ed says electrical equipment between the meter and an apartment is generally the building owner's responsibility. We also pressed the building's management company for answers on why it took so long to discover the problem. A spokesperson for Hunters Point South said they understand the resident's frustration and are now, quote, investigating it more to ensure there are no ongoing issues. Con Ed has not answered whether it investigated those earlier complaints or if it would consider reimbursing her for the remaining years. Please make me whole. I've been very patient. In Long Island City, Kelly Kennedy, Fox 5 News.