Garston cafe owner Tony Corbett got a shock when he saw his latest power bill. Contact Energy charged him $1100 when his normal monthly power bill is about $200.
His sister Tess Corbett had a similar problem in Kaiwaka – her bill from Meridian Energy is usually about $34 a month but the last one was $394.
The cause of the problem appears to be the meter readers’ inability to read the meters. They’d given a six-figure killowatt reading instead of a five-figure. The sixth digit on the meter is a unit counter and was read as a unit of kilowatt power so Mr Corbett’s 177 kilowatts had been recorded as 1770.
Memo to staff trainers: meter readers need to know which numbers they are supposed to read and record.
Posted by homepaddock 
Homepaddock 