Wellington horseman's hydro woes shared by others across Ontario

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

by JIM ALGIE

Complaints about “baffling” billing practices and “egregious” customer service at the provincially-owned, electrical utility, Hydro One, come as no surprise to Wellington County horseman Angus Footman.

He’s still trying to sort out eight months of billing for his stable near Erin after recruiting help from both the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and his area member of provincial parliament. Ontario Ombudsman Andre Morin announced, Tuesday, a nine-month, “systemic” investigation into billing and customer service at the provincially-owned utility.

The probe follows what Morin described as an “alarming” increase in Hydro One customer complaints to his office which have more than doubled since 2012, Morin told reporters during a media conference in Toronto. The Ombudsman’s office investigates issues involving Ontario public services.

Morin referred to a current total of about 700 Hydro One complaints on file. They include:  “huge, unexplained `catch up’ bills, multiple bills, or `estimated’ bills with no rhyme or reason,” Morin said.

Footman’s Hydro troubles date from last spring when he began receiving “some funny bills” that seemed to coincide with the introduction of time of use billing. His rural property manages three utility accounts for a home, staff housing and the stable.

One month’s bill showed no charges, the next came in beyond $2,000. Footman began paying attention.

He complained but couldn’t get answers from customer service representatives who explained that his bills were estimates of electrical use. Requests to speak to supervisors went unanswered.

“I spent hours if not days dealing with Hydro One to resolve this,” Footman said in an interview.

He has yet to receive satisfaction.

“It’s not rocket science. It’s a billing service with customer service,” Footman said. “It’s sending someone a bill and reading a meter. How long have we had Hydro and meters?” he said.

“If Hydro can’t get that right what are they doing with our nuclear plants?” Footman said, warming to the subject.

Many utility customers who have complained to the Ombudsman have also found Hydro One unresponsive to complaints. Morin said members of his staff experienced difficulty resolving complaints.

In one case, the owner of a home destroyed by fire continued to receive bills for electricity where none was provided. Others have reported long periods without any bill for electricity followed by a massive charge without warning from Hydro One using automatic withdrawal from customers’ bank accounts.

A statement from Hydro One CEO Carmine Marcello reacting to the Ombudsman’s announcement said the company instituted a new billing system last May for its 1.3 million customers. There have been problems, he said.

“We know that approximately three per cent of our customers have received estimated bills for too long and about another two per cent have gone for more than 90 days without receiving a bill,” Marcello’s statement says.

The Hydro One CEO promised “to make this right” so customers “will only pay for the electricity they use.”

Ombudsman staff received complaints about erroneous bills of as much as $20,000 in cases where Hydro One officials refuse to provide a refund.

“The response to our queries has been anaemic,” Morin told reporters. He advised against paying Hydro One bills by automatic withdrawal arrangements because of overbilling errors.

“The position they take is they can’t return the money,” the Ombudsman said. “They say their hands are tied” by legislation, he said, adding his investigators will report on the accuracy of utility claims and potential changes in Ontario law.

Morin would not speculate about possible explanations for Hydro One’s unusual billing problems, although he did say the company has contracted out customer service. A contractor he identified by the name “Vertex” handles all initial customer inquiries and refers to Hydro One officials only at the “second level” of dealings with a complaint, Morin said.

A document filed with the Ontario Energy Board and available online describes a 2001, outsourcing agreement between Hydro One Networks Inc. and a firm called Inergi LP for a period of 10 years for an annual fee in year one of $122.5 million. Inergi subsequently contracted call centre operations to a company called Vertex Canada, the OEB document says.

The Ombudsman’s investigation just adds public expense to the problem, Wellington County’s Angus Footman said.

“My issue is it’s poor customer service and someone should be held accountable for this time of use system that doesn’t work,” Footman said. “The issue is, they instituted this fancy time of use billing . . . and it doesn’t work; that’s number one.

“I mean we’ve all paid a lot of money for that,” he said.

“In my job if I don’t do the job right I get fired,” Footman said. BF