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 Community
Issues
 Late Power Supply Utility Bills
In recent weeks, there has been a debate on the issue of late Power Supply
utility bills. The local media as well as the general community have sought to
air their views on the matter.
Our task is not to comment on the issue, but to put information collected
from various sources here and let you form your own opinion.
| Excerpt of a letter
by Wilkie ONG Keng Soon to The Straits Times of 3 Mar 2001 |
|
...I use GIRO to
pay for my utilities. |
| Recently I noticed two
deductions from my bank account, amounting to over S$800, for
utilities usage since July last year. |
| It is not proper of Power
Supply to make Giro deductions without first sending out the bills. |
| Consumers must be informed of
the amount to be deducted from the bank account and the date of
deduction. |
| It appears to me Power Supply
is anxious to close the book on its episode of late billing by
making households pay up in the shortest possible time...
Wilkie ONG Keng Soon |
| A Yishun resident
got the shock of his life when he saw his latest Power Supply bill
- for S$39,756.82. Karim Osman's monthly bills are always
less than S$200. The Straits Times contacted Singapore Power who
confirmed that the bill was incorrect and should never have been
sent. The company has been plaqued by billing problems since June
2000. It apologised this month after complaints about late and
inflated bills. (Straits Times 27 Dec 2000) |
| Excerpt of a
letter by WONG Fook Hung, Managing Director, Power Supply to
Forum, The Straits Times of 16 Dec 2000 |
| "Power
supply would like to address the concerns raised by the Consumers
Association of Singapore and our customers regarding the computer
problems that we are facing.
"The
first issue is refunds. Customers who had already closed their
utilities accounts with Power Supply will receive their
refunds/deposits within one month from now. Henceforth, Power
Supply will make all refunds within one month from the date that
an account is closed.
"The
second issue is GIRO payments. Giro payments should only be
effected after bills are sent. Customers who encounetr such a
problem should contact Power Supply for the deduction to be
refunded. Further action ahs been taken to ensure that Giro
deductions will be made only after bills are despatched.
"The
third issue is payment for delayed bills. Customers are not
required to make a lump-sum payment if they do not wish to do so.
We are sending out delayed bills 18 days apart so that they will
not need to make a lump-sum payment. Should any customer face a
problem in making payment, Power Supply will make available an
instalment plan to help customers pay for their delayed bills.
Customers will continue to receive their utilities supply during
this period.
"The
fourth issue is with regard to the accuracy of the bills. Meters
are normally read once in two months. Arising from concerns among
our customers, we shall read all meters every month during this
period to give customers further assurance that they are being
billed on actual consumption.
"There has been a great increase in the number of calls to
our call centre in the past few months. We have tripled the number
of customer service agents to 70 to attend to these calls. But we
may not be able to respond to every call promptly, especially
during peak hours. We appeal to our customers for understanding
during this period...We expect to see significant improvements by
March next year (2001) when the number of customers who have not
received their bills will drop, and the billing process to
normalise by July..."
WONG
Fook Hung, Managing Director, Power Supply |
The Public
Utilities Board has slapped two fines totalling S$150,000 on utility
company Power Supply for continued delays in billing customers. The
first penalty of S$100,000 was imposed for utilities on 11 Oct 2000 after
Power Supply failed to clear bills by a 30 Sep 2000 deadline. The second
fine of S$50,000 came last Thursday 7 Dec 2000 when Power Supply, a subsidiary of
Singapore Power, failed to meet a new 31 Oct 2000 deadline. (Straits
Times 15 Dec 2000)
|
Excerpt of a letter
by WONG Fook Hung, Managing Director, Power Supply to The Straits Times 7
Sep 2000
"In June, Power
Supply commenced installation of a new customer- management system to
replace the existing computer system which is more than 20 years old. This
highly-sophisticated system is being installed to cater to the needs of
the new environment where there would be multiple service providers, such
as electricity suppliers or refuse collectors.
"It also
enables billing for complex utilities tariffs and allows integration with
the various utility service providers, like the Water Department of PUB,
PowerGas, the various refuse companies as well as data downloaded from the
interactive utility website. This new system, when fully operational, will
provide for a more comprehensive and improved customer service.
"The project
started in March last year, with a series of trials being conducted. Even
then, we expected some teething problems, as with all new complex computer
systems, and made allowances for a two-week lapse in the delivery of
bills.
"Unfortunately,
the transition to the new system proved to be more complex than we
expected, as the migration of data from the old to the new system had some
gaps. However, the checks built into the system design resulted in bills
with errors being sifted out.
"To ensure that
the bills despatched are free from error, we are checking the contents of
each bill manually. This time-consuming task, added onto the unexpected
delay in data migration, caused some households to receive their bills
later than expected...
"..As of August
31, more than 1,100,000 June bills had been despatched. The remaining 3%
of our customers who have not received their June bills comprise mostly
those who had recently opened or terminated their utility accounts or had
their meters changed, etc. They should be receiving their June bills over
the next two weeks.
"Power Supply
is currently processing the bills for July and August. To date, almost
950,000 July bills have been despatched. The remaining 16% require more
detailed checks. Those who have not received their June bills will not
receive their July bills until the former have been mailed.
"Almost all of
the August bills will be despatched by the end of September while
processing of September bills will commence by mid-month. As our call
centre has experienced a surge in the number of enquiries, we have
increased the number of telephone lines as well as the manpower dedicated
to handling these calls...
"We apologise
unreservedly for the inconvenience and anxiety caused to all our
customers. We would like to assure the public that there will be no
consolidated statements whereby more than one month's utility charges are
combined in a single bill. During this period, no action will be taken to
cut off utility supply due to late payment...."
WONG Fook Hung, Managing Director, Power Supply
Excerpt of a letter
to The Straits Times 1 Sep 2000
"I have been
trying to contact Power Supply regarding my utilities bill, so that I will
not end up paying a hefty accumulated bill.
"However, my
attempts to call the company on the phone only got me frustrated, as no
one seemed to be answering the calls.
"I only knew
what was happening when I read the Forum page (letter below). Couldn't the
authorities have informed us earlier?" Reeta DAVI
Excerpt of a letter
to The Straits Times 31 Aug 2000
"Our power supply bill for July
has been delayed for a month. When I called Power Supply, they informed me
that the delay is due to their changing to a new system and that we will
be getting our July bill sometime in the middle of September .
".....Since Power Supply has
already planned to upgrade or change their system, they should also take
steps to inform the affected consumers in advance and not simply assum
that we will understand and sympathise with them.
"To date, nothing has been done
to inform consumers about the delay of their July bills. When the new
system is ready, consumers will be slapped with two bills in
September." June SIM Cheng Noi
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