Part 2

"Dad, when I grow up, I'm gonna be a McDonald's worker and bake food for people."

— Sontoo, this day, 2012.

Here's hoping for slightly more grand aspirations by, say, tomorrow.

And how's your day starting?

Well, quick update first. It's about yesterday's blog entry. If you haven't read it, go back and do it now. Click here to find it. We'll all wait. Take your time. But hey, try to keep up next time.

Okay, so where was I?

Oh yeah. Manitoba Hydro . . . estimated bill . . . . no . . . estimated six months of bills, all at once. Not happy.

So, yesterday, after I finished my blog, I thought I'd pull up the Manitoba Hydro Act. It seems to me in my initial conversation with a customer service rep, back on September 10, it was suggested that the Manitoba Hydro Act said, somewhere, that estimating bills, when the meter goes kaput, was somehow legal. Wouldn't surprise me if, in fact, the Act said that. Doesn't make it right. But I wanted to see for myself.

So, first thing I did was a search of the on-line document (http://web2.gov.mb.ca/laws/statutes/ccsm/h190e.php) for the word "estimate." And to be fair, I used "estimat" so as to include estimation, estimate and even estimatorium should it be required.

Appears three times. Once in the WIRING PERMITS AND INSPECTIONS section, once in the ASSISTANCE TO CUSTOMERS section and once in the TAXATION, CHARGES AND DISTRIBUTIONS section. This could take a while.

And ya know, I read all of the stuff surrounding the "estimate" word in each instance. And, to the best of my non-lawyer understanding, none of it says they can estimate my bill for six months when their meter dies. We'll get back to that.

Oh, and just for interest sake, the word "meter" appears only twice in the document. I will be interested to know where, exactly, the six-month-meter's-dead-estimation thing comes in. (read read read) Nope, couldn't find it.

Okay, under the COLLECTION OF ACCOUNTS section, I find some interesting stuff that may relate to my issue (read read read) but it doesn't appear to be so.

So, I called the good folks at Manitoba Hydro. I spoke with a customer service rep, we'll call her M just for fun. I disputed the amount I was being charged. 

I mean, for one thing, during the time period in question, I was camping with my family for four weeks. That has NOT been accounted for in this estimation. I was not using the lights, TV, dishwasher, washer, dryer, air conditioner, computer, blowdryer or electric nose hair trimmer for an entire month.

There are other things that make me question the amount being charged, but I'm not showing my entire hand before the first round of betting. 

Anyhoo, bottom line is M argued with me a little. Not in a nasty way or anything, just attempting to present Hydro's side. I still disagreed and we ended in a bit of a stalemate. She was gonna take my case to a higher authority. We'll call that person Q.

Now, to M's credit, she was not only polite and professional, she did phone back at 11 a.m. 

But I was out.

She phoned back at 2 p.m. and told me that Q was away until Thursday, but she'd talk to Q on that day and get back to me. So that's where we've left it.

So hopefully, by Friday, we'll have a fair resolution to this problem. And hopefully, Sontoo will have returned to his dream of being a firefighter.

It doesn't seem right.

All righty. Tuesday and I'm doing a slow burn. And no, it's not about the leaking valve.

But it is about another government body, and its treatment of people.

This one began about a month ago. I came home to find a Manitoba Hydro truck in my driveway. The guy was apparently just finishing up whatever it was he was doing.

And, being a naturally curious kinda guy when it comes to strange trucks in my driveway, I asked. Turns out he had just replaced the electrical meter on the side of my house. 

"Hmmm," thought I. "Why would he do that?"

So I asked him. "Why did you do that?"

And I learned that the meter on my house was defective. It wasn't working. And it had not been working since February 29. It was September 10. So, for a little more than six months, no meter. No one was measuring how much electricity I was, or wasn't using.

Now, as I had paid several electrical bills over that time period, I was a little concerned as to how these bills were calculated. I mean, really, do they just get to guess at this stuff?

"Based on last year, we figured you used X. So just pay that, okay?"

Um, no, not okay. Did you know I was away for a month in the summer camping? Did you know I replaced our giant front window just before winter? Did you know we've been taking every step to reduce our electrical bill? Did you know I installed a generator in the garage in the spring and have been using it, instead of your electricity for most of the summer?

Okay, that last one's a lie. But hey, nobody has asked me. And the first three are true. 

So, when meter installer guy left, I called Manitoba Hydro. And I asked what was going on. And I was told that my meter had been out of service (broken) since February 29. I asked about the bills I have been paying. The customer service rep and I had a hard time understanding each other, I admit. But what I got from the phone call was that, apparently, I was paying my bill (their estimate) once every other month. The next month, it was refunded, minus the "basic charge." 

I was not entirely clear on how that all worked, or why. I do recall asking if it was even legal to charge me for electricity when there was no proof that I used any.

Fast forward a month.

I got the letter. It began "Dear Customer:"

Could they at least use my name. I mean, I like to get kissed before I get fucked. I realize a kiss is out of the question, but at least know and use my name, eh?

Stay on track . . .

The letter continued:

"We have estimated consumption to cover February 29, 2012 to September 10, 2012. Based on 9,130 kW.h consumption recorded on the previous meter for the 183 day period from March 1, 2011 to August 31, 2011, there is daily consumption of 50 kW.h. For the period from February 29, 2012 to September 10, 2012, consumption based on this would have been 50kW.h multiplied by 194 days for a total of 9,700 kW.h. To allow for any inaccuracies in our estimate, 10% or 907 kW.h was deducted resulting in an estimate of 8,730 kW.h"

Bottom line: I now owe them just shy of $600. Payable now. 

I have a few questions. First off, I gotta ask why it took more than six months to replace a broken meter? Second, was the meter working properly up to that point? And please don't automatically say yes. It's not like you jumped on the problem when it stopped working altogether.

And finally, and most importantly, on what planet, and in what business transaction can the supplier say to the customer, "We have absolutely no proof, but we figured you bought this much. Pay for it! Further, we have a mechanism for accurately measuring consumption, but it broke six months ago. It is our responsibility to fix it, but we just didn't get to it. So just pay up."

It would be like buying meat from a butcher. His scale breaks. He doesn't tell you. He just throws the meat on, gives you a number and asks for the money. After six months, he confesses, because you ask about that fancy new scale he has. He refunds some of your money (keeps some as a "basic service fee") and then bills you several hundred dollars for your meat purchases over the last six months . . . based on the previous year's meat purchases. 

What's more, he does it by mail. Just sends you a bill. Would you pay it? Should you pay it?

Okay, this is gonna take more than one post. So I'm just gonna leave you with this for today:

The "basic charge" that I was told I still had to pay during the six months of broken meter? According to my letter and bill from Manitoba Hydro, it is "The fixed charge that pays part of the cost of providing service and does not depend on how much energy is used."

Okay, fair enough. But it goes on:

"It helps pay for such items as the maintenance of meters, the cost of meter reading, billing and record keeping."

Um . . . should I REALLY have been paying that during the six months my meter was broken? Just asking.

I have some research to do and a few phone calls to make to sort this out.

Have a stress-free Tuesday.