By JOSIE CLARKE consumer reporter
In a twist on problems with power companies, one Auckland man has found no one wants to bill him for five months of electricity.
Matthew Cotton is one of hundreds of electricity customers who have waited months for an account.
He first contacted Mercury five months ago when he took over the tenancy of a central city flat.
Six weeks passed and Mr Cotton had received nothing from Mercury.
A phone call to the company revealed the previous tenant had signed up with another power supplier, Meridian.
Mercury told Mr Cotton that it was completing the switchover and he would have a bill soon.
Another six weeks passed and Mr Cotton made another call to Mercury, who told him it was having trouble getting the details it needed from Meridian to take over his power supply.
Mr Cotton phoned Meridian and got the details within five minutes.
He then called Mercury back and told the company it could forget about taking over as his power supplier.
Throughout the five-month wrangle, Meridian continued to supply Mr Cotton's power under a temporary policy designed as a safeguard for customers facing delays switching power companies.
But Meridian spokesman Alan Seay said the company could not charge Mr Cotton for the power because he was technically a Mercury customer.
Mercury spokeswoman Angela Armstrong said Mercury had tried for five months to take over Mr Cotton's account, without success.
She said Mercury could not charge Mr Cotton for the electricity because Meridian never agreed to hand over his account.
The disagreement between the two companies has delighted Mr Cotton, who blames Mercury for the holdup and signed up with Meridian yesterday.
Angela Armstrong said Mercury was doing everything it could to improve the switching process.
Free power delights bewildered user
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