Days after NBC10 reported a Delaware Little League’s pricey utility bill, the sports league’s electric bill was cut by thousands of dollars.
The New Castle Municipal Services Commission admits its billing error led to the New Castle Little League being under billed more than $17,000 over 12 years.
But, since the league used the energy, MSC couldn't immediately let the big league bill slide.
"Electric was still used, it just was not billed," MSC general manager Pamela Patone said last week. "(The electric) still needs to be paid for."
The $17,000-plus bill amounted to about one-third of the league’s annual operating budget, league president Joe DiStefano told NBC10's Tim Furlong Friday.
Furlong and the league asked MSC if they could let the nonprofit league slide but at first the MSC didn't budge. That was until the MSC held an special meeting Monday night where they voted on a change to the limit that corrections to over- or under-billing can be claimed. Under the new rules, the commission can only collect on changes dating back three years.
Thanks to the new policy, the New Castle Little League's bill to light its field dipped to a far more manageable $4,469 payable over the next three years, DiStefano said.
Sports
In partnership with NBC Sports Philadelphia
A GoFundMe account set up for the 51-year-old league already collected more than $1,000 as of midday Tuesday. That money will go toward helping to help pay for the bill.
The league is also investing in LED lighting to save money moving forward.
MSC claims that errors like the one experienced by the Little League are rare (about 3 in every 2,500 electric meters) and are often caught by annual billing audits and periodic meter inspections. They urged anyone with questions about billing errors to call Patone at 302-323-2330. [[247269581, C]]
