Hydro billing woes may spark class-action

MONTREAL – Quebecers are being overbilled, underbilled or not billed at all because of problems with Hydro-Québec’s new $500-million customer-service computer network, plaintiffs in a proposed class-action lawsuit contend.

Those opting for Hydro’s equalized payment plan have been particularly plagued by billing problems, according to legal documents filed at the Montreal courthouse Thursday.

There are two representative claimants; one woman who didn’t receive a bill for months and one woman who was overbilled.

According to the class-action request filed by the Montreal law firm of Paquette Gadler Inc., the utility has received 160,000 consumer complaints about billing since the system was installed in 2008.

Should the class-action suit be accepted by a judge, claimants would be seeking moral, exemplary and punitive damages in addition to expenses they incurred because of incorrect billing.

The final bill for Hydro-Québec, which has about 2.8 million residential clients, could be substantial.

Lawyers representing Hydro-Québec had not received copies of the court documents Thursday evening, said a utility spokesperson who had no comment to make regarding the matter.

This summer, a Quebec Superior Court judge authorized a class-action suit against Hydro-Québec that was launched by the same legal firm.

That suit, pertaining to late charges and interest fees, could cost the utility between $65 million and $100 million, lawyer John Gadler said.

Hydro-Québec’s new invoice format, instituted as the utility’s new computer network came on line, generated waves of complaints to consumer groups.

A 2008 account in The Gazette quoted a utility spokesperson as saying that Hydro’s new customer-services network, which incorporated about 200 different systems, required some fine-tuning.

According to the court documents filed Thursday, Hydro-Québec has failed to live up to its promise of quality customer service and transparency in its dealings with the public.

Customers who sought equalized payment plans often did so in a bid to manage their budgets and avoid "unpleasant surprises" in the monthly bills, the suit noted.

Adding insult to injury, some clients could have been overbilled and then charged fees as a consequence of the computer glitches.

The claim cites the case of a legal secretary who did not receive a utility bill between October 2008 and June 2009.

After a $822.43 bill arrived, she was told to wait until matters were resolved only to receive, in July 2010, a bill for over $4,300 that included "administration" fees.

Her co-claimant, a member of the Quebec Order of Chemists, was overbilled despite efforts to tender accurate readings of her meter to the utility, according to the claim.

The original cost estimate for Hydro-Québec revamped computer network was about $270 million, but that amount grew to about $500 million, the documents say.

If the class-action suit is accepted by the courts, claimants would have to prove damages, Gadler said in an interview.

Further information on the suit is available on the firms website, http://www.paquettegadler.com.