The frustrating thing was that, just minutes before they conceded the scale of the overcharging, I'd received a "final notice" in the mail which warned me that because I owed them money, I would have my power disconnected. Two hours later we were discussing how best to pay the huge amount of money that they actually owed me.

There have been numerous instances mentioned in this column where people have been incorrectly billed by Telecom (particularly when it comes to DSL connections or switching from dial-up to DSL) and the importance of checking those phone bills for errors. Now, it seems, the same amount of care should be taken when perusing your power account.

Is it just that the average Kiwi believes that the computerisation of accounting systems has effectively eliminated errors -- or is it perhaps that they're just too lazy to double-check these accounts?

It's not hard to check these accounts. In the case of your power bill, read your own meters at regular intervals and make sure that the consumption figures tally with those charged. Also make sure you're being charged the correct rates. In my case, the power company was charging my hot-water and night-store heating power at the full rate, despite the fact that they were on separate switched circuits.

Yes, power prices have gone through the roof - but that might not be the only reason that your bill is so large this year.

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