WATCH: You may be surprised at how easy it is to open and close a utility account. As Tony Tighe reports, one Calgary homeowner feels security is lacking when it comes to making changes.
CALGARY – A Calgary woman feels utility companies should do more to verify the identity of customers when gas and electric accounts are switched from one homeowner to another.
After Margaret Scott sold her home, she waited two weeks before calling Enmax and Direct Energy to cancel her utilities.
When she did, she was told the buyers or new owners had already switched the accounts and hers would be closed the day of possession.
“I said, ‘Do you not verify with the homeowner that they are actually closing the account without their authorization?’ And I discovered their policy is they do an automated phone call two days after closing,” she said.
Scott questioned how the process can be done over the phone without the new owner proving they bought the house.
“Someone could phone in and give the wrong address, and if it’s that easy to close someone else’s account you could have human error, you could possible have somebody that has ulterior motives,” said Scott.
Enmax spokesperson Doris Kaufmann-Woodcock said fraudulent situations would be very rare, and there are lots of checks and balances to catch mistakes or fraud.
“One way or another when we set up a new customer, we do ask for very detailed information (for obvious reasons) and in some cases go so far as to having credit checks done,” she said. “But we don’t ask for a lot of detailed information because we don’t want the customer to jump through hoops when overall, the system works and is effective.”
In a statement, Direct Energy said:
“There are various measures set forth by Alberta regulations that require verification of personal identification, to help prevent an error such as incorrectly switching account holders. In no event would the service be disrupted if the account holder information is changed.”
There is no provincial regulation for proof of sale or residency to open a new account on an existing address.
Comments