THUNDER BAY — After 18 months of frustration, an Enbridge gas customer near Thunder Bay will finally be billed for the natural gas she's using, rather than for her neighbour's consumption.
Chantal Fraser owns a mobile home in a trailer park in Gorham Township.
Since October 2021, she's been getting bills based on meter readings from a neighbouring property.
Fraser, who purchased the home earlier that year, told TBnewswatch she only found about the problem in September 2022 when she tried to submit a meter reading to Enbridge.
"I received an email from Enbridge saying I was doing it wrong. I was submitting the wrong number. So I called them, and I found out that the meter they have on file for me doesn't belong to me. I looked at a neighbour's meter, and on my bill is my neighbour's meter number. That's how I found out I've been paying my neighbour's gas bill."
That started a series of phone calls to Enbridge customer service that took place over the ensuing months.
Fraser was concerned because her monthly bills were "insanely high" at times, ranging between $400 and $600 during the winter.
"Every time I called, they said they were looking at it and working on fixing on it. But nothing was actually being done."
She said she also spoke to a supervisor, and was told twice that the matter had been escalated to the company's ombudsman.
After TBnewswatch contacted Enbridge about the matter last week, Fraser reported Monday that everything has been resolved to her satisfaction.
"They've fixed my bill. They've fixed my meter going back to October 2021. It's all corrected now. I am able to take my own meter reads, and they credited me back with what I've overpaid for the last year-and-a-half. It was a fair amount."
She said the company also gave her a credit of $100 "just for having waited so long and having to go through this ordeal."
In an email to TBnewswatch, a company spokesperson said, "Enbridge representatives visited the area several times since we learned of the issue but had difficulty locating the meter that this account should be associated [with] to correct the accounts. We have since determined where the meter is crossed."
The spokesperson said the company is apologetic for the length of time it took to resolve the issue.
She said "it is unusual" for a crossed meter to occur, and speculated that in this instance it was a human error that was made in the process of installing multiple meters in the same area.
According to Fraser, the owner of the neighbouring property just recently purchased it, and was initially unable to get a bill from Enbridge because the company couldn't locate his meter in their system.
She believes her decision to contact the news media ultimately sped up the investigation.
Fraser advises anyone purchasing or renting a property to check their gas bill to make sure the meter number on it matches the number on the equipment.
"Call Enbridge right away. Don't give up. Keep calling. Keep advocating for yourself if you think there's an issue."
