Ontario's ombudsman didn't pull any punches when releasing his report on Hydro One this morning
Ontario's ombudsman didn't pull any punches when releasing his report on Hydro One this morning.
Andre Marin says customers felt mistreated and abused when they tried to report massive billing problems that occurred under a new computer system.
He says Hydro One deliberately kept problems under wraps and deceived the electricity regulator and the ombudsman's office about the extent of the billing errors, which he says impacted about 100-thousand households. He adds his office received over 10 thousand complaints from Hydro One ratepayers about over-billing or estimated bills, and what he calls ``outrageously bad customer service'' as it scrambled to fix technical glitches with the new system.
Heart FM spoke with Local MPP Ernie Hardeman who says the ombudsman was also critical of the government who watched Hydro One do that to Ontario residents. "When this problem first started, it was a changing of a computer program that they did and we kept in the house bringing it up to the Minister of Energy and he kept saying they had this under control and they didn't do anything to correct the problem until the opposition put more pressure on the government and called for this ombudsman report." He adds he doesn't think things will get any better now that the Province plans to sell off 60% of Hydro One.
Hardeman says the ombudsman and the Ontario Auditor general will lose oversight of Hydro One once the Liberal government passes legislation approving the sale of up to 60 per cent of the electrical utility. Hardeman says this means nobody will hold them accountable if something like this happens again in the future.
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