New York (CNN) -- The Long Island Power Authority is assuring outraged customers that their latest electric bills with normal monthly charges are no mistake, despite some being in the dark for days or weeks after Superstorm Sandy.
Customers are being billed are "based on the estimated reading of (their) energy use from the same month the year before," LIPA spokesperson Elizabeth Flagler said Monday.
"(The) next actual meter reading will reflect the amount of electricity (customers) have used since (their) previous actual meter reading, and it will automatically adjust ... charges," she told CNN.
LIPA customers are questioning why their electricity bills post-Sandy reflect a full month's use of electricity, and don't account for the days that customers were without power.
LIPA customer Jonathan Saporta complained about receiving three full electricity bills for his various properties on Long Island.
"Even if they said they would rectify it -- go out and do real readings -- don't go taking more money out of our pocket when we already lost so much," Saporta told CNN on Monday.
Saporta received bills that have him fuming. The first was a bill for the Long Beach home he had moved out of on October 1, after alerting LIPA he was moving and before Sandy hit, in the amount of $649. That, he said, is double what he usually pays for the home, which sat in the dark most of the month.
Saporta also received a $281 bill for his new Great Neck home, despite being 14 days in the dark for the billing month.
And he received a $1,700 bill for his storm-ravaged Long Beach restaurant, Jake's Wayback Burger, which Saporta said was totaled in Sandy, and hasn't been reopened since before the storm.
"At this point, with a major disaster, with so many people losing so much of their livelihood, they can't go around to do estimated billing and hold all that money," he said.
Flagler said there are two ways for customers to help themselves.
First, she advised customers to do the digital meter readings themselves and call it in to customer service to get a new bill that will be regenerated in two weeks. She did mention, however, that conducting the reading was difficult and that there is an educational video on LIPA's website to address how to do it.
Second, customers can pay what they think is appropriate and then wait for the exact reading to pay the difference, she said.
Saporta said Monday he was having trouble getting in contact with LIPA, period.
"I can't even get them to acknowledge my existence on Earth rather than address what is what," he said.
"Until I get some sort of clarification on what is owed and what is going to be done, I am going to continue ignoring them," Saporta said.
LIPA has been widely criticized for its communication with customers in weeks after Sandy. In the midst of complaints LIPA's Chief Operating Officer Michael Hervey resigned earlier this month and Bruce Germano, the vice president of customer service, announced Monday that he will leave the utility at the end of the year. X. Cristofer Damianos, who served on the LIPA board, also stepped down, LIPA spokeswoman Elizabeth Flagler said.
Flagler said the estimated billing this month was a direct response to Sandy, and not the way LIPA typical bills.
"All LIPA and national grid employees were reassigned to support elsewhere in efforts to restore power. That's why the bills have been estimated," she said.
