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| Fortis BC extra billing. company is NOT reading the gas meter Vancouver, British Columbia |
| 15th of Dec, 2011 by User150647 |
Fortis BC took over from Terasen gas in March 2011. The company has read the meter once on November 17, 2011 because I started entering meter readings by phone and then on line starting on August 18, 2011. The meter readings I entered did not coincide with the numbers on my bill. The last reading by Terasen gas was an estimated 15751 cubic meters on February 3, 2011. The first "actual" reading by Fortis BC was 16736 cubic meters that month I was billed for 38.5 GJ. Normal bills are between 3 to 7 GJ per month.
That first reading I entered by phone onAugust 18, 2011 was 16521 CM. On September 18 it was 16541 CM. On Oct 20 it was 16581 CM. The Fortis meter man finally showed up on November 17, 2011. The meter reading then was 16683 CM (still lower than that March "reading").
I called Fortis on November 21 or 22 en was told I should be paying my outstanding arrears while they would look in to the matter. Called back on November 23 and spoke to Joanne. Joanne recognised that there was indeed a problem. She stopped all automatic withdrawels from my account, said this would be sorted out and to wait for my next bill. Well my next bill is here and it is as if I never talked to anyone, because according to Fortis BC the meter reading is now 17778 CM. That is supposedly an actual reading. It is NOT.
None of my readings nor the reading that the meter man took on November 17 are on that bill. The last reading I entered on December 3 was for 16830 CM. It is not on that bill, but there is that "actual" reading of 17778CM on December 5. I did get a recorded telephone message that my bill was overdue three days ago before this last bill came in. I now owe Fortis BC $212.30 for energy that I have not used. That is over and above all the increased equal payment plan payments.
I am dealing with an out of province company through a 1 888 phone number. And every time I call them I go through that infuriating phone menu that companies like so much these days. My opinion is that that very first Fortis BC reading was in error and all the other Fortis readings since then are estimates based on that first erroneous reading. If someone would have come by and did an actual reading in all that time you'd think that one of those readings would have been in the 16000 range causing a little closer look at the meter. Terasen Gas never had a problem. But then their meter reader actually came out and did their job. Their estimates showed a bit more common sense as well. From April 5, 2010 till February 4, 2011 Terasen Gas charged me $392.00 for 26.9GJ
From February 4, 2011 till November 4, 2011 Fortis BC charged me $1230.33 for 85.6GJ. that includes almost 5 months where only the hot water tank is on.
The estimated use by Fortis BC between June 6, 2011 and July 5, 2011 is 11GJ. That is for a 40 Gallon US Hot water tank.
The estimated use by Terasen Gas between June 3, 2010 and July 6, 2010 is 4.1GJ for just the hot water tank. A little high but not outrageous. You be the judge
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I feel your pain. My gas bill for the November 14 2011 reading was $292., and it should be around the same for December 14 2011, but was surprised to see that my bill was $796!!! The reading was over 1000 units off, so I called Fortis thinking that once again they overestimated the usage, but the person I spoke to confirmed that it was an actual reading and that the meter reader "may" have made a mistake. I have to say that she was helpful, I guess I'll have to see on the next bill if the error has actually been corrected.
I've never actually seen a meter reader from Terasen / Fortis, so I wonder if they do actual readings. This is not the first time I've had to call for an adjustment. Do most people check their bills? I hope so. |
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| Terasen / Fortis do not have their own meter readers in the Metro Vancouver area. The work is currently contracted out to Accenture(which is a scam in itself), who are disquised as BC Hydro meter readers. Who knows who will be reading the gas meters once the Smart electric meters are all in place? |
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Has anybody looked into how Fortis is calculating the GJ from the meter reading which is in cubic feet?
By my calculations the conversion factor of .1222374 that they use works out to 1218.75 BTU's per cubic foot of gas.
Industry standard is 1050 BTU's per cubic foot. For example my last bill was 15.6GJ and it should be 13.9 GJ at $14.325/ GJ they overcharged me by $24.35. Can somebody double check my calculations? |
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