A Christchurch woman whose house was using $1000 of power a day at its peak has won a battle to get her wonky electricity bill fixed, thanks to Fair Go.
Belinda Foster contacted Fair Go after getting an $8000 power bill from her provider, Orcon.
"Normally it starts at $20 (a day) but it was at one thousand and something dollars for one day.
"I was gobsmacked when I opened the bill and saw it was $8000," Belinda told Fair Go.
According to her bill, she used 54,000 kilowatt hours or units in one month. That's the average consumption of 12 homes.
"I feel like someone has plugged in an extension cord and ran it down the whole street."
Belinda tried emailing Orcon as soon as she saw the bill swelling. Then she tried the phone.
"I’ve had tickets added to my account that have been labeled urgent but I’m still waiting. I keep getting put from person to person to person about the same issue and every time they are surprised I have a bill that high but nothing’s being done about it."
Belinda says the worst was when she ended up in their accounts department.
"They just say, 'Would you like to make a payment arrangement?' and I’m like, 'No, I do not want to make a payment arrangement for this.'"
Belinda's mood changed when a disconnection letter arrived.
"I’m like, 'Wow, if I have to pay this then what am I going to do for Christmas?'"
Belinda and her husband have two young children. They have had to ration their power.
“We’ve said you can’t have a bath tonight, you have to keep the power down."
After being contacted by Fair Go, Orcon has apologised to Foster and corrected her bill.
"We are really sorry about this and have apologised to Ms Foster. We dropped the ball here. A new meter was not set up properly on our end and we were recording incorrect power usage.
"We are conducting an internal investigation into why this case took so long to get to our specialist team to fix. We have been talking to Ms Foster about ways we can put this right, including a credit to say sorry, and we will ensure her power bill is correct," Orcon says in a statement.
Belinda is relieved her bill and her life are both back to normal. She plans on celebrating in true parenting style.
"Put the kids to bed early and I may have a glass of wine," she says with a laugh.
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