– I was quite shocked, says Ole Fredrik Borge Olsen (22), about when he opened the bill from the electricity company. The tiny family of three, soon to be four, lives in Nyborg in Bergen. They rent a house of around 100 square meters, and have an average electricity consumption. But even with today’s electricity prices, they couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw the bill. It was NOK 77,883. 3.5 times more than what they had paid for a whole year. – It is quite a bit. I immediately thought that this must be wrong. It is not possible to use so much electricity, says roommate Camilla Frøysa (21). The bill was to be paid in a few weeks. One month stands out from the others. Photo: Screenshot The electricity meter was not connected to the grid It all started when the couple moved into the apartment in the summer of 2021. When the electricity prices started to increase, they chose to switch electricity companies from Fjordkraft to Agva. But when they switched, the new company found that the electricity meter was not connected to the grid. It is the grid company that is responsible for installing and operating the electricity meter. In this case, it is BKK, which Olsen contacted last winter. He was told that they had a lot to do, and that this was going to take a long time. Only after five months, in June 2022, did BKK visit and connect the painter to the grid. The following month they received the huge electricity bill. Ole Fredrik makes sure that Oliver (1) does not use 50,000 kWh in one month. Photo: Lidvard Sandven / news Recently, the bill has been the only thing Olsen has thought about. – There have been many phone calls back and forth, says Olsen. Three times normal consumption According to the Consumer Guide, the average consumption for a detached house of 100 square meters is around 16,000 kWh a year, i.e. around 1330 a month. In the account of the young couple, there was 48,000 kWh that was registered, but not paid for. In other words, three times more than an average consumption. This is kWt that must be paid with the rates in August, when one price record beats another. When he contacted BKK, he was told that the bill had to be paid, even though he had only rented there for a year. Ole Fredrik of BKK received this message after news contacted them. Photo: Screen dump BKK asked for reading BKK is responsible for over 260,000 street painters in Western Norway. According to the head of customer and energy data in BKK nett, Mads Didriksen, they struggle to get in touch with a couple of them, because the coverage is poor. He emphasizes that the painter himself does not show mistakes, but it is the communication part of the painter that fails. – When we do not have communication with the painters, we ask the customer for a reading. When we don’t get it, we stipulate the consumption, says Didriksen. In this case, the customer has used more current than was stipulated. BKK Nett found this out when they finally got in touch with the electricity meter, and got the correct data in. Mads Didriksen in BKK Nett says that they have tried to contact the customer and ask him to send in a paint reading. Photo: Lidvard Sandven / news Landlords did not know BKK has not had contact with the current meter since it was installed in 2019. They managed to sort it out when they installed a new modem this year. This modem was not available when the current meter was new. The young couple moved in two years later. BKK says that they have notified both current and former tenants that they had to send in meter readings, but without getting a response from the customer. news has spoken to the landlord, who for his part says that he was not aware that the electricity meter was not working. – Who is responsible here, BKK? – I own the painter, and work to ensure communication. Those I lose contact with, send me information and ask the customer to submit the reading. – The customer is responsible for submitting a reading when we ask for it, otherwise the customer risks receiving an extra high invoice with a large backlog, says Didriksen. Tenant Olsen confirms that he was told to send in values, but claims he was told by the landlord that it was not necessary. The bill suddenly dropped Olsen has spent a lot of time getting the bill removed and getting help from BKK. After news contacted BKK, something happened. On the same day we made contact, they chose to write off the backlog in order to “finish the case”. Camilla Frøysa and Ole Fredrik Borge Olsen are happy that it worked out, and hope to be able to warn others in case they end up in the same situation. – It’s a bit strange that they dropped it after the media got in touch, says Olsen. The Consumer Council: You should do this. Senior adviser at the Consumer Council, Thomas Iversen, says that the online company cannot require the couple to pay the entire sum. – It sounds like a very boring situation for this young couple. Fortunately, in the worst case, they only have an obligation to pay the arrears for the period they have lived in the apartment, says Iversen to news. Thomas Iversen of the Consumer Council is happy that the situation has been resolved. Photo: The Consumer Council He adds that deleting the bill is the only right thing to do, and hopes that BKK would have come to the same conclusion, even if news had been in contact or not. The Consumer Council is not aware that this happens often, and has advice for people who end up in the same situation. Contact the network company and ask them to clean it up. If this does not work, take the matter to the Electricity Appeal Board. This is free of charge. Hi! I work as a journalist in Hardanger. Do you have any tips for things I should cover? Do not hesitate to contact me!
ttn-69
The automatic electricity meter was offline for several years – received a shock bill of NOK 77,000 from BKK – news Vestland
