Hydro One to stop disconnection threats after damning ombudsman report
Posted March 11, 2015 3:03 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin has released details of his office’s investigation into Hydro One, saying the company has egregious billing errors and poor customer service.
Marin also grilled Hydro One for threatening to disconnect homeowners if they didn’t “pay an outrageous bill.”
“Hydro One admitted to us that these notices were just an empty threat. They called it a tactic to encourage payment. I’m sure most people would call it something much worse.”
“People were calling us in tears,” he added. “Distraught with fear that they and their families would have no power…”
Complaints have topped 10,000 since Feb. 4, 2014 when the investigation was announced. This is the most complaints ever received for an Ombudsman investigation.
“One father of a newborn and a six year old in London called us in panic because Hydro One had sent them a disconnection notice on Valentine’s Day. Remember how cold it was then? -21 C,” Marin said.
Marin said he met with Hydro One’s CEO 19 days ago and urged him to end the disconnection letters, but it didn’t happen.
Instead, Marin said Hydro One notified his office late on Tuesday that the disconnection threats would now be based on weather conditions, which Marin said still doesn’t cut it.
After Marin’s report was released, Hydro One said it would cease the notices altogether.
“Customers with incorrect bills will not receive disconnection notices,” Hydro One said.
“Any customer who experienced a billing disruption as a consequence of our new billing system implementation has been excluded from the collections process for a year.”
Hydro One President and CEO Carm Marcello promised improvements.
“Our relationship with our customers goes far beyond the bill. With the technical issues behind us, we are now revisiting all of our customer interactions with the goal of transforming our business into a truly customer caring organization.”
