Letter: TAU’s ‘average’ excuse doesn’t add up

Dear Editor, Well, well, well. So TAU (Te Aponga Uira) are feeding us too higher voltage (Voltage ‘increase’ sparks concerns, residents report appliance damage, May 29).

Unbelievable, and they have the cheek to say we should protect ourselves from their incompetence. Unreal.

But what is happening to the increase in power charges by stealth. Without prompting, almost everyone I have a conversation with has a similar story about their outrageous power bills. They also get onto the story of how they rang TAU only to be told they don’t know how to work out an average. Untrue. Something is wrong here, my average per month has gone up over $120. I see on my meter I’ve used the extra units, but how. I have added no extra appliances or changed any behaviour. Getting slammed with a $680 bill when you are expecting $380 bill hurts, but to be told that I’m at fault hurts more.

Let’s get an independent review. Somethings not right.

Editor’s note – In a statement to Cook Islands News, TAU said the reconfiguration of the network has meant that “we have had to adjust the voltage at specific points of the network”. TAU has also defended its new estimated billing system saying “it works by looking at a customer’s electricity usage over the previous three months, calculating a daily average and from that, generating a monthly invoice”.