'Blows my mind': N.S. man receives $1,000 bill after power disconnected, smart meter removed

SALMON RIVER, N.S. -

“It blows my mind,” says homeowner Bob MacKenzie, after a situation that would make anyone's head spin.

On Feb. 10, a kitchen fire forced MacKenzie and his family out of their home in Salmon River, N.S.

They haven't been back since.

He says when firefighters came that day, so did workers with Nova Scotia Power, to disconnect the electricity for safety.

“Nova Scotia Power showed up, pulled the meter, set the meter down there, since then the meter's been taken.”

Until Tuesday, MacKenzie says the meter was sitting on the ground next to his house. The power hasn’t been reconnected as he waits for restoration work to be completed through insurance.

He thinks the utility may have come to collect the meter, but he's not certain.

Nevertheless, he had already sent a photo of the meter on the ground to Nova Scotia Power after receiving an electricity bill for for $1,018.32 earlier this week.

According to his account statement, the billing period started Feb. 7, three days before the fire. The bill states the amount is an estimate due to "no access."

“They didn't even know the power meter was off, so I don't understand how it could have happened or how I could have gotten a bill. They show 6,146 kilowatt hours being used, a previous meter reading, a new meter reading.”

MacKenzie called Nova Scotia Power and says the bill is being reversed and that the utility was “very apologetic.” However, he still has plenty of questions about where it got its numbers.

“How did they estimate that I used 6,146 kilowatt hours? Because last year in April it was 6,500 kilowatt hours. I just don't know where they get their calculations at.”

Nova Scotia Power could not provide anyone to answer those questions in an interview. Instead, the corporation sent a written statement from senior communications advisor Jacqueline Foster.

“When responding to an emergency such as a residential fire, our priority is always ensuring the safety of our customers and employees,” the statement reads.

“Unfortunately, during the emergency situation an administrative error was made which resulted in the customer being billed by mistake. As soon as we were made aware of this, we took immediate steps to correct it and we thank the customer for bringing this to our attention.”

His questions left unanswered, MacKenzie says he’s had plenty of reaction since he posted about his experience on Facebook.

Now he says he worries just how many people receive and pay bills based on estimates -- rather than actual usage -- without ever noticing.

He wants to know how often the company estimates bills, especially after it began upgrading 500,000 customers throughout the province to smart meters in 2019.

“That's what I’m worried about moving forward, is my own bill, but my neighbour's bill, everybody else's bill, are they all getting gouged?”

As for the smart meter -- MacKenzie's done with that.

Once he can move back into his home, he's asked the utility to install an analog meter in the hopes of avoiding any further billing errors, even though going back to a traditional meter will cost him a fee.