By ERWIN CHLANDA
The owner of a 1960s house in the Old Eastide got a nasty shock when she made arrangements to have her switchboard upgraded: The Power Water Corporation (PWC) charged her nearly $400 to just switch to power off and – after sparkies had installed the new switchboard – back on.
“Apparently this fee was introduced about two and a half months ago, and before that there was no fee at all,” says the woman.
“I wouldn’t mind a $50 charge but this adds on a fair whack to what will be probably $1000 or more to the bill. So it is in fact an incentive not to upgrade an old switchboard, because of the unreasonable PWC charge.”
What followed was a good news, bad news story.
The good news, according to PWC: “The gazetted standard charge for the temporary disconnection and reconnection of low voltage supply, with no dismantling of service required during business hours is $393.36.
“This is a decrease from last year’s fee of $481.80.”
And now the bad news: The total bill for the job turned out to be not $1000, but $1700.
Friday, April 19, 2024
The freedom of the press still furnishes that check upon government which no constitution has ever been able to provide – Chicago Tribune.
