An electric utility in Tennessee has accused Comcast of not paying its bills for three years. The utility says it will start removing Comcast wires from utility poles next week unless the cable company pays up.

In a notice on its website, the electric co-op said:

If Comcast does not pay the amounts owed to STEMC [Southwest Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation] by June 28, 2017, we will begin removing their attachments from our poles. Removal of Comcast cables will affect Comcast service to their customers in Tipton County. We regret that some customers may lose their Comcast service. However, the full cost and maintenance of these utility poles are borne by all members of STEMC, and we cannot allow STEMC members to subsidize Comcast's services. We are hopeful that Comcast will make payment prior to the deadline and avoid the need to remove their cable attachments.

Comcast promised to pay the "correct amount," but the industry giant says that STEMC tried to double its bill in 2015 and did not provide evidence to support the new amount until this month, according to a WREG news report last night.

(UPDATE: Comcast and the utility have "reached a settlement agreement," STEMC told Ars after this story was published. "Comcast has committed to making payment to us by early next week, prior to the deadline. So, pending receipt of payment, we are confident that this matter has been resolved," STEMC CFO Scott Sims said.)

The notice on STEMC's website said the utility made a "final demand to Comcast for payment" and "will remove Comcast facilities from our poles on June 29 unless payment is made." Comcast has not paid its annual rent since June 2014 and owes about $176,000, the co-op says.

"We've been going back and forth with them for going on three years now trying to get payment out of them," Sims told WREG.

Comcast does its own audit, will pay “correct amount”

Comcast says its bill was doubled in 2015 when the electric co-op said it "discovered previously un-billed pole attachments," according to WREG. Comcast says that it "asked for evidence supporting the discovery [in 2015], but it was not provided until June 2017," the WREG report said.

"Since receiving that information, we have completed our own audit and are taking the appropriate next steps to arrange for payment in the correct amount," Comcast told WREG. "We look forward to working with STEMC to resolve this issue quickly and ensure that our mutual customers' services are not disrupted."

When contacted by Ars, Simms disputed Comcast's account. He told us via e-mail:

We did bill them for additional poles in 2014 for a license agreement that they assumed from another provider. Not billing them prior to that date was an oversight on our part. After receiving and questioning the new invoice, Comcast requested documentation. We provided them a copy of the license agreement along with the document assigning the agreement to Comcast. That assignment document was signed by a Comcast Division President. We considered that appropriate evidence of the additional rent due on those poles under the terms of that assumed agreement. Over the last couple of years, Comcast has been disputing the rates and pole counts. We conducted a pole count in 2016 using an independent party, which coordinated with Comcast. We supplied them with maps from the pole count earlier this month.

Ars contacted Comcast this afternoon and will update this story if we get more information.

STEMC operates in a rural area and has nearly 48,000 customers. Comcast customers quoted by WREG were mad at the cable company. Customer James Miller of Tipton County, noting that he pays his bill on time every month, "wonders how Comcast would feel about him being three years late paying them," the news station said.

"I would have been shut off after one month, being late," Miller told WREG. "They would have just shut us off instantly, and yet they can't pay their bill. Three years in a row they didn't pay it."