Head office of Chatham-Kent electrical utility Entegrus May 19 2015 (Photo by Simon Crouch) Head office of Chatham-Kent electrical utility Entegrus May 19 2015 (Photo by Simon Crouch)
Chatham

Thousands Of Homes Behind On Hydro Bills

More than 2,300 Entegrus Powerlines customers were behind on their hydro bills at the end of last year.

And more than a quarter of them were low income customers.

That information was released in a report from the Ontario Energy Board, which states 566,902 homes in Ontario were in arrears at the end of 2015, down 263 customers compared to the end of 2014.

Hydro One Networks customers made up the biggest portion of households who didn't pay their hydro bills on time with 225,952 of them behind on their payments.

Any account that is 30 or more days past the 16-day minimum payment period is considered to be in arrears.

In total, 2,385 Entegrus Powerlines customers were behind on their payments; a noticeable increase from the 1,647 households who were in arrears at the end of 2014.

The total amount of arrears for Entegrus customers that failed to pay their bills on time by the end of 2015 was $262,426 -- that works out to about $110 per customer.

At the same time, Hydro One Networks was still waiting for $105,583,215 -- which works out to about $468 per customer.

Just over a quarter of the Entegrus customers who were in arrears at the end of 2015 were considered "eligible low income customers." Of the 2,385 Entegrus customers who were behind on their payments, 641 were either approved for the Ontario Electricity Support Program (OESP) or Emergency Financial Assistance.

Those "eligible low income customers" owed Entegrus $82,077 at the end of 2015 -- or about $128 per customer.

RELATED: Ontario Homes Behind On Hydro Bills

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