Our troubled power companies: More readers' feedback

Charlene Anderson:

My flatmates and I decided to join up with First Electric. It was so easy, one simple phone call - warning number one.

The power was hooked up, as promised, on September 9. Then on September 27, worried about running the spa and pool pumps, we decided to check our consumption.

After giving them the reading, we were told that our bill stood at $700. After a bit of searching, they found the start reading they had dated back to June 2000, as no one had bothered to read the meter before we moved in. Since then we have made five phone calls and spoken to five people, none of whom has kept his or her promises.

December saw the arrival of our first bill, a shocking $1500 for power from September 27 to November 11. We have been told they will do nothing until we fax them a copy of our tenancy agreement.

Is it too much to ask to be charged only for the power you have used?

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R. Henderson:

After paying our electricity account one month late (due to a holiday break), we fortunately were home when a TransAlta contractor arrived to disconnect the power.

We explained that we had paid the account already. The contractor sympathised and said he had effectively become a debt collector for the power company, and was no longer an electricity technician.

He had been told to go around residential areas disconnecting power unless he received immediate payment.

He said his job was a living hell because of a new policy to disconnect within days of either a late payment or a final warning notice.

He rang the power company and was instructed to disconnect us unless we paid him, forcing us to double-pay the account.

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Gillian Krzanich:

In July, we had a telemarketing call from Mercury promising cheaper power and a $50 credit if we switched to it.

We are relatively high users, having three children, and our power bill runs at about $150 a month. We agreed to the offer and waited patiently for things to unfold.

No contract ever arrived from Mercury for us to sign.

A few weeks later, thinking it was going to be more trouble than it was worth, I contacted Mercury and TransAlta to halt the process and was told that was not a problem, as not much progress had been made.

We then got a final bill from TransAlta and when we rang them we were told, very rudely, that we were no longer customers.

TransAlta later promised to switch us back without delay. That was in September.

TransAlta now tell us we are not their customers (it seems we get conflicting results, depending on who we talk to), even though they said in November we would be liable to them for power used since July.

The whole thing has been a nightmare.

A big pat on the back for those who have got away with free power. I can guarantee I will be the unlucky person who gets a whopping bill.

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Sarah MacDonald:

As a customer of TransAlta by default for 25 years, I was so amazed at the attitude of their customer services manager to a recent inquiry, that I have since switched companies.

Along the way our bi-monthly bills changed and monthly bills became compulsory. Now I seem to be paying in arrears.

I phoned, only to be told by their customer services that I not only had to pay the bill immediately, as the payment period allowed only two weeks to disconnection, but I would need to pay the following bill as well or be cut off.

I said that I had always paid my bill on the 20th and could they please check my records and explain the discrepancy. I was then handed to a manager.

This 'manager' said the rules had changed. He could not explain the discrepancy, but offered me time to catch up.

He then demanded more details such as my christian names, my cellphone number and my marital status. I am hardly likely to take off without paying my bills when I have consistently done so for 12 years and own my own home.

I had to remind myself that this was my electricity provider, not the tax department or the police, and that I am the customer.

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Leone Edwards:

I have not switched my account to another company, but they still cannot get it right.

From the time TransAlta took over from Power NZ, my accounts have been incorrect.

Not all the direct credits are appearing against the account, and I have had payments of smaller amounts that were not mine.

Eventually in the last billing period, I received an account that was correct, with the exception of a small credit that did not belong to me, which they did not want to remove.

I thought that was the end of the story, but no. This month's bill shows I have $90 in $10 amounts belonging to someone else.

It gives me as nasty sense of deja vu. Do I ignore it, or ring these incompetent people yet again?

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Katherine Aperehama:

I have just received a bill from Genesis for a total of $458.77 and have been given 10 days to pay the account in full. I contacted them, angry that I only had 10 days to pay but had waited more than seven months to get an account, and told them I could afford only $20 a week.

They advised me that the minimum payment would be $40 a week and that the faster I could pay it off the better. Failure to comply with their request would mean that my details would be forwarded to a debt collection agency or possible legal action taken. In the end, I agreed to the request of $40 a week, but I am struggling to find the money for this.

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G. R. Freeman:

I am a pensioner with TransAlta and keep my power usage to a minimum, but I have been paying about 20 per cent more since August.

I have been trying for four months to have my power transferred to Mercury, but they keep telling me that TransAlta have not, or will not, release the required information.

I am lodging a complaint with the Commerce Commission.

* These letters are abridged

Herald Online feature:
Overload - our troubled power companies

Have you had a problem with your power company?

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