A Fredericton man was perplexed by his high power bills. He was paying the wrong bill

Bob Gibson couldn't figure out why his power bill was so large. He had his heat pump assessed and parts replaced–even installing a new thermostat. 

Then, last month, he discovered he'd been paying his neighbour's bill for nearly two years.

"We looked at the meter, and then we compared it to our bill and they didn't match," Gibson said.

The meter on Gibson's Fredericton home was replaced in late 2023. It wasn't long after that he saw his consumption start to rise, although at first not particularly quickly. 

After the winter of 2023-2024, Gibson was convinced that something wasn't right and was told by N.B. Power that the increased consumption was likely due to weather. He also began examining power-hungry appliances in his home to see if something was wrong with them. 

"It wasn't alarming initially," he said.

"The consumption went up and it just didn't make any sense. We've done a lot of things. We spent a lot of money on checking our heat pump, our switches, changed the thermostat … and it still didn't make any difference. The consumption still went up and up and up.

WATCH | Meter mix-up means N.B. man paid neighbour's power bill for nearly 2 years:

Fredericton man unknowingly paid his neighbour’s power bill for almost 2 years

10 hours ago

Duration 2:49

After nearly two years of abnormally large bills, a Fredericton man discovered that a mix-up with his account meant he had been paying for his neighbour’s power.

Gibson's February and March bills were more than $600, even though he and his wife were away both those months. Before leaving, Gibson said, he turned off his hot water heater and set the thermostat to 12 to prevent the house from freezing.

"And it just seemed that there's no way that consumption could be that high if we're not in the house using power."

When raised with N.B. Power, Gibson was told he could pay out of pocket to get his meter assessed. The technician sent to the house quickly discovered that the number on the meter did not match the one tied to Gibson's account. 

"The rep that came to actually change the meter, he said, 'We don't need to change the meter. Check the number you have. You have the wrong billing interface.'"

Phil Landry, the director of N.B. Power's project management office, said there are procedures in place to prevent such mistakes.

"When our meter installers get to their premise, first thing they do is to verify their work order and address," he said. "Then they take a picture of the old meter and the new meter to assure that we're in the right place and we're putting the meter on the right premise.

"Before we actually bill, the system will look to see if the consumption aligns with what's typical for that area. So that will pick up an error as well."

Landry added that these types of errors are extremely rare. But with the installation of thousands of meters per year as part of the utility's smart meter roll out, there are a handful of mistakes each year. 

Once an error is identified, Landry says the utility works with the customer to find out what happened and work toward a solution.

Gibson says that it took a month to six weeks for a formal response from N.B. Power. 

N.B. Power gave Gibson a credit for $5,000–after applying his actual consumption for the beginning of the year that credit now works out to $3,775. However, Gibson says he still wants to see a detailed breakdown of his actual consumption over the last few years. 

"It's been bothersome over the last few years, particularly when you have your heat turned down and you're away for a vacation period of time and the consumption is through the roof," he said. 

"It's disturbing, it's upsetting and I don't feel N.B. Power has really done their job on following up and being diligent and being in contact with me."