We also asked BEL's senior execs about the claims made by the Chairman
of the PUC that the utility had been "averaging" bills due to COVID 19.
That suggests that due to staff safety concerns during the time of
COVID, the company had based your meter reading on an average, rather
than going to read it themselves.
Today, BEL denied that claim:
Jules Vasquez
"Was BEL averaging out bills rather than doing the meter reading which we
know we're accustomed to them doing?"
Dawn Sampson Nunez - General Manager, Employee & Corporate
Services, BEL
"So, first of all, meter reading was never suspended. We continued with
that, when it comes to the concerns about high bills, of course we know
many people were at home, the consumption was high during that time but I
do have to make the point that meter reading never suspended. However,
there are times when the meter reader visits a premises and they gate is
locked, there is a dog there and in those cases and it would be a very
small percentage of our customer base, perhaps about 1% or so on average,
that we would have to then refer to past consumption to determine what the
bill is for that month; however, an adjustment is made at a later time to
ensure accuracy at a later time."
Jules Vasquez
"So now, in your opinion, is that an act of bad faith if the chairman was
not acting on information but basing it on an informed assumption, he's an
authority on all things having to do with utilities, was that an act of bad
faith by him to introduce this as a possible explanation for what many
consumers felt were unjustly high electricity bills?"
Dawn Sampson Nunez
"Well I have explained the position and that position is there are times,
albeit in a very small percentage, that we do have to average bills when we
are unable to access the properties."
Jules Vasquez
"He presented it that you are were doing this because of COVID. He's an
authority."
Dawn Sampson Nunez
"Well I won't make any announcements on his motives, I will stick with the
facts."
Jules Vasquez
"But he lied on unno."
Dawn Sampson Nunez
"I don't think it's right for us to make any pronouncements there."
Tomorrow, we'll have a little more on the current points of dispute
between the utility and the regulator on the full tariff review period
which is being challenged.
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