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Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers!

February 12th, 2009. Posted By Larry Monte
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Hydro One is EVIL! As much as this blog is about regaining my lost passion for web design, it’s also about my personal struggle to dig myself out of the financial hole I currently find myself in.

Without going into too much detail of what brought me here, I’ll be brief by saying that I live in an economically depressed town that offers nothing but low paying retail jobs. My job in particular saw my hours cut in half over a year ago.

Needless to say, money has been tight for some time now.

During December and January, I damned near starved trying to raise money to cover my Hydro bill. I was dangerously close to being disconnected but managed to raise their blood money nonetheless. (If I see another box of Kraft Dinner, I’m going to kill someone!)

Victory! I was amazed I pulled it off!

My victory was short lived though. Yesterday I get a letter from Hydro One informing me that because I was late in paying they are demanding an additional $188.00 as a security deposit!

WTF! If I had problems raising the cash to pay the bill itself, then where the Hell do they expect me to pull an ‘extra’ $188.00 from? Not to mention I still have $300 outstanding and a fresh new bill on it’s way for the same amount which they will also be adding this security deposit to.

Next month I expect to see a bill for almost $800 which I have no hope in Hell of paying. It’s more than I make in a month!

I’m faced with a few options at this point:

  • Move to another place where Hydro is inclusive. (Not going to happen as I’ll never raise first and last months rent. Not to mention rents are outrageous here!)
  • Move into a shared accommodation. (Never works out as I have a hard time living with anyone – male or female. I’ll have to move again in no time.)
  • Sit here in the dark and cold and pray for death.

Unfortunately, the last one seems like the only viable option at this point.

Don’t get me wrong. I realize these bills need to be paid, but dammit! Give me a frikkin’ break here! I’ve lost 10lbs since all this started and my health is starting to suffer because of this.

A note to Hydro One

You have the NERVE to call me a ‘customer’? You rack up a huge debt then look to me to pay for it under the guise of a ‘Debt Retirement Charge’ which is anywhere from $10-$20 on all my Hydro bills. You prey on the unfortunate by demanding additional money that a lot of us don’t have. You send me a disconnection notice dated for December 24th (Christmas Eve) which tells me just how much you think of your ‘customers’.

I’ve dealt with collection agencies who have had more heart than you! Wake up and smell the economy! Try to help a guy out during these tough times for crying out loud!

So, take your monopolistic attitude and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine! I’ve had more than enough of this shit!

Odds N Ends

  • Fabiolus
    Hydro or other big corporation doesnt really give a flying f%^ck about us...yes I do work for a very big corporation in Canada, they care about the buck coming in... ever saw the movie the grinch? the more is never enough they want more more and with that comes politics and power.

    My friends this is a big game that us the "little people" will never understand. Screw the big corporation better yet screw the government with its sutpid HST tax coming soon...I tell ya we are all puppets...its sad.

    Problem is that we have no leader for the little people, it would take only one day for us the workers!! that wpork hard for our money to simply not go to work for a week,,I mean everybody in Canada and then the government will realise that he his not the one leading this Country we are my friends!!

    I got my windmill a couple of year ago, I barely pay Hydro 20$ a month...they can all suck on my hairless balls!!!!!
  • Jim
    Hydro One is a god dam joke, I spot their employee's taking 45 minute breaks at local Tim Hortons, 4 times a day and we PAY FOR THAT???? I am 24 years old I do not think its fair that I have to pay some debt retirement charge that I wasn't even around for. Now they have this time of day usage, how greedy can one company get. Here is what everyone should do chip a couple blocks away in our basement and wire your panel in before your meter so it bypasses it, and cancel your account. And put these Money hungry bastards out of business, There are alot of crooked Electritions out there that will do this, time to fight fire with fire.
  • pointy head wanker
    TOU Time of use just gave me a great idea. It can also work against them. I only burn about 1 kw for 6 hours when I come home at nite. So I am just going to buy a small generator ($400=same as the delivery fees for only 7 months!!!! pays for itself in less than a year!!!) and use that instead. If it is less than half than what they are charging then I just out smarted all of these rocket scientists and their glorious 50 year legacy of idioacy and insane debt. Most business' could never do this, let alone do this to their customers, its only because electricity is essential and gov run have they been able to. All the politicos mess up and then finger point. They are all guilty collectively since this is their baby. 1/3 of the employees on the sunshine list?? Roflmao. There's 1.5 billion right there. First GST on the debt retirment charge now HST? You have got to be joking. There certainly isn't any other place like this.
  • Jack Krummerascke
    I work at the hyro one dam power station and do regular maintenece on the turbines. My job is way harder than you could imagine...working in the water everyday all day long even in the winter. So thank you for your respect and i'm sorry that our personel has treated you wrongly.
  • Thanks for stopping back.

    Sounds like a tough job. You sir, deserve every penny you take home! You're the reason our lights are still on. :)

    However, my appreciation for Hydro One pretty much ends there. Sorry.
  • hydroonecorporatethieves
    add another HYDRO ONE HATER to the group , after struggling to keep my bill low at $58.00 usage , I learn today that I will always get #$%^& for $ 63.00 ( at least ) for DELIVERY charges ----plus `debt retirment etc etc ,,,whatever else they might come up with to $%^&*( their `customers` over with ,,,, and our government not only supports them but allows it ,,,,
  • Kelly
    I just started a facebook group called " How much is left to pay on the Hydro One Debt Retirement Fund" I feel your pain totally and I am sick of paying for "What" I have no clue. I think they should issue us a financial statement telling us how much has been paid off and what's left owing! Please join and tell your friends...lets start the ball rolling!!
  • Jack Krummerascke
    I work at hydro one and you guys can go screw yourselves.
  • Wow! A typical example of Hydro One's attitude toward their customers. Straight from the horse's mouth!

    If you're one of the workers who keeps the service in tact and running, then great! I have the utmost respect for you!

    However, if you're one of the Fat Cats who sits on his ass making policies that cripple people who are just trying to survive, then take a looker at some of the comments here. These are REAL people in REAL crisis!

    We're not just a bunch of faceless whiners. We're the customers who are responsible for partially paying YOUR wages. I've paid almost $10,000 in 5 years just so you can take home a pay check!

    Screw me? No! Screw you!!
  • Michelle
    Here post another Hydro one hater. With this post though I have a question for everyone out there. On your bill, on the line that says "metered usage in kWh" - what is your meter reading multiplied by? It is supposed to be multiplied by the multiplier number on your meter I believe. Does anyone know if this is correct? Also wondering if everyone is reading the old meters or the new digital meters? We have had our meter changed to the new meter in the past year and our multiplier numbers don't match up. Having astronomical hydro bills every month and deposits. Can anyone help or verify this for me?
  • gmacmillan
    I can't agree with you more about Hydro One. I get a bill in from them during the winter months for only (60 days hydro) for get this $2,889.89 and I only have a 2 bedroom home with only me living in it. My last bill for the winter months Dec.16/Feb 21 was $1,875.86 can you believe that. Plus on top of that they wanted a $800.00 security deposit cause I paid late a couple of times. Being on a pension I can not afford the hydro bills. What the heck does Hydro One want my blood well they can have it Cancer and all.
  • Jennifer
    Atleast they didn`t take your sense of humour.Ya i`ve been their too and it sucks.Heat or food or rent....what a choice...I felt a little guilty laughing at some of your wise crack comments...you`ve got a great way of expressing yourself.I guess we can`t really afford tears after hydro gets done sucking us dry...hope things look up for you all soon......
  • Terry
    I feel ya man, they refuse to even let me make payment arrangements. They told me they want $900 or they are cutting me off.
  • rick kelly
    they want 400 from me ,but advice to fight back,bombard your local mp with emails,copy paste emails from here ,send them,one email to them represents 100 people with the same complaint.start petition on a web site or face book or something.email talk radio shows,their policy is an attack on the poor,they know u cant fight back ,no money,class action lawsuit anybody,any lawyers reader this,do it before u lose your hydro
  • artsychic
    I have some information that may help some people. If you want you can email me at artsy_chic2000@yahoo.ca
  • artsychic
    I have something that may help some people. If you would like to contact me you can email me at artsy_chic2000@yahoo.ca
  • Please share ;)
  • artsychic
    Hello again Mr. Monte:
    Please contact me directly through my email from your regular email as what i have to explain may take a little time and some links. I assure you, if you can get your head around it it can make life better for everyone here.
  • Kathy
    Larry your bill is nothing compared to mine hydro one called me today we have slipped through their system 2 times avoiding getting disconnecting i just dont know how were going to be able tpo pay a years worth of hydto ... you know if it was 188.00 a month i would love it and gladly pay that amount but ...i have asked hydro one to look into our hydro for awhile ..for one yr hydro were looking at 7500.00 12 months so your 188.00 i would welcome with open arms
    i asked to make payment arrangements i was willing to give them 2000.00 back in feb and they said all or nothing so having 2 kids here and my husband and i figure it would be smarter to purchase a generator to help give us heat and freezing since they would only accept the money and cut us off anyways with jobs being next to notyhing everyone laid off our morgage of 1200.00 and living on 1400.00 a month hmmm yes with food banks and family helping we could eat but we had no money for other things like hydro...what the hell am i suppose to do ??? its not like we went of a lets use as much hydro as possible were never going to pay this bill we couldnt i'm working 3 days a week now and my husband is looking for work the odd reno job here and there .. there is nothing ...what can we do ??/ not a damn thing our hydto to get it back on is going to cost us over 8000.00 with their damn deposit request
  • Kathy
    sorry for the typos .... my nerves are shot and looking at losing alot if things dont change around ... hydro one can kiss my ass omg, i pay them half of what i make a year and i dont run anything different than anyone else ..we live in the country so it cost me 150.00 to 180.00 just to get hydro delivered to us yaaaaaaaaaaaaaa lucky us ffs
  • No need to apologize. :)

    I have a friend who also slipped through the cracks then got a huge bill they could never hope to pay. They're on disability and he ended up letting the disconnection happen and I managed to get him hooked up under my name.

    If I'm correct, that bill is still outstanding 7 years later. We'll score one point for the 'little guy' on that one. ;)

    I only tell you that story as it might be a solution to someone if not yourself.

    Unfortunately, we're dealing with the Energy Mafia here. They have the Government wrapped around their little finger and there isn't thing one we can do about it.

    The CEO of Just Energy (rip off artists) sits on the Ontario Energy Association's Board of Directors. That alone should tell you how corrupt the system is.

    I feel for you, Kathy. There's a lot of us being held down financially because of these bastards. I fear it's only going to get worse before it gets better.
  • Hydro One Pawns
    We have battled this before and much like you have done our best to keep up with the Hydro bills, paying them on time mostly, but when they issue actual bills that make up for estimated bills, we get swamped and take a month or two to catch up. It is funny that although they charge such a deposit, they don't apply it towards your bill when they issue a disconnect notice - they did this to us at a previous residence and though they had more on deposit than the overdue balance, still sent disconnect notices. Even the ombudsman is a sham here. They simply took Hydro One's word and closed the file without any recourse. When we moved and closed the account, suprise a cheque came in the mail. I think it is a way to either balance their books or earn revenue. BTW, we have been late on three occasions in two years here.
  • Poor Hydro One Victim
    This is exactly the same thing that happened to my Girlfriend at her previous residence. They had more on hand than the amount needed to clear the overdue amount on the disconnect notice, however wanted a payment up front to prevent disconnection. We paid the bill, and when we moved into our current home, received a cheque with the deposit amount. We are now again being asked for a security deposit, we have been late upon occasion due to their estimated bills not being accurate. Their policy states that they must issue 2 disconnection notices before doing this. I only received one. I just realized that if they had issued a 2nd one, I never paid it and never got disconnected, so how could it have been issued as they claim? Hmm, better review my records again.
  • win4me
    I just got a bill today also they want a 850.00 deposit. I will not pay and I plan on fighting it. I'm wondering if going to your MP would help.
  • Marg
    Hi:
    We just got our latest hydro bill/disconnection notice today.
    Past due - $700
    Current bill - $500 +
    We are told that with this (the second) disconnection notice in two months)
    we will be facing a deposit of over 2X our highest bill in the last 24 months.
    Wow. That's really nice, eh!
    We are depending on an insurance policy to try and keep our heads above water since a serious accident disabled my husband last June. Said insurance policy has a habit of 'forgetting to send out the odd two week payment' - maybe they're related to Hydro One! As a result, it all plays havoc with bill payments.
    When I looked at the latest bill, I see that just over $200. was actual consumption.
    An additional $188. was charged for 'delivery charge' Cripes, even Canada Post doesn't cost that much, or Purolator, or any one else.
    I have to wonder, how much of all this blood money is going into already rich pockets? Perhaps Premier McGuilty, perhaps you would like to come clean?
    Perhaps some of the Hydro One 'Exectutive' (I'm not sure what Executives do except count 'delivery charge' money; perhaps they may have had to deepen their pockets to hold all the lovely currency flowing in.
    Perhaps we've all been too quiet for too long in this province.
    If my typing strokes appear to be done with some sharp staccato, believe me, the keyboard is also suffering.
    Yes, we can write the newspapers, we can contact the news agencies, we can protest to Hydro One, to the Premier's office, and on and on ad nauseum, but all it really does, is increase our consumption of Hyrdo One's precious power as we call, use our computers, and so on and so on and so on.
    Can we do with less? Heck, yes. Turn it all off.
    Start heating with wood.
    Use the old coal oil lamp.
    Go to bed earlier.
    Play cards, read books (in the daylight), instead of watching tv.
    It may be the slow, gradual way, but we'll have their tight little hydro parts right where we want them. With little demand, they'll have to come up with some gimmick to get customers back.....hmmmmm, a bit radical maybe, but when nothing else helps, get em where it hurts, in their own pocket book.
    Don't know how many of us can pull this off, but regardless, if we can all do a little, then perhaps it may snowball into an effective mass of protest.
    Good luck, everyone, I'm going to turn off my computer now, and hope to keep it that way......
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