It’s Over, I’m Leaving You.
Over the winter I, while I was shovelling non-trivial amounts of money into Alberta Energy Savings I decided to check into some other options. I had been with AES L.P. for about as long as I've lived in this house. I never really questioned the bills, they came to the door and I payed them. I figured that living in Alberta, the energy capital of Canada, that rates would have to be competitive else the company would just sink to the bottom of the business pool and drown.
Boy, was I ever wrong.
Electrical rates were on par, but Natural Gas was a whole new ball game. On my last bill with AES, I paid an average of $9.11 per GJ, my first bill with Enmax I paid under $5.50. You don't need a calculator to figure out I was getting hornswaggled. Thanks for locking in those 'Savings' Alberta Energy.
The real kicker was getting off the hook and getting my services transfered. It turns out that in order to cancel my account, if I was not moving, I was required to give sufficient notice or pay a penalty. The phone was crushed in my hand as my position came to light. The barrier holding back the beast just about fell to rage when the person on the other end of the phone muttered: "We reserve the right to..."
Then, things got a little shady. After I though the AES boat had sailed, and now nothing lay ahead but clear skies and full sails, I got ANOTHER bill from AES. I looked at the statement date and it read: February 16th 2010. The month of February has a little made up holiday in the middle of it, so it is very easy to categorize things into "Before" and "After" Hallmark Day. Whereas the date on the statement was very much after that date, my memories had me paying the bill before that date.
I first checked with the Bank, and sure enough I had made a payment on the twelfth of the month. I called the 1-800-No-Help number, and waited until I could speak with an agent. The agent said that I did not in fact owe anything on the account, and that the payment must have been made after the statement was printed. I asked when they did get the payment and I was told that it was on February 12th. I was going to start asking what the hell the 'Statement Date' was on this hopefully final bill, and decided that I probably wouldn't like any answer that was given to me and just let it go.
Now, I feel my only obligation regarding AES L.P. is to share this story.
