Callie’s Scattered Parts

The time is 2.45 AM right now, on a friday morning and I am back in my shop wearing pyjamas and having my face just cleansed. No, it’s not because of some domestic quarrel that I have packed up my endless essentials. My electricity supply at my rented terrace house got cut and I found out only when I got home earlier. I had a taste of what it feels like being blind, feeling my way around the house in total darkness, and somehow managed to feed my pets and gather my stuff before making my way back to my second home.

I remember the time I was staying in Beach Road, for some of you who had the privilege of actually seeing that apartment, you’ll know it was tiny (although no less cosy). I had my first brush with the irrationality of our only national electricity supplier then. My bill was averaging $250 a month! I was hardly at home most times and even so, the only luxury I would consider was a single unit of aircon running while I sleep. The rest? Well, the supposed low electric consumption stuff like … hmm… my fridge and a fish pump, the florescent white lights and the occasional TV. That was ALL. $250/mth???? I was paying like an idiot and complaining like mad to PUB about the puzzling high bills. The offer of a solution was then to open up the meter to check if it was in working order and I HAD TO PAY $75 for their service of checking THEIR meter. Being the often choiceless Singaporean, I paid up the fee and a man came with a gadget and in less than 5 seconds (I paid $75 for 5 seconds of work mind you!), announced nonchalantly that the meter was in good working order becuase it was running. I argued that of course it was running or I would not have to pay $250 every month - and that the problem was that it was running like a man chased by wild boar. How was it possible for a place that was hardly 400 sq ft to chalk up an amount equivalent to my prarents’ 5-room flat???? The answer? A standard : I don’t know. We charge according to the reading. The verdict was set. I had to pay whatever my meter reflected. No logical answer was given, no attempt to find out further why my bill was 3 times higher than any of my neighbour. I fought and clawed against titanium and in return, only red reminder letters and 2 stoppages of my electric supply. Since I cannot live like a caveman, I “lan lan” gave in to the payments.

3 months ago, I was slapped with a bill of more than $2000! How in the world did I consume $2000 worth of electricity in 1 month? I called up, dreading the process of argument and the answer given to me was such : They, namely PUB, reflected on my past 1 and a half years’ bill and came to a conclusion that they have been undercharging me all this time. Now doesn’t that sound ridiculous? Their explanation was that since my meter was situated within my garden compound and that most times when their men came round to take reading and wasn’t able to do so (because no one was at home), they had charged me on estimation which was based on previous consumption patterns. They claimed that upon reflection, their past estimations were too low because, this gets better - even if my meter reading shows otherwise, they have to charge me according to the average consumption based on my house type! and in the exact words of the officer I spoke to, they “have the right to charge me whatever amount they feel is correct since I live in a terrace house”!!!!???? So very cleverly, they did their maths and lump the so-called shortage for the past 1 and a half years and put it in one bill. I was outraged!!! I consume less electricity because I am hardly at home but I end up having to pay the national average consumption of a terrace house! Again, I fought and clawed to no avail. I tried and tried to make my stand but my questions and grievances fell on deaf ears because the standard reply is, I have to pay what my bill says or else they cut my electricity supply. I stood my ground and so here I am, in my pyjamas, back in office in the middle of night…

I will have to bow down again tomorrow …

~ by auntycallie on August 31, 2006.