No payments, but the power stayed on: 'Why was Mum allowed to rack up a $12,000 bill?'

Sunday, 17 June 2018

Katherine says her mother is to blame for not paying her bill - but someone should have intervened before it reached $12,000.

A Napier woman wants answers after her mother was allowed to amass a power bill of $12,000.

Katherine, who does not want her family identified, discovered the problem when her mother's house was sold in 2016.

The power was disconnected and the family discovered $12,000 was owing.

Katherine discovered old power bills from 2014.

At that point, the outstanding balance was $8500. 'In two years it had jumped from $8500 to $12,000 and I don't think she paid anything, they just kept the power on.

'Mum is to blame, she should have paid it but they shouldn't have let it get that high. Over those two years only about $600 was paid. Why wasn't it turned off?'

The debt was last year referred to a debt collector and Katherine's mother is now paying it back at a rate of $20 a week. It will take the 62-year-old 28 years to clear the debt.

'You hear of people owing $500 and having their power cut off,' Katherine said. 'I don't get how they can justify it. I thought somewhere someone would have said 'maybe we should talk to someone'.'

The bills averaged out at $250 a month over five years, she said.

Contact Energy has been approached for comment.

The debt left owing had stopped her mother accessing any other credit, including a loan to pay it off, she said. The family wanted to come to some agreement to settle the debt with the power company because repaying it at such a low rate over such a long time was not satisfactory for either party, Katherine said.

It was reported on Saturday that an increasing number of complaints to the Utilities Disputes Commissioner relate to billing issues – including a household who received a $7000 bill when the power company conducted its first real reading after 15 months of estimates.

Nanette Moreau, Utilities Disputes Commissioner, said case such as this were less frequent since the companies had worked to improve their systems.

She said there were no industry rules as to when a company should take action on outstanding debts.

'When it has built to these levels [the company] should take action because it doesn't help the company or the consumer to built up this sort of debt.'