Are you or your business running out of money to pay your electricity bill? There are other priorities.
“On March 23, Hydro-Québec announced that it would not charge any administration fees for unpaid accounts until further notice,” explains Cendrix Bouchard, a spokesperson for Hydro. On March 16, we also announced the extension [jusqu’à nouvel ordre] of the winter moratorium. “
This moratorium is the period during which Hydro-Québec does not interrupt service (or disconnection), from December 1 to March 31.
So, if you are in financial difficulty and cannot pay your electricity bills, Hydro-Québec will not cut you off and will not charge you administrative fees (1.2% per month on any overdue balance) .
If you have difficulty paying your electricity bills or if you expect to be unable to do so soon, Mr. Bouchard has a suggestion: contact Hydro-Québec as soon as possible. The same goes for an SME.
“If a client is having difficulties, we prefer to know quickly,” adds Mr. Bouchard. It is always best to make a payment arrangement with us. Hydro negotiates on a case-by-case basis, depending on the customer’s financial situation and income. Such an agreement will make it possible to pay the balances due later or to spread them over several months. Once the agreement is reached, Hydro sends out reminder emails.
Even if you have such an agreement, it does not cancel a subscription to the Equal Payment Method (EVE) program, which subscribes to 1.8 million Hydro customers. The invoices simply accumulate, even if no amount is paid or if the customer makes partial payments.
Hydro-Québec has not yet established an adjustment method at the end of the annual summer review (which runs from July to September) for its MVE customers. On the other hand, several MVE customers are already in a credit situation, because the winter 2019-2020 will have been milder than that of 2018-2019.
MVE client or not, we are talking about a typical amount of $ 54 less for a single-family home of 1,500 square feet, for the months of December to February.
Hydro-Québec confirms that it has not seen an increase in the number of payment agreements since the start of the COVID-19 crisis. In 2018, 229,000 of its four million customers signed such an agreement.
We contact Hydro-Québec through its Customer area on the Hydro website, by chat or by phone (1 888 385-7252: 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends). Hydro says the wait time is slightly longer than usual, even though call center employees, who are telecommuting, manage a lower volume than normal.
Take note of the details of the agreement, the date, the time and the name of your contact person at Hydro-Québec. Keep a copy of your chat (by screenshot if necessary).
If a customer is already the subject of recovery procedures, they are suspended with a payment agreement.
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