The Canberra man disputing a $17,000 bill for six months' worth of electricity at his O'Malley home says not even a heart attack can make him give up the fight to lobby for more competition in the ACT energy market.
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And he has brought together friends and family members critical of ActewAGL in an attempt to strengthen his argument.
Territory GP Yarub Jamiel made headlines last year when he revealed he had received the $17,000 power bill and had accumulated $25,000 worth of electricity costs in a year.
The ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) raised concerns there was no independent body testing the accuracy of meters in the ACT but it also ordered Dr Jamiel to pay some of the money. He said the $17,000 was still in dispute.
Now with four stents in his heart following a coronary thrombosis Dr Jamiel said others have had similar experiences.
One was brother-in-law Reyadh Abbas who asked to be part of ActewAGL's EvenPay direct debit billing service.
The energy company later told him it would take $100 a fortnight from him because it had calculated that was how much gas he had been using in the two-bedroom Phillip flat in the past year.
Mr Abbas said he had only just arrived in Australia.
"How did they calculate this?" he said. "This would destroy my budget."
ActewAGL general manager Ayesha Razzaq said EvenPay customers were not in the first instance able to elect a deduction amount.
"We either use the past 12 months history to calculate an amount or where there is no history a default amount is set," she said.
"Where there is no history, as in this case, a default amount of $100 per fortnight is set.
"After the initial setup, a customer can change the amount or cancel and move to an alternate payment method."
Riyad Otman, an Australian resident of 10 years living in Florey, received a $498 bill for 37 days consumption in September last year.
Mr Otman said after disputing the bill he paid the money only to be sent another bill in January, for the exact same 37-day period, for $114.
ActewAGL's acting general manager of retail, Paul Walshe, said each time Mr Otman called to complain about his original bill he was asked to provide a lease agreement.
This was to verify his new account and what date billing should start as his new home had previously been occupied by another ActewAGL customer.
"The lease agreement was provided on 2 January 2014. The following day, 3 January, ActewAGL reversed and reissued the invoice," Mr Walshe said.
"ActewAGL takes billing seriously – on an occasion when a customer disputes a bill, we investigate and take all the necessary steps to resolve the situation.
''When first electing to pay with EvenPay the customer does not have the option to elect an amount – we either use the past 12 months' history to calculate an amount or where there is no history a default amount is set.''
After the initial setup, a customer can change the amount or cancel and move to an alternate payment method.