Fixed-rate hydro bills 5 months late

About 40,000 customers affected in Ottawa area

Ottawa Citizen - October 11, 2002
by Michael Prentice

Thousands of people in Ottawa who opted to buy electricity from independent retailers are still waiting for their first bill more than five months after the opening of the electricity market to competition.

It means they will be hit with a whopping electricity bill between now and Christmas.

Independent retailers blame the delay on difficulty in setting up a computer system to enable Hydro Ottawa to bill the retailers' customers.

As a result of the delay, the independent retailers and Hydro Ottawa have not yet collected millions of dollars owed them.

About 40,000 homeowners in Ottawa, or 16 per cent of Hydro Ottawa's residential customers, have signed contracts to buy electricity for fixed terms at fixed rates from independent retailers. Hydro Ottawa delivers the electricity, and will bill customers for it on the retailers' behalf. The municipal utility will add transmission and delivery charges and other costs, which amount to about the same as the cost of the electricity.

Hydro Ottawa estimates almost 50 per cent of people with fixed-price contracts are still waiting for their first bill.

The utility is writing to these customers to apologize for the delay.

It is suggesting they should make an interim payment, so they don't have to pay the whole amount at once.

Direct Energy, largest of the independent retailers, declined comment.

Visit the Ottawa Citizen newspaper
Ottawa apartments Ottawa tenants