Broome apartment owner challenges power bills

A Broome businessman will hire an independent engineer to check an electricity meter servicing a cluster of apartments in the Kimberley town after the monthly power bill jumped from about $15,000 to $45,000.

Horizon Power said the latest invoice to more than 100 apartment owners at The Oaks at Town Beach in Broome was correct, based on the amount of electricity used.

Oaks strata committee spokesman Mr Hutchinson said $10,000 had been budgeted for an electrical engineer to look at all aspects of energy efficiency and verify consumption within the complex.

“We are getting ripped off for what we are paying for power because there is only one supplier in Broome,” he said.

“We are looking at methods of alternative energy production, including solar power, as an alternative to try to bring the power costs back to a manageable level.”

Mr Hutchinson said the higher bills would lift strata levies at the complex by more than 40 per cent.

A Horizon spokeswoman said the property’s meter had not been recording the full amount of electricity being used for a period of five years, since 2009.

She said there was a technical issue with the old meter and one of the three phases was not recording consumption at all meaning Horizon Power was only billing for about 35 per cent of total consumption.

“This was discovered last year and we entered into a payment plan with the customer,” she said.

The spokeswoman said the customers agreed to pay only after seeking legal advice confirming they were only obliged to pay 12 months’ worth of bills.

“The Oaks is now being billed for the correct amount of electricity the business is using – previously it was being billed for only about one third of consumption,” she said.