World Economic

Some Enbridge Gas customers have been getting mysterious $4.94 a month charges on their bills from a company called Stomp Energy.

Three people asked me for help this week alone. They all said they never agreed to buy Stomp’s carbon offset program and tried without success to remove the unwanted charges.

"I’ve wasted a fair amount of time over the last couple of months and gotten zero results," said Teresa Lemieux. "The customer service reps at Enbridge and Stomp have been very polite, but, apparently, totally useless."

Stomp Energy hired an overzealous telemarketer last July to sell its services, spokesperson Anthony Horton told me.

He knew of about 45 people who had been added to the customer list in error.

"I can assure you that any customers who have been billed incorrectly will receive a full credit and cancellation of the service," he said in mid-September.

The incorrect billing has persisted into December. I was getting tired of Horton’s assurances – and so was Enbridge.

Spokesperson Debbie Boukydis came out of a meeting on this issue on Wednesday and said the utility was taking immediate action.

"We’re manually pulling every Stomp Energy bill. We’ll look at them and see what’s going on," she said, noting about 1,000 Enbridge customers subscribe to the service.

So, what’s going on?

I call it a failure of regulation, dating back to the takeover of Enbridge’s home services division by Direct Energy in 2002.

The two companies had signed a deal to share the same monthly bill. Direct Energy could piggyback its charges on Enbridge bills and use the utility’s muscle – through late payment charges and threats of disconnection – to get paid promptly.

This sweetheart deal couldn’t go on indefinitely. In February 2006, Enbridge’s regulator said the shared billing was "not appropriate and must not continue payday loans online."

The Ontario Energy Board gave two options. Direct Energy could create a separate billing system – which the company said would take two years – or Enbridge could provide shared bill access to other companies. More than a dozen firms now use Enbridge’s gas bills to collect money from customers.

"We have 17 billers, including Direct Energy, and we’ve never had an issue like this. It’s very unfortunate," said Boukydis. Enbridge makes money from providing shared bill access, but not enough to cover the cost of tracking and fixing recurring errors, she adds.

Still, I wonder how much scrutiny these outside billers receive.

Stomp Energy is a new company in an untested business. It collects funds – "exclusive of expenses and a nominal administration fee" – and directs them toward environmentally sensitive projects.

Its website, StompEnergy.ca, appears to be cheaply done. And if you call the toll-free line, 1-877-585-7183, in mid-business day, you get only a recording.

"If you’re calling about a bill-related question, please leave us a message after the tone."

Enbridge waited longer than it should have to take action. It kept deferring to its outside biller.

Lemieux, for example, called Enbridge this week – only to be told it could neither reverse the charges nor stop them. She had to deal directly with Stomp.

This is not right. Enbridge is a monopoly gas provider and has a responsibility to its customers to keep charges they did not authorize off their bills.

So, check your gas bills. If you have any mysterious charges from other companies, let Enbridge know (and me, too).

Ellen Roseman’s column appears Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

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