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In a scathing report released today Ontario’s Ombudsman says Hydro One exhibited outrageously bad customer service as it tried to fix technical problems with a new computer system. The system caused billing errors for tens of thousands of people.

Andre Marin says his office was flooded with over 10 000 complaints from Hydro One customers, “We heard from customers who felt mistreated and abused when they tried to report these problems to Hydro One.”

The report shows that Hydro One issued faulty bills to more than 100 000 customers, many were over billed, some didn’t received bills for months at a time and others were hit with multiple bills. Marin slammed the utility company for having poor customer service and deliberately hiding the problems. “It minimized the issues. It misled its overseers including the Ontario Energy board, the Minister of Energy, its board of directors, it relied on public relations spin. It put its customers last.”

Hydro One CEO Carmine Marcello responded, “we let them down. We didn’t treat them well, and we’re sorry that we put them through a difficult experience.”