By Sheldon Spackman

Disruption Of Service

Red Deer man questions City’s handling of payment deferral program

Oct 9, 2020 | 10:43 AM

A Red Deer man is frustrated over the way he sees the City of Red Deer’s utilities department dealing with customers who enrolled in the deferral of payments program due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mike Osbak-Alm returned home Wednesday morning after running a few errands and found a City of Red Deer utility truck parked in the alley behind his house.

After asking crews why they were there, Osbak-Alm says he was told his water was being disconnected due to non-payment of an outstanding bill.

Osbak-Alm says he was shocked by this as he had just paid $400 in August, plus another $250 at the end of September – leaving just over $500 still owing.

“They did not care,” says Osbak-Alm. “They just said if I wanted my water turned on, because it has been disconnected already, I would have to go down to the Recreation Centre and pay a reconnection fee on top of the total balance owning.”

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Under the city’s program the 90 day deferral period for utility payments ended June 15, though the city noted flexible payment plans would be available for customers having difficulty paying the full balance.

Osbak-Alm says he enrolled in the program for March, April and May before making arrangements for payments to resume in August and have the balance owing fully repaid over six months.

On Thursday, Osbak-Alm had his water reconnected after paying half his balance owing and making new arrangements to pay the remaining half Oct. 15.

“I’m going to have to pay close to $1,700 in three months for the water. The whole deferral program they had set out for me was basically kiboshed,” he feels. “I don’t understand how anybody else would be able to pay a bill in that amount and be without water for however long it would take them to come up with the money to pay for that.”

Osbak-Alm says the experience left him feeling bullied and suggests he’s not alone.

“On paper, it (deferral program) was 100 per cent there to help somebody out – defer a bill for three months and over the course of six months, pay it back slowly. But we were in the second month of me paying it back and I’m being demanded to pay the entirety of the bill.”

Joanne Parkin, the city’s revenue and assessment services manager, says that while customers enrolled in the optional payment deferral program incurred no late charge penalties during the 90 days, they still incurred regular water bill charges.

“They had options. They could either come in and pay it in full if they were able to do that, and if they were unable to pay the amounts owing, then they could contact us and we also reached out to them individually.”

Parkin says the fees, notifications, and the process itself are all enabled through City bylaw.

“Shut-offs, for the City of Red Deer, are a very last resort,” she explains. “We only resort to shut-offs when a number of things have taken place or failed to take place. It’s in our best interests, as it is for our customers, to work with people to get their accounts up to date.”

Typically, Parkin says there’s a minimum of at least two or three months of utility charges owing and overdue before services are turned off.

“And in the case with the deferrals, that could have been up to potentially five or six months of utilities owing, so it’s not something we do quickly” says Parkin. “We had approximately 320 of our utility customers that did make payment arrangements and the vast majority of those have gone really well and the payment arrangements are being met.”

Parkin encourages anyone struggling to keep up with their utility bills, to contact The City.

“We do want to work with people. Shut-offs are our last resort. Please reach out to us and work with us to find a way and put a payment arrangement in place that is manageable and agreeable to both The City and to the citizen.”