TORONTO – Ontario ombudsman André Marin has announced an investigation into Hydro One’s billing practices and customer service after complaints more than doubled since last year.
“This investigation is the result of years of behind-the-scenes efforts by my staff to resolve hundreds of complaints, one case at a time,” said Marin during a media briefing at Queen’s Park on Tuesday. “We have helped many people sort out egregious errors and baffling bills.”
In the past few years, Marin says his office has fielded a growing number of complaints from customers.
“We’ve worked with senior Hydro One officials to ensure they credit people who were over-billed and don’t cut off power to people in need,” said Marin.
“But the complaints have continued to increase – we are already at almost double last year’s amount, and we are only 10 months into the fiscal year.”
Marin says complaints about Hydro One have jumped from 232 in 2011-2012 to more than 600 between April 1, 2013 and today.
Sources tell the Ottawa Citizen the time-of-use smart meters have caused over-billing in certain cases, especially in rural areas.
The newspaper says the new meters are not transmitting the correct data back to its “utility hubs” due to hilly terrain that may be interfering with the signals.
Another issue is that the meters don’t provide customers with a detailed summary of electricity use.
“The stories we are hearing will be familiar to many of you in the media – stories of huge, unexplained “catch-up” bills, multiple bills, or “estimated” bills with no rhyme or reason,” Marin said.
Hydro One CEO Carmine Marcello issued an open letter to its customers Tuesday suggesting only a small percentage of Hydro One customers aren’t receiving adequate service.
“We know that approximately 3 per cent of our customers have received estimated bills for too long and about another 2 per cent have gone more than 90 days without receiving a bill,” the letter reads. “While the vast majority of our customers continue to receive normal bills, some of our customers have not had a positive experience.”
The Ontario government invested over $1 billion installing smart meters and over 90 per cent of customers in the province currently have them.
Marin hopes to complete his investigation within nine months, at which time a report with recommendations will be released.
The opposition parties welcomed the ombudsman’s investigation, claiming they’ve been received hundreds of complaints from people who are running out of patience while dealing with the utility.
“My attempts to have these problems rectified from within Hydro One have proven fruitless, as there is either an unwillingness or inability within Hydro One’s bureaucracy to address the problems plaguing so many of my constituents,” said PC critic Randy Hillier.
And NDP leader Andrea Horwath said complaints about the utility’s billing practices have been building up for years. She claimed some customers go up to a year with no bill before being hit with a huge invoice.
“This investigation will, I hope, get to the bottom of why these bills are so out of whack,” she said. There’s something amiss at Hydro One.”
– With files from The Canadian Press
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