Dear Editor,
In early 2004 I wrote to GPL requesting disconnection since I was leaving the country. I also stated in that letter that I intend to rent my house and that I would have no objection to reconnection in the name of any new tenants. Tenants lived in my house from April 2004 to November 2005. The tenants never paid for electricity, which was never disconnected and bills up to over $6,000 kept coming in my name. Since I was residing overseas, I was not aware of this situation until late 2005 when I had to repeatedly ask the tenants to move because they were not paying rent as well.
I visited GPL offices in Main Street several times and finally the files were checked and showed that I indeed had requested disconnection. Strangely enough, the files also showed that electricity was disconnected. I presented my case to the Customer Services Director, who promised to deal with the matter. After several months, I wrote to the Chairman of the Board again stating my case. I received a reply apologising for the situation and I was assured that the mistakes would be corrected and that I was not liable for paying the bill that kept coming to me. This was almost 6 months ago.
Since then, I have renovated my house and installed a completely new electrical system and meter. To my surprise, I recently received a GPL bill showing the old amounts owed to the company by the previous tenants. No current charges were shown on the bill. I spoke with several persons from GPL, including the Customer Services Director, to have this situation corrected. On January 21, 2008, GPL workmen went and disconnected my brand new meter.
I find this incompetence and abuse unacceptable. Other than causing severe stress and frustration, I have also lost many hours trying to deal with a GPL situation that arose out of lack of internal controls and systems in that company. Someone has to pay.
Yours faithfully,
Merlin Udho