Utility Customer Receives Racist Password

Puget Sound, WA – Attempting to set up a password, Puget Sound Energy customer Erica Conway received a password word that left her speechless.

“I clicked “forgot password” and got a temporary password from PSE and it was capitol N-I-G-G-A and I was quite shocked! It was like an emotional roller coaster. Shock, disbelief, disgusted, angry. I’m just kind of like, I cannot believe this. I just can’t believe it, said Conway.”

Conway displayed past temporary passcodes that were just random letters and numbers, so she believes this passcode slur was created deliberately.

“I was truly in disbelief because this is not normal, and this is not what a temporary password is supposed to say.”

Conway complained to a customer agent at PSE’s call center. However, the agent didn’t take the slur seriously.

“I had said ‘Do you guys screen out certain words?’ and the rep was, like, ‘Yes we do.’ And I said, ‘Well you guys didn’t screen out this word.’ And she said, ‘Why would we?” and I said, “What do you mean why would we? This is an offensive word.’ And she stated to me, No one uses that word anymore.’ And I was, like, where are you living, what planet are you living on?’”

PSE spokeswoman Janet Kim responded, “This was offensive, there was no question about that, we apologize to this customer for what happened; we are trying to do what we can to make it right.”

PSE insists the slur was a computer-generated mistake and has taken immediate steps to make sure temporary passwords are a scrambled mix of letters and numbers. Next month PSE will begin using a new system that gets rid of temporary passwords all together.

“This is 2018; and we’re still dealing with issues like this,” Conway said. “It’s pretty sad. As a society, it’s pretty sad.”