Enbridge says it had to send Ingrid Raudsepp a bill because it couldn’t read her gas meter
Ingrid Raudsepp says she couldn’t believe her eyes when Enbridge Gas Inc. sent her a series of new bills in December, telling her she owed a whopping $7,430.06 for the previous 12 months.
Raudsepp lives in Mississauga, which is west of Toronto. She says that she always pays her natural gas bills, which are about $122/month, on time.
“I was sure that there must have been a mistake, that something was wrong. “There had to be mistakes in math,” Raudsepp told CBC Toronto about it.
“It was five days before Christmas, on December 20. “I almost passed out.”
Raudsepp, who is unemployed, says she’s been told by Enbridge that the company had been relying on estimates to calculate her bill rather than up-to-date meter readings, and the new bill was to correct previous underestimates.
“A warning should have been given.
Enbridge is supposed to read meters at least once every two months, but Ontario’s energy regulator has found a problem with how well they are being read.
The Ontario Energy Board is in charge of Enbridge (OEB). The OEB started a review in 2021 because customers were complaining more about things like meter reading and estimated billing. Large “catch-up” bills were mentioned as one of the problems. The OEB found that Enbridge was not meeting certain requirements for customer service.
The OEB said in September 2022 that it had accepted Enbridge’s assurance of voluntary compliance, in which the company made a plan and promised to fix the problems. Enbridge was also told to pay a fine of $250,000.
Raudsepp says she never gave her bill much thought and didn’t know that Enbridge used estimates.
“To be honest, I didn’t really understand how it worked.” “I just paid my bills every month like I had to,” she told him.
They could have tried harder and put up warning signs.— Ingrid Raudsepp
When Raudsepp got the shocking bill in December, she talked to a manager at Enbridge, who gave her a $300 credit. Raudsepp says that offer was “not good enough.”
She talked to the OEB in January, and the board sent her complaint to an Enbridge ombudsman. In emails to Raudsepp this month, a member of the ombudsman’s office apologized for relying on estimates and offered a payment plan over two years but did not offer to lower the total amount owed beyond the $300 credit.
The staff member said that the company used estimates because it couldn’t get to Raudsepp’s meter because the gate to his house was locked.
Raudsepp says that her family put in the gate when they put a pool in their backyard in 2018. She says that she doesn’t remember Enbridge telling her about the problem at any point.
She said, “Something should have been said.”
Bill ‘unfair,’ say advocate
Enbridge is allowed to use estimates in some situations, but it’s not fair that the company waited so long to fix the bills, says John Lawford, the executive director and general counsel of the Public Interest Advocacy Center. This group helps people who pay for regulated services like energy, like Enbridge customers.
“I think it’s unfair to get a bill shock at the end, especially if you made people think the estimate was right,” Lawford said.
Lawford says that customers like Raudsepp could go to small claims court if they don’t want to complain to the OEB or try to talk to Enbridge.
Abhilash Kantamneni, a member of the steering committee for the Low Income Energy Network (LIEN), says that the issue of large “catch-up” bills is also on the group’s mind.
Kantamneni says that people tend to trust their bills, but they should pay close attention to make sure the numbers are correct and based on actual meter readings. He also tells people to watch out for weak family members and people in the community who might not notice things that aren’t right.
“But that won’t solve the problem by itself, because it’s clear that this is a systemic one,” he said.
Kantamneni, who is also a research associate with a group called Efficiency Canada that works to make the economy more energy efficient, says it’s not clear how widespread the problem really is. But he says he’s especially worried about how unexpectedly large bills can hurt people with low incomes. He says the company should be responsible for making sure the bills are correct each month.
Enbridge says that part of the problem is a lack of staff
CBC News asked Enbridge for an interview, but the company said that no one was available. But in an email, Andrea Stass, who is in charge of media relations, says that the company “tries to read a customer’s meter every other month,” but that has been hard for a number of years, including because of staffing problems.
Stass says that Enbridge is taking steps to cut down on how often it uses estimates from meters. She also says that if the company can’t get to a meter, it will let the customer know by email and, if possible, by leaving a note at their door. This is something Raudsepp says she doesn’t remember Enbridge ever doing for her family.
She says she’s very stressed out because she doesn’t know what to do about her bill, but she’s not giving up.
“My partner is retired, so I’m at home.” “There’s really no reason why they couldn’t read the meter,” Raudsepp said.
“They could have tried harder and put up warning signs.”