A business owner from Pembroke, Ont. was shocked to receive an unexpected $9,000 bill from the power company after he missed just one payment in 12 years as a customer.

Mike Moss, the owner of millwork company M. Moss and Son Manufacturing, told CTV Ottawa on Monday, that he was charged a mandatory security deposit of more than $6,000 as a penalty for missing a payment of a little more than $500.

“It’s very unfair that someone doesn’t look at my Hydro and say, ‘Hey, that Mike is a good guy. We’ve known him for 12 years, he’s missed $500, let’s give him a call,’” Moss said.

Moss complained about the charges on a local radio station broadcast, and when he called Hydro One later in the day, they agreed to waive the security deposit.

“She (Hydro One employee) said, ‘We will reverse it this time’ and pushed a button and it went away,” Moss said.

Moss has been operating his business on the outskirts of the city for 12 years. He said, during that time, he has paid the utility company $430,000. Moss also clarified that he has never defaulted on a bill in the past. Hydro One spokesperson Tiziana Baccega Rosa responded to inquiries about the case with a statement that the company only requests security deposits from customers who exhibit a poor payment history.

“Security deposits act as a protection to all ratepayers as they are only used when a customer defaults on their account,” according to the statement.

The Ontario Energy Board recently introduced guidelines regulating when and how much customers must pay for security deposits. Customers can also request to pay the fees in instalments over the span of six months. Security deposits are returned to consumers if they pay their bills on time for a year.

Ontario’s ombudsman received more than 10,000 complaints about Hydro One and investigated the company’s billing practices from 2014 to 2015. The Ontario watchdog no longer oversees the company after Hydro One obtained its own ombudsman in 2016.

Moss, however, said he thinks it’s encouraging that Hydro One was willing to change his bill and that it could mean the company is softening its approach to its billing methods.

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Joanne Schnurr