Resident worries heat could be distorting bills

A frustrated Marble Bar resident says temperatures in Australia’s hottest town could be frying Horizon Power electricity meters and distorting customer bills.

While Horizon Power question the claims, Dean Hatwell said extreme temperatures in the Pilbara were raising temperatures of new advanced meters above their operate range between -20 and 70C.

Mr Hatwell said he knew of an organization whose average bill of around $12,000 had sky-rocketed to $31,000 last bill following the installation of Horizon’s advanced meter.

He added he knew of several residents whose bills had also gone up significantly.

“The common thing with these sites is that most of the meters are mounted in a metal box out in the sun,” he said.

“I feel these meters are not suited to the extremes of the Pilbara and Kimberley.

“As you would be aware Marble bar recently had a run of 50 days where the temperature exceeded 40c and I defy anyone to say that these meters were made to withstand these extremes.”

However a Horizon Power spokeswoman said the meters were built to Australian standards and able to withstand the North West’s temperatures.

“As Western Australia’s remote and regional electricity provider we are acutely aware of the climatic extremes experienced in our service area,” she said.

“As part of our tender process when selecting a supplier of the new metering technology, we required proponents to demonstrate that the new meters met current Australian standards and Western Australia’s metering code.

“These standards include requirements for the meters to be able to operate accurately in temperature extremes.”

She added that the common reason for higher electricity bills during the hot summer months was due to increased usage of electrical appliances such as air-conditioning.

“Average electricity usage increases and almost doubles in the north of our State during the summer period and approximately 40 per cent of our customers' electricity costs each year goes on air-conditioning,” she said.

However Mr Hatwell remained unconvinced.

“Are they serious we operate our air conditioners in extreme summer temperatures every year in the Pilbara, so why is this year so much dearer than past years,” he said.

“I am also curious as to why houses’ where the meter is in the shade have not suffered the same bill shock.”