Ombudsman urges Hydro One to stop sending threatening letters

Ontario's ombudsman says Hydro One has been threateningto cut off the electricity of customers who are behind on payments,even during the winter months.

Andre Marin says Hydro One's own policy is to not disconnectcustomers during the winter, but he says the utility told him thattelling customers they'll do so is a common tactic in the industryto get people to pay.

Marin has been looking into Hydro One billing for 13 months andsays the number of complaints he has received recently passed 10,000 the highest total for any of his investigations to date.

His full report will be issued in the spring, but he says so farseveral themes have emerged, including incorrect bills, large"estimated" bills and unexpectedly large payments withdrawn fromcustomers' bank accounts.

Marin highlighted one case involving a Sudbury area man, whoopened his monthly statement to find a $19,000 bill. That billwasultimately reduced to just $74.

Hydro One did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

No explanation

Marin originally opened his investigationto look into complaints about unexpectedly high bills, no bills for months at a time and multiple bills for the same time period.

As for customer complaints, some remain unresolved.

Englehart area cottage owner Lillian Woodcocksaid the heating bill for that propertyhas tripled in a few years.

The 90-year-old said she called the utility and wasnt happy with the response.

They didnt give me an explanation but that theyd be in touch with me, she said.

She added she also got a letter stating someone from the utility would contact her, but said she didnt hear from them after that.

"I did get the one answer, well what did you expect, its only a summer cottage, she said.

So outside of that, I kind of gave up.

Hydro One said it has implemented a promise to resolve customer complaints within 10 days, but cant speak about individual customers.

The utility also said it has improved service in the past year by hiring more people in its call centre and increasing training.