SPRING BAY—A Spring Bay woman says a change has been made in Hydro One billing that allows for customers to pay online and avoid having to pay charges to have bills paid through another agency, or having their hydro disconnected because of late payments.

“One policy has changed,” stated Tanya Giles, last week. “Hydro One customers can now pay online, and this is one way to avoid having hydro services disconnected.”

After a December 12 public meeting on Manitoulin with Hydro One Ombudsman Fiona Crean and Hydro One vice-president Ferio Pugliese, Ms. Giles said, “I filed a complaint with (Ms. Crean). We discussed my concern a bit and she said she would look into it and two days later it was resolved.”

Ms. Giles explained, “in August I had received a disconnection notice from Hydro One for about $740. I didn’t have the full amount until the day before the disconnection. Hydro One would not accept an online banking reference number as payment. They said that when using online banking they did not have direct access to my bank account to verify payment was made and that online banking took 3-5 days between when payment is made to when payment is received. I tried to argue it saying the reference number is proof of payment but I was told I had to use Western Union or Canada Post money gram or pay through a third party credit card payment. All of which charge a fee to pay your bill. I used Canada Post to pay my bill and was charged a pretty steep fee to pay my bill.”

“A post by Francesca Dobyn in a Facebook group called ‘Hydro One Enough is Enough’ encouraged me to file a complaint with the Ontario Energy Board who passed my complaint back to Hydro One,” explained Ms. Giles. “Hydro One then sent me back to the OEB as they are the ones who made the payment policy in the Distribution System Code. After reading the policy I was sent back to Hydro One. I had also inquired with the assistant branch manager here at my local bank. I was told that online banking payments are time stamped and the reference number is given to others as well.”

“When I spoke with Hydro One on my final attempt, I spoke with the Ombudsman office,” said Ms. Giles. “I filed a complaint with the Ombudsman office stating that online banking numbers should be accepted as direct payment to avoid disconnection, and I shared my story. Later the next day I received a call from the (Hydro One) Ombudsman office sharing that online banking reference numbers will be accepted as payment to avoid disconnection.”

“It’s a small win but a win nonetheless,” stated Ms. Giles. “This will save people from being disconnected. Many have paid through online baking only to be disconnected and told online banking payments are not direct payment. This situation will not happen again.”

“So, I encourage other people with the same problem as I had, or other concerns, to call the Hydro One office,” said Ms. Giles.