An early-stage dementia resident in a Melbourne nursing home received a $2500 electricity bill, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. The energy watchdog said it was a worrisome case.
Joan Ford, 86, lives in the View Hills Manor nursing home in Endeavour Hills, where all of her electricity and electricity costs are included in the nursing home.
But in June, Ford's family received a 1384-yuan bill for electricity, apparently in May.
The bill was sent to Ford's apartment in a nursing home.
Ford's son-in-law, Mark Matthys, said she had no idea what the bill was about, but her family suspected that she had signed a electricity account without her knowledge.
"my mother is a resident of a nursing home and she has no house," Matthys said. How could there be such an account? "
The family contacted 1st Energy and were told that the problem would be resolved.
But they received two reminders, a call from a charging agency, and a second bill, which cost more than 2584 yuan.
Matthys said the family had no idea how the bill was made, which meter was generated, and who the electricity account was related to. " I don't have this much of my own electricity bill. It is illogical to have such a high bill for no reason. They came over the phone to tell us, but they made my mother-in-law very anxious. "
Cynthia Gebert, the state energy and water inspector, said the case was worrisome, especially since nursing home residents were mostly incapacitated and the company had failed to address the problem. If you decide to fix the problem, you should fix it. Instead of continuing to let the problem exist, especially for this extremely vulnerable customer. They say they will, but we have to wait for the fee agency to start, and we are very worried about this kind of charging environment. "
It is reported that the Energy Inspection Commission is not a government agency, but an independent service agency to resolve disputes. The committee is funded by the energy industry, and the more complaints a company receives, the more it contributes to the commission's operations.
Gebert said she had no idea how the bill was calculated because homes in nursing homes don't usually charge alone.
"this is a particular concern to me. What exactly are they counting?" How do these figures come out? this is something we need to investigate further. "
Gebert suggested that vulnerable groups should be added to the "Do-not-call" registration list, but she also said companies still had a way to avoid it.
"We've had cases where consumers have signed up for lists that don't call, but may have bought tickets to the game or participated in something, checked out a project, and agreed that their information would be shared."
A spokesman for 1st Energy said the company had contacted people and that Ford did not have to pay any fees. " "I apologize to the affected residents for this mistake and for the immutability and concern that it has brought. The problem was not properly resolved when it was first raised, and it has now been completely resolved," he said.