There are many elements of the February 28 floods that keep reminding traumatised people of the complete devastation they suffered that day aside from the day-to-day reminders like the state of their homes and being displaced.

There are the state government grants and the application process, the insurance companies (if you had insurance), the cost to rebuild or restock your house and the unwanted electricity bills.

The electricity billing system is a little like the state legislation for receiving rate relief before the recent announcement by the State Government saying they will pay rates for the next 12 months from July 1 2022.

Lismore City Council had to send out the rate account then residents could claim rate relief. It could not be done any other way. If you were not aware of what the process was it felt like a kick in the guts when life was pretty bleak anyway.

Like rates, people have been receiving electricity bills even when their homes have not been habitable since February 28, so no power use or no electricity use for a month or two after the flood. The size of the bill is dependent on your previous bills. Most home meter boxes were not accessible or even existent in some cases, so the electricity companies would base the bill on an estimate of what had been used in previous bills.

When you are trying to put your life back together, the last thing you want is the shock of receiving an electricity bill for something you didn't use, then having to hop on the phone for hours to try and sort it out.

Heidi, her husband Lindsay and two kids live in Cathcart Street, Girards Hill. Their house was flooded and through ongoing events with their insurance company, they had to move out and into temporary accommodation which happens to be above their furniture shop which was also destroyed causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage. You can imagine their anxiety and stress levels.

As Heidi and Lindsay fix up their new temporary abode to make it liveable for themselves and their two children, an electricity bill turned up. "I thought, you've got to be kidding me. That was the final straw," Heidi told the Lismore App.

As you can see, Heidi's bill was $50 more than the previous quarter when the family were actually living in their home on Cathcart Street.

"There is no reason they couldn't come out and do a meter read because it is stuck on what it was the day of the flood and they kept on ringing me saying you have to pay your bill, you have to pay your bill. I finally got the bill and saw what it was and said no."

Heidi's electricity provider is AGL. This is the response we received from a spokesperson when we asked AGL for comment.

AGL has worked closely with distribution networks and customers through unprecedented flooding which caused supply outages, damage and access issues to homes, businesses and infrastructure. We know the impact can continue long after the waters recede, and the recovery period is just as important for our customers.

As part of our response to flooding, we reached out to hundreds of thousands of AGL customers through SMS to let them know of our emergency information and AGL support options. We also created dedicated information hubs to provide more information about support options, which are still active.

We encourage customers who have been off supply for an extended time due to damage to contact us to arrange a closure of their account from the date they lost supply. All charges will be waived from that date. If customers have not been using electricity due to damage to their property or power infrastructure, they won’t be charged for energy usage.

If customers have received an estimated bill, we encourage them to get in touch with us to provide a Customer Own Read, which we can use to correct their bill and make sure the energy usage is more accurate.

AGL made a $100,000 donation to support the vital work of the Salvation Army 2022 Flood Appeal. We’ve also matched personal donations made by our people to the Salvos flood relief through our Power to Give platform.

Heidi and Lindsay suffered the same experience for their furniture business, Furniture Wiz. This time their provider is Origin.

Jan Prichard, Origin’s General Manager, Customer Care said:

“We know the floods have had a devastating impact on the people of Lismore, and we are committed to supporting our customers and the local community both over the short and long term.

“Both households and small businesses that have been impacted by the floods can access support through Origin’s Power On program and where a customer’s property has been destroyed or they are unable to live or work in their property for an extended period, Origin is offering additional bill relief.

“We encourage any Origin customers who have been impacted by the floods and are in need of financial support to contact us so that we can assist”

Like AGL, Origin has donated $100,000 to the BizRebuild program that provides up to $2,000 vouchers to local businesses they can spend on much-needed equipment, plus an additional $500 to spend on local legal, accounting and business advisory services to help with business recovery plans.

The community funding is no doubt appreciated, however, the question needs to be asked why a bill has to be sent at all? Why can't a letter be saying we will call you to disconnect your supply and cancel your account while the property is being rebuilt or extra efforts made to perform a physical meter reading?

An Origin spokesperson explained that meter readings are performed by electricity supplier Essential Energy, who did a great job in restoring electricity to homes and the CBD after the network was severely damaged by floodwaters on February 28.

Raelene Myers is the Community Relations Manager North Coast for Essential Energy, in response to scenarios like Heidi's Raelene said "Essential Energy is an electricity distributor with the responsibility to construct, operate and maintain the electricity distribution network in New South Wales and southern parts of Queensland. As part of operating the electricity network, Essential Energy completes disconnections for safety reasons or, at the request of retailers.

"Since December 2017, electricity retailers have been responsible for installing, reading and replacing electricity meters. Essential Energy however continues to manually read ‘legacy’ meters that do not have the digital technology to be read remotely. 

"Essential Energy charges retailers a ‘Network Access Charge’ for each connection, which covers operational and asset-related costs. Consumption charges are also passed on to retailers. Retailers typically pass these charges on to customers in addition to any agreed energy retail charges.

"Essential Energy in consultation with energy retailers agreed to refund any amount it has charged associated with Northern Rivers’ flood-affected connections, where there has been no supply available since the floods. 

"Where customers receive an electricity bill from their retailer in circumstances where electricity was not available for a period following flood-inundation, they should contact their energy retailer to advise of the relevant. The respective retailer will then work with Essential Energy regarding any refund which will be credited through customer’s electricity bills."

"Should a customer not be returning to the property or the property is not habitable, we encourage them to advise their energy retailer so their account may be finalised."

Heidi has sorted her AGL bill now and is working on Origin.

Shall we talk about Heidi's internet provider Optus too? That is another story.

As you can read, there are large holes in the electricity supply and billing system following a disaster. Essential Energy is beginning its debrief process post-flood and we hope the lessons learnt will lead to an effective process where the customer doesn't have to spend hours on the phone sorting out their bill when they want to focus on making life liveable and bearable in the short term but rather the electricity provider contacts the customer offering a solution, understanding the dire situation they are in and the emotional trauma they have already suffered.

But that would be customer service, something that our society doesn't see very often.