Gas bill rise explained

Company admits ‘human error’ behind huge increase in costs

THE company that operates the natural gas distribution network in Toowoomba has explained how residents received higher than usual gas bills in recent months,

Yesterday The Chronicle revealed up to 4500 gas customers in the city had received bills well above that of previous quarters, as a gas meter reader was not doing their job properly.

APA operates the natural gas distribution network on behalf of the Allgas Gas Network in Toowoomba.

An APA spokesman said in response to an increase in meter fault reporting by gas retailers in Toowoomba in recent months, an investigation by APA’s metering and billing team found some customers readings were incorrectly understated in meter read data provided by the service provider, Service Stream, between January and May 2019.

“The issue was identified as human error rather than a fault with gas meters,” the spokesman said.

“This unfortunately contributed to the lower than average gas bills some customers received from their retailers for usage in this period, and the comparatively higher bills the same customers recently received that reflect actual year-to-date gas usage.”

“We understand the fluctuations have caused concern... (and) we are working with Service Stream to establish additional checks and processes to ensure there is no repeat of these circumstances.

“APA also alerted the Ombudsman in Queensland to this issue.”

AGL Chief Customer Officer Christine Corbett said the company was aware customers had received inaccurate gas bills.

“These errors were corrected in subsequent bills, which represent their actual consumption,” she said. “We continue to work with APA, the distributor responsible for the meter readings in Toowoomba, to understand the issue better and apologise to affected customers.”