A Bodden Town
resident was mailed a CI $10,738.81 electrical bill for the month of February –
apparently in error – by the Caribbean Utilities Company.
The bill was quite a bit higher
than the $147 charge Iva Hart paid in January.
She’s lived in her modest two
bedroom home in Belford Estates since 1989 and said she has never seen an
electric bill higher than $200.
“I went to CUC and had a quarrel
with them,” Ms Hart said. “And they said, ‘oh just pay us $106.’”
She did that and left the CUC
offices. The next day, Ms Hart said she received another bill for $10,631.81.
The $106 payment had apparently
been subtracted.
“I called again (Tuesday) morning
and told them I was going to the news,” she said. “I just wanted to let people
know to check their bills before they pay.”
A CUC spokesperson confirmed
Tuesday afternoon that the initial $10,738.81 bill was the result of a printing
error and that Ms Hart currently has a credit for 13 cents on her account.
CUC’s Pat Bynoe-Clarke wasn’t
certain why another bill was sent out, since arrangements had already been put
in place on the customer’s account.
“This
was the result of a billing error,” Mrs. Bynoe-Clarke wrote in response to
questions about the overcharge. “Once it was identified, immediate action was
taken to rectify and the matter was resolved with the customer.”
As
of mid-day Tuesday, Ms Hart said she hadn’t heard from CUC representatives
about the remaining CI $10,631.81 bill.
Mrs.
Bynoe-Clarke assured the Caymanian Compass that the account had been fixed, and
that slip ups of this kind were quite rare for the electrical company.
“In
the processing and running of thousands of bills a rare error such as this can
occur,” she said. “CUC apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused.”