ORANGE, Texas — A Southeast Texas pastor is finally getting his answer.
Two weeks ago, at Colony Baptist Church in Orange, they were trying to get some answers about why their electricity bill tripled from one month to the next. Now, they had some good news to share.
"They rebated us $1,020,” Pastor Sam Roe said. “That's far as our march payment. It was wiped out. Matter of fact, they left us with a $4 credit on that."
In January, Roe got a surprise when he opened the church's electricity bill of nearly $800, then again in February, and again in March
They paid over $1,600 just to keep their electricity on. Usually, the church's bill is around $200.
Tim McCarver, the church's treasurer, started looking for some answers.
"I spoke with them in January about this first bill of $700 they were like, 'Well, we'll investigate and let you know something.' I never heard back from him at all," McCarver said. "I don't think they had in mind to credit us and refund us anything up until we went to y’all."
That's when Roe reached out to 12News, hoping to put pressure on the company. Since then, they've had several check-ins from Entergy.
"Three times, twice to check the meter,” Roe said. “And then they came out just the other day, the office higher-ups come out."
Roe said he thinks he knows why they decided to come out.
“I think it's because of Channel 12,” Roe said. "I'm glad that somebody had to get their attention."
He said while they've gotten a refund, Entergy still hasn't figured out why their bill was so high in the first place.
"That's what we told them, you know, we'll wait to see what and we'll go from there,” Roe said.
Roe and McCarver said they've had other pastor friends reach out with similar issues since we shared their story two weeks ago, and they hope they'll be able to find a permanent solution.
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