Residents billed for the months without power
Communication and Works Minister Mark Vanterpool has called on the BVI Electricity Cooperation (BVIEC) to halt service disconnections for persons with inflated bills.
A number of persons have reported receiving questionable utility bills from the electricity company since power was restored to their homes.
A female resident who participated as a caller on the NDP Radio programme last evening said power was restored to her community late-January.
The woman said she and other residents in the area have received electricity bills reflecting the months they were without the power.
“And BVIEC telling us we have to pay, otherwise they are going to disconnect us,” she said.
While responding to the concern, Minister Vanterpool said he plans to meet with the BVIEC to iron out the issue.
“As the minister, I want to ask the [electricity] cooperation to be patient with persons and not disconnect them,” he said.
Generators may have caused problem
The minister said the issue may lie with generators that were used after the hurricanes.
“What has happened was that the people hooked up their generators to their houses and the generators were turning the meters and now the BVIEC has to figure out and work out what the cost might have been and what the cost was at that time.”
“So, it is a discussion that we are going to be having and hopefully after that, we can work through the situation and have something resolved,” he said.
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The BVIEC cannot look to charge people for the periods that they would have been without electricity. This is soo stupid, they should know better. They should know that it is most likely the connected generators that moved the meters.
The meters are read and billed automatically so they have to go back to check those and possibly issue credits. It’s not someone going on willfully manually charging people for power they didn’t have. It’s a system in place and now they have to take some time to go back through it and hopefully rectify these issues. BVIEC has also been very lenient with arrears for the past few months as well..
Your rebuttal does not fly at all. Never did I imply that someone has willfully charged people. What I am implying, is lack of sense by the BVIEC part.
Efforts should have been made to not have people billed unfairly. Red flags should have been raised. How dare BVIEC demand and threaten people for payment covering the blackout period?
this is not true, people are being charged for July & August use which was never billed and collected due to Irma, my bill was a little over $2.5k but they gave me 2 months to pay
In February BVI EC came to disconnect me only 10 days after my power came back, said I owe over 600.00!!!!! He allowed me to get in my car to go and pay. I never even received a bill and I didn’t own a generator. I am a one person in a very small house, left with no choice, but to pay.
and look when this is being addressed….after they done collect hundreds of dollars from ppl in order to get their power on….smh….
This is my solution:
Use the last reading before the hurricane and subtract the current reading, which should determine the number of units added in error when there was no electricity. Average out an amount for the connection period in late January, which would be based on prior usage of the customer, then go forward billing in full beginning the month of February.
Only you got some sense and logic up in here. Maybe if you sell some common sense some people will buy it
What I did was take a picture of my meter the day I got back electricity, this was before I turned back on the breakers. When I got my bill, I compared the last meter reading stated to the reading on my picture, I was actually being billed for August, which they weren’t able to collect for in September. No discrepancies with my bill. Just have to see what the next bill will look like now.
no units can be added in error to your meter, power must flow through it to be functioning or the numbers won’t increase. So if the numbers have increased, since Sept 6th then you have ahad power running through your meter from the BVIEC or a generator you or someone you know installed incorrectly.
Bet they don’t disconnect the government for all the years they failed to pay their bills? Part of the reason BVIEC is in such dire straights but heh lets just fleece the local population just like the “No Direction Party” is good at ….
You will get nonstop sh—-ting when the No Direction Party is re-elected.
If the people re-elect the “No Direction Party” it would reveal their aspirations to be continually deceived,kept in the dark and let down by a bunch of self seeking egotists, sadly even recent new members have failed to stop the rot and I was expecting much better….but then the Dr controls things and if you step out of line you are ostracised – but no good government should surround themselves with yes people….if the NDP hold on to power they will continue to fail to deliver and that would be v bad for the BVI – even Ralph now seems better than this bunch …
Sound like a lawsuit
This is why electricity preached not to hook your generators to your meters and pleaded to let a “professional” electrician complete task if you were
BVIEC say do not wire generator into the meter box. like most people did and ran the meter that is why the bill still reflected during the irma months.
I do not know what is wrong with bviec
They are over doing this
And it is not right
Why are they wrong. They pleaded with people to have a professional correctly install generators. Those people who connected the generators directly to the meters endangered the life of all the lines men working in their area. Consider it a fine. pay it and move on
I did not have any generator hook up to my house yet the bill was high. That is a matter that needs to be looked into. No one lives there, nothing is plugged in and the meter running. Something ain’t right.
I was disconnected for 41$ and don’t understand when I went in they are saying that I don’t have no outstanding bills then when I further enquired they are sayin Ms Fraser said that the meter had a final reading and that they are seeing units been used. The bill is paid in full and I need to be reconnected please and thanks
Bvi electricity tried their best to warn people about hooking up generators to their meters.No one listened and now they are complaining.I had a generator,how come my bill after the hurricane was 65.00.People in the BVI do not follow instructions.Pay your bills and shut up.
BVIEC could not think of losing all those months of revenue so they now squeezing a rock for blood. If you think these bills high, you should see the ones for WATER. ALL OF THEM GOING TO PAY WHEN THE NEXT HURRICANE REACH. WAIT.
You pay for what you use for electricity and water. Folks were warned long time before IrMaria if they need to hook up a generator to let a qualified person do so.
Check the phone companies too. They’re doing the same. Mark was going to help us but I guess he got ———, ate his belly full and now n****ritis is kicking in.
Do not be fooled people.
It has nothing to do with incorrect wiring.
Those who have had heavy duty generators for years, still received an inflated bill while those who had a professional hook up their portable generator, the meter was not running.
If property owners are actually connecting portable generators to the service drops or service laterals, they are risking the lives of linesmen working on the transmission and distribution system. This practice should be discontinued now; protect and place life over personal conveniences. No one needs to lose their life through this unsafe, selfish and reckless behavior. Furthermore, this reckless behaviour can pose and put offenders in legal jeopardy.
Ok. Normally, a utility such as the BVIEC charges customers for a). a minimum basic rate + b)services demanded/used.. Thus, if the BVIEC were not delivering any KWh, how can it charge customers for consumption? On the other hand, if customers were receiving services but was not billed for it, they should pay for the services. However, since the BVIEC was tardy in billing customers for months, it should work with customers on a payment plan. It is easier to pay for a month than for 3 months.
This is bullsh-t.
this is madness we shouldn’t have to pay for a service that wasn’t provided
this aint really that difficult….If power was not restored in the area until January (for instance) then what analysis would be required to reverse charges that were put on the bills of the households in that area for the months where there was no electricity in the area?
this is just a lot of nonsense and hogwash…stop trying to scam the residents….remove the charges from the bills where there was no electricity. how can the generators be an issue if you know you were unable to provide electricity in the area? stop the nonsense BVIEC
“What has happened was that the people hooked up their generators to their houses and the generators were turning the meters and now the BVIEC has to figure out and work out what the cost might have been and what the cost was at that time.”
We didnt have any generator hooked up at our house. so whats the excuse now?