A Manitoba man has been slapped with a $1,400 hydro bill after Manitoba Hydro mistakenly told him his solar panels produced more than enough electricity to power his home.
Jarrod Chamberlin of Rural Municipality of De Salaberry, about 72 kilometres south of Winnipeg, installed 35 solar panels around his home this past summer. He says the panels should be able to produce just less than half of the power required for his home.
His first bill showed a credit of $181.01 and the second a credit of $841.61. Chamberlin knew something had to be wrong so he called Manitoba Hydro who assured him everything was correct. That was, until January when his newest bill showed he owed $1,420.06.
“That's a paycheque there that they want to take out of my hand,” Chamberlin told CTV Winnipeg. "It's frustrating and my hope was to have them want to reconcile this because it's their mistake.”
Manitoba Hydro says it understands Chamberlin’s frustration and is working with him to resolve the matter. They’ve offered him an interest-free loan to make the payments, but Chamberlin says it’s not good enough.
He wants the utility to pay half of the bill.
“I followed each of your bills that you've given me,” he said. “You’ve messed up, I haven't.”
Chamberlin says in one of his conversations with Manitoba Hydro, a customer representative told him an employee had incorrectly read his usage meter. In the future, Chamberlin plans to take pictures of his hydro meter to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
With a report from CTV Winnipeg’s Beth Macdonell
