By CASEY NEILL
A NOBLE Park man is warning people to keep an eye on their electricity bills after his more than trebled.
Alan Saad had been receiving his electricity from AGL for 13 years when he moved from Dandenong to Noble Park with his wife.
He was shocked when his first bill at the new address, for a three-month period, was $500 – up from $160 for the same time the previous year.
Mr Saad, who was unhappy with AGL’s response, contacted the Energy and Water Ombudsman, and AGL reduced the bill to $250.
But his next bill was for $381, up from $140 for the same period the year before.
“We’re pensioners, we couldn’t afford it,” he said.
He again called the Ombudsman and the bill was dropped to $140.
Mr Saad thought there might have been something wrong with the home that was causing the high bills, so he moved to another Noble Park house.
“We have all brand new appliances and no kids,” he said.
“It’s just me and my wife.”
But when he received a bill for his first two months in the residence it was $351.
“The same time last year was $130 for three months,” he said.
A spokeswoman for AGL said Mr Saad’s dispute was upgraded to the final stage of an Ombudsman case on 16 April.
“As such, we are unable to comment as we must let this formal resolution process run its course,” she said.
“However, we will continue to work with the Ombudsman to ensure this dispute is resolved as soon as possible by conducting a full meter test to determine the customer’s usage.”
