Home & Garden

Question: Over-billed by enercare for months. Can I demand interest?

  • Last Updated:
  • Jul 27th, 2017 1:16 pm
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jan 17, 2005
1755 posts
364 upvotes
Ottawa

Question: Over-billed by enercare for months. Can I demand interest?

After I moved to a new place, I've been charged with 2 water heater rentals (1 conventional and 1 tankless) from enercare since day 1. I noticed this in the very first bill I received, and called them to fix it. After hearing from a rep that the correction would take 2-3 billing cycles, I waited patiently but nothing was done. I called again today, and they said there's no record of ordering the fix and correction would take another 2-3 billing cycles.

Can I demand the same 1.5% monthly interest accrued over the entire period, just like I would pay for late payment?
13 replies
Deal Guru
Feb 9, 2006
13378 posts
8308 upvotes
Brampton
You can sure as hell try.
They likely won't agree to it.
Huge rip off really. They can charge you interest for being late but they won't give you back interest for them holding your money. That's even if they give you back the correct amount in credit.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jan 17, 2005
1755 posts
364 upvotes
Ottawa
tebore wrote: You can sure as hell try.
They likely won't agree to it.
Huge rip off really. They can charge you interest for being late but they won't give you back interest for them holding your money. That's even if they give you back the correct amount in credit.
I can understand they can make mistakes, but not fixing it when I reported the problem is not acceptable.

I am wondering if there's any consumer protection law or such. It's not fair for them to charge me on interest but not vice versa.
Deal Guru
User avatar
Mar 23, 2008
13006 posts
10009 upvotes
Edmonton
danthemightyone wrote: I can understand they can make mistakes, but not fixing it when I reported the problem is not acceptable.

I am wondering if there's any consumer protection law or such. It's not fair for them to charge me on interest but not vice versa.
Send them a registered letter, and CC the appropriate consumer and energy boards in your location.

C
Deal Guru
Feb 9, 2006
13378 posts
8308 upvotes
Brampton
danthemightyone wrote: I can understand they can make mistakes, but not fixing it when I reported the problem is not acceptable.

I am wondering if there's any consumer protection law or such. It's not fair for them to charge me on interest but not vice versa.
Trust me I'm all on your side on this. Just a battle I've been thru before for my parents.
Deal Addict
Apr 24, 2007
2712 posts
1058 upvotes
I agree with you, but interest will be likely impossible to get, and really not amount to much.

I think you're better off asking for a goodwill credit towards your next bill. Perhaps a free month?

It's worth a shot, but how much of your own sanity are you will to invest and argue with them over what amounts to a a few cents at the end of the day?
Deal Expert
User avatar
Feb 11, 2007
21248 posts
25711 upvotes
GTA
Unless you specified an interest penalty on their part for overcharging, you have no chance to charge them for it.

The bigger scam is that you're renting from them at all.
You should call them and ask about the buyout price, and if your rental is older and out of contract, consider the option of removing it and giving it back to them and installing your own.
Rental appliances are a HUGE SCAM.
If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 14, 2010
1879 posts
1407 upvotes
Barrie ON
You didn't say what the excess monthly charge was, but I did a bit of math (Excel Spreadsheet) based on a $25/month rental. I also used your suggested annual interest rate of 1.5%, and I assume that you will have made 6 payments before you are reimbursed for the $150 in extra charges.

I think we all agree that Enercare will reimburse you for the $150 ($25 x 6 months). You are only seeking the loss in interest you would have made if that money was invested and earning you 1.5%

I calculate that Enercare would owe you $0.66 after your last of 6 extra charges. For example the 1st payment of $25 would earn $0.19 after 6 months, the 2nd payment of $25 would earn $0.16 after 5 months, until you get to the last payment earning $0.03 in 1 month.

If you wish to provide the actual erroneous charge and the total number of months before you expect this to be straightened out, I can stick your actual numbers into the spreadsheet so that you can make the proper request to Enercare.
Deal Addict
Sep 2, 2004
3138 posts
2300 upvotes
Rick007 wrote: I also used your suggested annual interest rate of 1.5%...
He said monthly rate not annual
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 14, 2010
1879 posts
1407 upvotes
Barrie ON
Capt. wrote: He said monthly rate not annual
Yes,, upon re-reading the OP I see that you were correct. Since 1.5%/month works out to be an effective annual rate of 19.56% I thought the OP must have meant 1.5% annually. I checked my own Enbridge bill and verified he was correct.

That means if the OP could claim the 1.5% interest rate on a $25/month erroneous charge, he would now be entitled to $8.07 after 6 monthly over-payments.

The problem is that the court would only reimburse him for reasonable or actual losses which he could prove. My PC savings account is paying 0.8% annually. and 5 year GIC's are paying 1.6% to 2.8%. So the most I could claim in losses is $1.23

So I see now that the OP is trying to raise the point as that a company can charge the consumer 19.56% when we are late paying, but we are only entitled to a reasonable ~2.2% when they are late paying. And I'm sure claiming that isn't an easy task.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jan 17, 2005
1755 posts
364 upvotes
Ottawa
engineered wrote: Unless you specified an interest penalty on their part for overcharging, you have no chance to charge them for it.

The bigger scam is that you're renting from them at all.
You should call them and ask about the buyout price, and if your rental is older and out of contract, consider the option of removing it and giving it back to them and installing your own.
Rental appliances are a HUGE SCAM.
Wish I could do that but I can't. I'm living in a rental property. Landlord does not want to buy (and maintain) one.
Gee wrote: Why are you paying the full bill? I would only pay the portion that you're responsible for.
Because this enercare water rental bill is part of enbridge bill, showing up as "other company" charge. I can't tell if what I am paying goes towards enbridge first. It may just show up as partial payment.
Rick007 wrote: Yes,, upon re-reading the OP I see that you were correct. Since 1.5%/month works out to be an effective annual rate of 19.56% I thought the OP must have meant 1.5% annually. I checked my own Enbridge bill and verified he was correct.

That means if the OP could claim the 1.5% interest rate on a $25/month erroneous charge, he would now be entitled to $8.07 after 6 monthly over-payments.

The problem is that the court would only reimburse him for reasonable or actual losses which he could prove. My PC savings account is paying 0.8% annually. and 5 year GIC's are paying 1.6% to 2.8%. So the most I could claim in losses is $1.23

So I see now that the OP is trying to raise the point as that a company can charge the consumer 19.56% when we are late paying, but we are only entitled to a reasonable ~2.2% when they are late paying. And I'm sure claiming that isn't an easy task.
]

Yes, it's 1.5% monthly and effective rate of 19.56% annually. The over payments are for a tankless one and are $39.99 monthly + tax.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 14, 2010
1879 posts
1407 upvotes
Barrie ON
danthemightyone wrote: Yes, it's 1.5% monthly and effective rate of 19.56% annually. The over payments are for a tankless one and are $39.99 monthly + tax.
Well now you are up to $14.60 in losses after 6 payments, at their rate of 1.5% per month. In reality, if you had invested this money ( now $271.14 with GST) in the highest paying GIC available(2.8%) , you could have made $2.22.

Still, you have raised a good point as to why they can penalize us so much, and we have no recourse to recover from them, for erroneous charges like this, or periods that their services are not available.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jan 17, 2005
1755 posts
364 upvotes
Ottawa
Rick007 wrote: Well now you are up to $14.60 in losses after 6 payments, at their rate of 1.5% per month. In reality, if you had invested this money ( now $271.14 with GST) in the highest paying GIC available(2.8%) , you could have made $2.22.

Still, you have raised a good point as to why they can penalize us so much, and we have no recourse to recover from them, for erroneous charges like this, or periods that their services are not available.
Exactly, it's not just about money. We sometimes forget to pay the bill on time and we pay for it. The utility companies do make mistakes and we pay for it too. I don't think this is fair.

Top

Thread Information

There is currently 1 user viewing this thread. (0 members and 1 guest)