A B.C. man received an electricity bill last week worth thousands of dollars but there was just one problem -- his home had burned to the ground.
The home was destroyed in January and the bill was for a period well after it was destroyed.
Gary Fong said the bill for a whopping $4,582 was a shock that added to the devastation he and his family were already feeling in the wake of the disaster.
“It says that we used 25,000-plus kilowatt hours,” Fong told CTV B.C. “People don’t spend (thousands) a month on electricity for a building that’s not there.”
The bill from electricity company FortisBC covered a window from May 19 to July 17 -- a period ending nearly six months after Fong's 5,000-square-foot log home was lost.
Fong challenged the electricity company, but was given no relief.
"And they said, ‘Actually the meter's fine, in fact we just installed a new smart metre, so we stand by our billing,’" Fong said.
Eventually, the company acknowledged the bills were based on estimates from previous years' usages. In fact, the company had reverted to that method because it couldn't get a reading from the new smart reader that had been installed -- not surprising, since it was burned along with Fong's home.
FortisBC has apologized for the mix-up, and acknowledged that Fong had even alerted the company to the fact his house had burned before the bill was sent out.
“No customer should have to go through what Mr. Fong went through,” said spokesperson Michael Allison. “We do regret the miscommunication that took place, and we want to do what we can to make it right.”
Fong will be given a credit for any power he didn't actually use, the company said.
For his part, Fong said he hopes Fortis learns from the mistake so other families don't have to face a similar situation.
“We can afford to pay this and dispute it later, but what if we couldn’t?” Fong said.
