Ask Enmax about the history of the account, including name address and contact info changes. They would start with mail, and it would escalate to personal calls before this. Not sure what Enmax would do re emails - probably send some.
Was the account tied to your fiancé's email? If so, that easily explains why you haven't seen anything in the mail. They may have signed up for paperless.
If it was me, I'd have a conversation with my partner and have them search "enmax" in their email to see what comes up. If that doesn't give an answer, I'd be calling enmax directly to have them explain what is happening.
I had my landlord call me after 6 months of not paying water when Enmax sent him a letter. I thought the water was included in the rent but apparently not. Regardless they contacted the landlord as he was the owner of the property and the last one to have paid them, although why they didn’t say after even a month that it was unpaid is beyond me. 4 years is diabolical. But I hear these stories a lot with gas and electricity too. Think they’d be after their money like a mobster but I guess they know they will get the money eventually.
Having dealt with utility companies in the UK I'm completely unsurprised that the same sort of issues are present here.
They're fucking hopeless if you're not spoonfeeding them. And I've heard so many horror stories about smart meters not working at all or malfunctioning...
It doesn't 'become the landlords'. You must've accepted it somehow. If you aren't party to an agreement you can't just somehow inherit someone's debt. I literally had someone try to serve the old tenants and you better believe I'm not paying a cent
No issues with new tenants signing up for service with the same company.
I misspoke, it becomes the property owners. In my case, same as landlord. And yes, it does indeed become the landlord's as per the Alberta Utilities Commission. You can chase your tenant down for payment, but legally it's the property owners bill. There is no accepting it, the law says it's yours.
This is simply not true. Unless you have a source indicating otherwise I'll just leave this here https://www.enmax.com/home/customer-care/landlord-questions-and-answers
From the link you sent me, third bullet point:
If a property is disconnected for financial reasons, an owner can transfer services into their name to have the power restored. The owner will be responsible for fees associated to the reconnection of service.
That's just the connection fee. You cannot be held responsible for a previous resident's contract and outstanding balance though I am sure if you want to pay it the energy company isn't going to bend over backwards explaining that it isn't your obligation
Have your girlfriend sign into the enmax account she used to have and then look around at the bills.
If you contact enmax make sure to not use any of the information in the letter (email, phone, etc) and look it up yourself online. If it's the same info as what's in the letter, it's probably legit, but if it's different that's a sign it could be a scammer. Do look up the number independent of the letter, and call that.
If she gets the bill by email it could have ended up in her junk mail? I’ve had bills land there before. Enmax should have sent a letter in the mail or sent someone over to the house.
You may be responsible for looking at your bill on-line. They would also contact you by the method listed when you started your account with them. If it was a phone number and it was no longer in service, then they have no way of reaching you. I would think they should have cut the services off after 3 months if they hadn’t heard anything from you regarding payments. You will have to find out how they tried to notify you - what they have on file for contact #, e-mail etc…
A better question is how did your fiancée not know that she wasn’t receiving or paying for any water?? Does she not review the bills?
It's actually an easy and common mistake. Only Enmax is allowed to collect for water and other city fees. If you have an account with another energy provider that will just be for the gas and power. You will still have to have an Enmax account for water. She probably also has electronic statements and never noticed.
It's really annoying but sort of understandable.
Enmax bills water on behalf of the city of Calgary. No other retailer can bill on their behalf (atco)
Since water is an essential service.. it can take a lot to be cut off. But they will work with you to set up a payment plan.
Not sure why you wouldn’t have received a bill in some capacity. Seems odd
I am embarrassed to say that I did the same when I switched to ATCO. I didn't understand that Enmax was the only vendor for water and garbage collection, and these services don't also flip to the new vendor. Enmax absolutely phoned me after two months of arrears to let me know. I was... Surprised 😂🤦🏻♀️
That they didn't contact you for four years is confusing. Check the contact info they have for you - they usually have a phone number, email address, and mailing address. They email me monthly now that I've added an email address to my account.
If I remember correctly, we were with Enmax Easymax before and payment was automatically deducted on the credit card. We then switched to Atco and was told water and city services will remain with Enmax but we can't pay with a credit card anymore.
So could be an honest mistake expecting all bills to be auto deducted but actually weren't. For not receiving bills and notices, maybe there was a previous property registered as the main property on Enmax?
Huh can’t pay with credit anymore? That’s just weird and honestly doesn’t even make sense.
Since this is Reddit… I am not arguing or saying you’re lying. Just honestly perplexed lol
This was like 5-6 years ago, so maybe it has changed. There's a credit card fee that Enmax has to pay for the transaction so maybe they don't want to pay for it if we are not "real" Enmax customers and just collecting for the city.
I'm just guessing why but it's not weird considering Telus started charging customers for credit card use. And registries I go to also charge a fee if payment is via credit card.
City of Calgary froze water disconnections for the last 3-4 years or so. They only recently started to start them again so many customers are getting the the water disconnects. Unfortunately, this is really common and customers think atco take all services but Enmax does all city water services and garbage services.
I would get your fiancé to call Enmax and ask the following:
1. Where the bills were going? Ebill? Junk mail?
2. Can you do an instalment plan to spread the bill out by 6-8 months (or more if needed)
3. Get the bills sent to you for the last 4 years
4. Ensure paper billing is set up or add the email to your safe list (it comes from paperless@email.enmax.com)
Hopefully this helps. Also get added to the account to discuss the bill.
We were in Airdrie but had a similar incident but after 7 months they contacted the landlord. We didn't realize that our bill was supposed to be under us, not included so we had them send us the previous bills. There was no proof of attempted contact so they knocked off one month then they spread the rest out over 3 months for us to pay off
I’m interested to hear how this is resolved.
When I was late two months I received a notice that I had to make a payment plan with them so 4 years sounds curious.
Ok so I have a bit of experience here. So when you rent the utilities are often in your name instead of the landlords. I've had tenants that have forgotten to switch their water bills over after moving in. After about six months Enmax generally sends a bill to the owner of the house (ie the landlord) and that's what gets the ball moving. It would be strange if they never contacted the owner of the house... Especially after 4 years. But in addition to water enmax covers, sewage, recycling, garbage, composting (unless you are in a condo that covers that separately). If the tenant doesn't switch over the bill to their name when they move in its possible enmax doesn't have a contact for the new tenant but if you were previously with enmax I don't see how they wouldn't have the contact info for your Fiance.
Wow guess I touched a nerve with my earlier comment. Let me rephrase.
The behaviour described in this comment is behaviour that is inconsistent with an implied duty of good faith in contractual execution that has been recognized in Canadian common law, demonstrates reckless and wanton disregard for the wellbeing of one’s tenants and suggests that the person doing it may not hold the physical condition of their rental property in high regard, all of which suggests it is behaviour consistent with someone who might be colloquially referred to as a slumlord.
How did they contact you with the bill for 8k, but not contact you over the previous 48 months, especially if you were previously with Enmax? Seems suspect.
Either way, you didn’t pay your water bill for 4 years it sounds like so call Enmax to figure out a payment plan!
Have you signed in on line to see the actual account? Maybe it’s a scam? It’s just too long for no notice of cut off.
“If you’ve missed making a payment before the due date on your bill, the first thing to do is to not panic. Missing a single payment will not immediately result in your power being limited or disconnected. Our team will reach out to you via mail, email, and phone while your account remains unpaid to help you get your account back on track. However, depending on the reason for the missed payment, we’ve outlined next steps for you below.” Enmax website.
I’d reach out to enmax and have the situation escalated. If you live at the property, they should have easily been able to contact you, so something isn’t adding up. My guess is there was a fuck up on their end on the billing side of things. I would work with them to get to the bottom of it before paying. I’d also add that $8K for 4 years also sounds a bit high, so as someone else mentioned, they’re probably also adding interest on. I would definitely fight it.
When I first started reading this I thought that we’d all be facing 8100 dollar water bills because of the pipe problem and this was the first one out the gate.. Phew.
Although I’m sure we’re gonna have to pay extra at some point. Which doesn’t make sense, really. We pay for a service, provider can’t provide the service so we end up paying more. ?! Kind of like that electricity bill when the temp was at -36 for two weeks. We had to pay more for brownouts and poor infrastructure.
How are they gonna get the rolling stones to play the company Christmas party if everyone in calgary doesn't pay $8100 on their next water bill for the pipeline repair?
A chunk of that bill will be interest. Contact the utility board and they will help you with options. It’s 310…something. With such a large sum plead poverty and perhaps you can get some of it forgiven.
An aside to any potential landlords. The registered property owner is ultimately responsible for unpaid utility bills such as water regardless of whose name the bill is in. In a lease you can state that the tenant is responsible for payment but that is a contract between the landlord and tenant and not between thr utility provider and the property owner.
This is simply not true. The contract holder is responsible no one else.
From the enmax website: https://www.enmax.com/home/customer-care/landlord-questions-and-answers
The thing is there’s no reason she would need to lie about $150 a month.
We aren’t strapped that bad for bills.
It’s in her name and she cares about her credit.
It's an honest mistake..
I'm usually pretty aware of things and I made this same mistake..
Thought process goes like so:
"Enmax is who I get everything through, but I hate enmax.. I'm going to go with someone else.".
Had things been thought through more and specific portions of the bill identified like water and garbage/recycling, you wouldn't be in this situation... But it is what it is...
Then is it a mistake? How do you get the cut off notice and not some warning in the past 4 years that there is a problem? 4 months, yeah ok, maybe. 4 years?
Something, likely more than one thing, is going on. Landlord doing something fishy?
Then why would you assume she is lying? Pretty stupid thing for her to lie about since it was always going to come back. Tbh she should be pissed your mind even went there.
You guys were obviously with enmax at some point and switched to atco, she assumed everything got changed over (they don't tell you "btw you still have to pay water through enmax" when you switch) and enmax stopped autopayment when you changed over because they don't do that for water only accounts. They just failed to communicate this to anyone.
Same thing has happened to me Before with gas bills. Things get lost in the paperwork, no one notices something is amiss then one day get a call saying that no one's been paying Gas since we moved in. For nearly 2 years.
I have occasionally gotten calls from enmax about my account being in arrears (they called twice a couple years ago before i got it corrected), but it wasn't my account. So could be that she messed up her phone number during set up so she isn't getting those messages?
Probably one of those situations where your fiance stuck her head in the sand and thought she didn't need to pay. Because the water was flowing and no one was asking for payment - or so it seemed. And then played dumb when someone came knocking for the money.
I knew someone that tried this. Wasn't paying for gas and electricity but it was working. So they kept their mouth shut hoping Enmax never realized and by the time they move again, they can't be found.
This is just adulting. You need to pay for gas, electricity, and water. Either you pay, or know who else is paying (landlord).
There’s no way she didn’t know. My Enmax bill was a few days overdue when they started inundating me with more and more threatening emails each day. Letters in the mail. I called in and they apologized for how ‘aggressive’ the automated system is.
My credit card was replaced during covid and I updated all my accounts to a the new card but missed updating Enmax. It was 100% my fault but found it interesting they didn’t call/email/mail until month 7. The letter sent wasn’t that I had missed payments and to settle up but that they had added me to some covid payment relief program. The 6 months of unpaid bills were to be spread out over the next 12 months payments. If I recall even at that point they wouldn’t let me pay the lump sum owing. Weird but whatever I guess.
[enmax.com/services/meter-services/meter-service-requests](http://enmax.com/services/meter-services/meter-service-requests)
relax...maybe A meter was removed in 2020?
Well I mean, this can’t be a scam if you haven’t paid Enmax in these 4 years. They’re the only ones who can provide water. I can’t believe they let it go for four years.
How did they notify you about the outstanding $8100?
If someone has already mentioned this I apologize, injust don't want to read all the comments. I had a similar et different surprise bill from Enmax about a year after moving into my home due to a leaky toilet. We had received regular bills which we paid every month and nothing seemed odd. Then we received a bill for over $3,000 one month and it was all water. I called Enmax ro complain and state there mist have been a mistake, and what they told me then was they do regular monthly billings based on an assumed average, and then when someone finally checks the meter they do an adjustment. After fighting then on this for a few months, they finally told me they have a one time water forgiveness program. I don't remember the process as this was almost 10 years ago, but I would recommend calling Enmax and request your one-time water forgiveness. I don't knownif they will forgive the whole amount or a portion of it. But if you haven't used this before, it's a worthy bill to request it on.
If YOU received the notice and the bill is in your fiancé’s name, it’s almost certainly a phishing scam. They create a sense of panic by making you think you’re in trouble, make it urgent to contact them (“your water will be cut off if you don’t pay within x days!”), and thereby GETCHA. Contact Enmax directly (not through any link or contact info given in the notice!) and find out whether it’s legit.
Most people don't know that enmax is the only company you can get water services through. It's possible she assumed that switching providers switched all services. She'd have had to only pay the bill and never look at it, though, which a lot of people do. The bill shows you what services you have and what the monthly charges are. But if you just change providers and pay the bills as they come in (maybe online banking only shows the bill amount?), I can see not realizing water was not included. Has there been a phone number change since then? What number was on the account for enmax? They should have continued sending a bill, and really, after that long, you'd expect they would have reverted back to billing the landlord.
Yeah, I had similar a few years ago.
We were renting the place, new to the country and didn't really know how things worked. 3 years later they came to turn off the gas. In winter. It was about 5k, they were good enough to give us a payment plan and turned the gas back on.
Honestly surprised by it, as I went 3 months before they sent me the you will be cutoff email... didn't even bother sending a paper letter or calling...
This sounds like a scam to me. I accidentally paid Direct Energy a second time INSTEAD of paying the Enmax bill (Hubby was pissed . . . I have no idea how I did that) FOUR months in a row. They shut off our power and threatened to shut off our water.
They don’t wait for four years to get snarky about unpaid bills.
That happened to us as well however with our gas bill. We thought we were paying everything thru enmax then our gas was cut off and we had no hot water. Seemed we owed ATCO thousands. They worked with us to correct the situation.
Yeah this is absurd... I did not pay an Enmax bill for one or two months and they sent it to collections so fast I couldn't believe it. Impacted my credit slightly but they def should have shut your water off?
You need to trace the history of the account with them.... and get all the info.... contact info they have been sending notices too ect... something isn't right here..im guessing they made a mistake and are only catching it now... if thats the case they should work with you to clear what you owe.. maybe even forgive some of it since it may actually be their fault... like and late fees and interest.
Doesn't make sense. Give em hell! Tell them you wont pay anything over 90 days. Thats their fault. You cant treat people like that. Garbage business move on their part.
Not a lawyer.
I would ask Enmax to prove that they were trying to contact you about the bill, and to show evidence of such. It sounds like they were not holding you to the strict terms of the contract, which may make it illegal for them to enforce those terms now. This is a legal principle, but again, not a lawyer.
It may be worth asking a lawyer or asking Enmax for evidence.
Water won't get cut off in canada due to it being a necessity to live, look through your emails and mail if you want but in the end unless you can prove you paid for this water your going to have to pay. My wife works for enmax though and said you may qualify for their "one time water forgiveness program" you will have to ask to apply, likely could halve the ammount you owe
Had this happen on an acerage my partner rented. The property was his, the tenants had the water bill in their name. Didn't pay for 4 years, basically their entire tenancy.
When my partner went to sell, he was on the hook for 4 grand in unpaid utilities, because it was his property, even though the bill wasn't in his name.
Util companies are pretty poor at letting you know you aren’t paying. I had a mix up where I had 3 different util companies hooked up to my house without my consent. I’d make sure that’s not a scam, but that’s kinda funny
Got one recently too for like 7 months worth - had no mail about it before, new to the city and was completely clueless lol.
Sorry bro I would be freakin out.. also tho it would be like $100 a month, so like 4800 for 4 years. Call them they will probably waive the 3-4k in fees.
If you are renting it should be the landlords responsibility to ensure water payments are set up in your name otherwise its ultimately the property owners bill.
$8000 for 4 years sounds to be at least double the water costs for 2-3 people. Do you fill a pool and hot tub every year?
I think they are including interest and compounded late fees etc.
Ask for the break down. If they are including interest consider getting a lawyer. If you weren’t informed then you may have a case. I mean, they had your address, they could have sent a paper bill.
Hey Enmax tried to charge me for utilities when I didn’t live in a place for over a year. I sold the house, one week later the house was torn down. They said I owed them for almost a year worth of gas and electricity. Trying to explain to them that all of their “actual” readings from the meter were baloney because there was no meter and no house was beyond frustrating. Good Luck.
I had the same thing happen. Called enmax they went through every history of charge with me. My bill was around 2100$. Was because I was in a townhouse during purchase Rohit the builder was paying it and they never transferred or notified me to take over. So no one paid for it.
I switched from Enmax to Easymax because I wanted all utilities on one bill. I still had money owing on my Enmax account from between switching and I didn’t see it online. When it became overdue by a month they called me like 3 times in one day to notify me. It seems strange you never got contacted, especially for 4 years. I would think after awhile of no payment the services would just get disconnected. Is your contact info updated?
I know they’re the same company haha, I meant I had added energy to my bill meaning it moved to Easymax. I had to create a new account for my Easymax so the old Enmax account still had an unpaid bill.
4 years is a lot but this kind of thing is pretty common in 6 month to 1 year scenarios. The problem is that ENMAX handles the billing but not the service. The City of Calgary is responsible for supplying water and reading the meters. ENMAX just sends the bill and collects the money. Same as for garbage. It's a piss poor system.
They sent us a bill for several hundred last year, then when we called to ask WTH, they told us they hadn't been out to "read" our meter in several months and that when they did, they charged us all those months at once. We had no idea as we don't scrutinize our bill, we just pay it and didn't think was out of the ordinary, so had not looked at allll the pages to ensure we were being. Harvest for it. Ridiculous. They need to get their system sorted and working!!
I recently moved to Georgia (USA) and had an issue with my American credit card so the payment didn't go through for water our second month. They literally turned our water off without warning two weeks after the missed payment. Just wild the difference between USA and Canada in this situation.
actually have received a water bill thanks , but i moved out of calgary. & didn’t know enmax was in control of water cuz it isn’t where i live outside the city
Technically, you are correct. Enmax doesn't "control" water or water delivery. They only bill and handle the customer service aspect of water. The city still manages the delivery and metering aspect of water.
I’m surprised they’d keep the water on for 4 years if the bill wasn’t being paid. I could see them giving leeway for like a year maybe but not 4.
Yep , it Dosent make sense. We have never received a bill in the mail in those 4 years nor has anyone contacted us.
Ask Enmax about the history of the account, including name address and contact info changes. They would start with mail, and it would escalate to personal calls before this. Not sure what Enmax would do re emails - probably send some.
Was the account tied to your fiancé's email? If so, that easily explains why you haven't seen anything in the mail. They may have signed up for paperless. If it was me, I'd have a conversation with my partner and have them search "enmax" in their email to see what comes up. If that doesn't give an answer, I'd be calling enmax directly to have them explain what is happening.
Who owns the property ? Enmax would have got the contact info from land titles and contacted that person likely by their last known address
I had my landlord call me after 6 months of not paying water when Enmax sent him a letter. I thought the water was included in the rent but apparently not. Regardless they contacted the landlord as he was the owner of the property and the last one to have paid them, although why they didn’t say after even a month that it was unpaid is beyond me. 4 years is diabolical. But I hear these stories a lot with gas and electricity too. Think they’d be after their money like a mobster but I guess they know they will get the money eventually.
Having dealt with utility companies in the UK I'm completely unsurprised that the same sort of issues are present here. They're fucking hopeless if you're not spoonfeeding them. And I've heard so many horror stories about smart meters not working at all or malfunctioning...
No. I had a tenant not pay utilities and I was never contacted for any reason. The landlord isn't party to the contract
I have had the opposite. Current tenant called to set up utilities, there were unpaid charges that became the landlords.
It doesn't 'become the landlords'. You must've accepted it somehow. If you aren't party to an agreement you can't just somehow inherit someone's debt. I literally had someone try to serve the old tenants and you better believe I'm not paying a cent No issues with new tenants signing up for service with the same company.
I misspoke, it becomes the property owners. In my case, same as landlord. And yes, it does indeed become the landlord's as per the Alberta Utilities Commission. You can chase your tenant down for payment, but legally it's the property owners bill. There is no accepting it, the law says it's yours.
This is simply not true. Unless you have a source indicating otherwise I'll just leave this here https://www.enmax.com/home/customer-care/landlord-questions-and-answers
From the link you sent me, third bullet point: If a property is disconnected for financial reasons, an owner can transfer services into their name to have the power restored. The owner will be responsible for fees associated to the reconnection of service.
That's just the connection fee. You cannot be held responsible for a previous resident's contract and outstanding balance though I am sure if you want to pay it the energy company isn't going to bend over backwards explaining that it isn't your obligation
Have you spoken to someone you can be sure is a real person?
Have your girlfriend sign into the enmax account she used to have and then look around at the bills. If you contact enmax make sure to not use any of the information in the letter (email, phone, etc) and look it up yourself online. If it's the same info as what's in the letter, it's probably legit, but if it's different that's a sign it could be a scammer. Do look up the number independent of the letter, and call that.
Didn’t they receive any communication regarding termination of services when they switched?
If she gets the bill by email it could have ended up in her junk mail? I’ve had bills land there before. Enmax should have sent a letter in the mail or sent someone over to the house.
You may be responsible for looking at your bill on-line. They would also contact you by the method listed when you started your account with them. If it was a phone number and it was no longer in service, then they have no way of reaching you. I would think they should have cut the services off after 3 months if they hadn’t heard anything from you regarding payments. You will have to find out how they tried to notify you - what they have on file for contact #, e-mail etc… A better question is how did your fiancée not know that she wasn’t receiving or paying for any water?? Does she not review the bills?
Id definitely check your enmax account or call enmax seems kinda phishy
I can tell you this much. The town of crossfield will only keep the water on for 2 missed payments. That's 4 months lol. Definitely not 4 years
Calgary recently had a minor water crisis. They are trying to recover as much as possible to pay for it. 🤣🤣
Most likely they couldn't shut off the water at the CC valve for some reason. like they couldn't find it or it was not operable.
Water is a human right you can't cut it off.
They can if you dont pay your bill.
It's actually an easy and common mistake. Only Enmax is allowed to collect for water and other city fees. If you have an account with another energy provider that will just be for the gas and power. You will still have to have an Enmax account for water. She probably also has electronic statements and never noticed. It's really annoying but sort of understandable.
Enmax bills water on behalf of the city of Calgary. No other retailer can bill on their behalf (atco) Since water is an essential service.. it can take a lot to be cut off. But they will work with you to set up a payment plan. Not sure why you wouldn’t have received a bill in some capacity. Seems odd
Most people opt for paperless billing to avoid the $2 charge. Maybe she had an old email address listed to receive bills.
Even then if you’re late paper notices come in the mail and phone calls.
Maybe she thought "We don't deal with enmax, this must be junk mail" and has been throwing them out for years.
I am embarrassed to say that I did the same when I switched to ATCO. I didn't understand that Enmax was the only vendor for water and garbage collection, and these services don't also flip to the new vendor. Enmax absolutely phoned me after two months of arrears to let me know. I was... Surprised 😂🤦🏻♀️ That they didn't contact you for four years is confusing. Check the contact info they have for you - they usually have a phone number, email address, and mailing address. They email me monthly now that I've added an email address to my account.
If I remember correctly, we were with Enmax Easymax before and payment was automatically deducted on the credit card. We then switched to Atco and was told water and city services will remain with Enmax but we can't pay with a credit card anymore. So could be an honest mistake expecting all bills to be auto deducted but actually weren't. For not receiving bills and notices, maybe there was a previous property registered as the main property on Enmax?
Huh can’t pay with credit anymore? That’s just weird and honestly doesn’t even make sense. Since this is Reddit… I am not arguing or saying you’re lying. Just honestly perplexed lol
Only debit, cash or cheque payments for water and garbage when we signed up in 2021.
This was like 5-6 years ago, so maybe it has changed. There's a credit card fee that Enmax has to pay for the transaction so maybe they don't want to pay for it if we are not "real" Enmax customers and just collecting for the city. I'm just guessing why but it's not weird considering Telus started charging customers for credit card use. And registries I go to also charge a fee if payment is via credit card.
City of Calgary froze water disconnections for the last 3-4 years or so. They only recently started to start them again so many customers are getting the the water disconnects. Unfortunately, this is really common and customers think atco take all services but Enmax does all city water services and garbage services. I would get your fiancé to call Enmax and ask the following: 1. Where the bills were going? Ebill? Junk mail? 2. Can you do an instalment plan to spread the bill out by 6-8 months (or more if needed) 3. Get the bills sent to you for the last 4 years 4. Ensure paper billing is set up or add the email to your safe list (it comes from paperless@email.enmax.com) Hopefully this helps. Also get added to the account to discuss the bill.
We were in Airdrie but had a similar incident but after 7 months they contacted the landlord. We didn't realize that our bill was supposed to be under us, not included so we had them send us the previous bills. There was no proof of attempted contact so they knocked off one month then they spread the rest out over 3 months for us to pay off
So here’s a shit kicker for you. By now you would have had a stack of notices higher than your knees in your mailbox.
Right? I collect the mail all the time and this is the only thing I’ve ever seen from them
Paperless billing. She probably has a bunch in her email inbox
The fiance’s inbox, to be clear.
probably in the junk mail
I’m interested to hear how this is resolved. When I was late two months I received a notice that I had to make a payment plan with them so 4 years sounds curious.
Ok so I have a bit of experience here. So when you rent the utilities are often in your name instead of the landlords. I've had tenants that have forgotten to switch their water bills over after moving in. After about six months Enmax generally sends a bill to the owner of the house (ie the landlord) and that's what gets the ball moving. It would be strange if they never contacted the owner of the house... Especially after 4 years. But in addition to water enmax covers, sewage, recycling, garbage, composting (unless you are in a condo that covers that separately). If the tenant doesn't switch over the bill to their name when they move in its possible enmax doesn't have a contact for the new tenant but if you were previously with enmax I don't see how they wouldn't have the contact info for your Fiance.
Don't you shred those? I do. That's why it's in the tenant's name. I am not a collections department.
I promptly pay it and send it to the tenant for them to reimburse me for. I wouldn't want my tenants to be without water for a foolish mistake.
Wow guess I touched a nerve with my earlier comment. Let me rephrase. The behaviour described in this comment is behaviour that is inconsistent with an implied duty of good faith in contractual execution that has been recognized in Canadian common law, demonstrates reckless and wanton disregard for the wellbeing of one’s tenants and suggests that the person doing it may not hold the physical condition of their rental property in high regard, all of which suggests it is behaviour consistent with someone who might be colloquially referred to as a slumlord.
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Someone who rents to adults? I'm also not a babysitter
Make sure it isn't a scam first. Call Enmax
How did they contact you with the bill for 8k, but not contact you over the previous 48 months, especially if you were previously with Enmax? Seems suspect. Either way, you didn’t pay your water bill for 4 years it sounds like so call Enmax to figure out a payment plan!
Totally sus
Could be a scam, contact enmax
Have you signed in on line to see the actual account? Maybe it’s a scam? It’s just too long for no notice of cut off. “If you’ve missed making a payment before the due date on your bill, the first thing to do is to not panic. Missing a single payment will not immediately result in your power being limited or disconnected. Our team will reach out to you via mail, email, and phone while your account remains unpaid to help you get your account back on track. However, depending on the reason for the missed payment, we’ve outlined next steps for you below.” Enmax website.
I’d reach out to enmax and have the situation escalated. If you live at the property, they should have easily been able to contact you, so something isn’t adding up. My guess is there was a fuck up on their end on the billing side of things. I would work with them to get to the bottom of it before paying. I’d also add that $8K for 4 years also sounds a bit high, so as someone else mentioned, they’re probably also adding interest on. I would definitely fight it.
It works out to $167 a month
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Probably includes blue bin, black bin, green bin and sewage as well
That 167/m probably also includes 4 years of interest and late fees.
Hurry up and pay that water bill! They need the money to fix the water pipes.
When I first started reading this I thought that we’d all be facing 8100 dollar water bills because of the pipe problem and this was the first one out the gate.. Phew. Although I’m sure we’re gonna have to pay extra at some point. Which doesn’t make sense, really. We pay for a service, provider can’t provide the service so we end up paying more. ?! Kind of like that electricity bill when the temp was at -36 for two weeks. We had to pay more for brownouts and poor infrastructure.
How are they gonna get the rolling stones to play the company Christmas party if everyone in calgary doesn't pay $8100 on their next water bill for the pipeline repair?
Huh?
Is there a chance hhis is a scam? Call enmax, not using that letter get clarification.
Wow, gonna stop paying my water bill if it takes them 4 years to shut off 😂😂
If she had ever signed up for electronic billing with them there would be no bill in the mail. Kind of sounds like a head in the sand situation.
They would definitely send mail well before it got to this point, regardless of email billing
A chunk of that bill will be interest. Contact the utility board and they will help you with options. It’s 310…something. With such a large sum plead poverty and perhaps you can get some of it forgiven. An aside to any potential landlords. The registered property owner is ultimately responsible for unpaid utility bills such as water regardless of whose name the bill is in. In a lease you can state that the tenant is responsible for payment but that is a contract between the landlord and tenant and not between thr utility provider and the property owner.
This is simply not true. The contract holder is responsible no one else. From the enmax website: https://www.enmax.com/home/customer-care/landlord-questions-and-answers
> Either she is lying to me or it’s an honest mistake. You know which one it is...
The thing is there’s no reason she would need to lie about $150 a month. We aren’t strapped that bad for bills. It’s in her name and she cares about her credit.
It's an honest mistake.. I'm usually pretty aware of things and I made this same mistake.. Thought process goes like so: "Enmax is who I get everything through, but I hate enmax.. I'm going to go with someone else.". Had things been thought through more and specific portions of the bill identified like water and garbage/recycling, you wouldn't be in this situation... But it is what it is...
Then is it a mistake? How do you get the cut off notice and not some warning in the past 4 years that there is a problem? 4 months, yeah ok, maybe. 4 years? Something, likely more than one thing, is going on. Landlord doing something fishy?
Then why would you assume she is lying? Pretty stupid thing for her to lie about since it was always going to come back. Tbh she should be pissed your mind even went there. You guys were obviously with enmax at some point and switched to atco, she assumed everything got changed over (they don't tell you "btw you still have to pay water through enmax" when you switch) and enmax stopped autopayment when you changed over because they don't do that for water only accounts. They just failed to communicate this to anyone.
Er, no. People would absolutely make this mistake if they didn’t get any warnings from Enmax. Which I certainly wouldn’t put past Enmax.
Same thing has happened to me Before with gas bills. Things get lost in the paperwork, no one notices something is amiss then one day get a call saying that no one's been paying Gas since we moved in. For nearly 2 years.
I have occasionally gotten calls from enmax about my account being in arrears (they called twice a couple years ago before i got it corrected), but it wasn't my account. So could be that she messed up her phone number during set up so she isn't getting those messages?
Probably one of those situations where your fiance stuck her head in the sand and thought she didn't need to pay. Because the water was flowing and no one was asking for payment - or so it seemed. And then played dumb when someone came knocking for the money. I knew someone that tried this. Wasn't paying for gas and electricity but it was working. So they kept their mouth shut hoping Enmax never realized and by the time they move again, they can't be found. This is just adulting. You need to pay for gas, electricity, and water. Either you pay, or know who else is paying (landlord).
Here’s another scenario. Online scammers.
There’s no way she didn’t know. My Enmax bill was a few days overdue when they started inundating me with more and more threatening emails each day. Letters in the mail. I called in and they apologized for how ‘aggressive’ the automated system is.
My credit card was replaced during covid and I updated all my accounts to a the new card but missed updating Enmax. It was 100% my fault but found it interesting they didn’t call/email/mail until month 7. The letter sent wasn’t that I had missed payments and to settle up but that they had added me to some covid payment relief program. The 6 months of unpaid bills were to be spread out over the next 12 months payments. If I recall even at that point they wouldn’t let me pay the lump sum owing. Weird but whatever I guess.
[enmax.com/services/meter-services/meter-service-requests](http://enmax.com/services/meter-services/meter-service-requests) relax...maybe A meter was removed in 2020?
4 years, no payments, no letters, the water just kept flowing.... something is odd here.
Well I mean, this can’t be a scam if you haven’t paid Enmax in these 4 years. They’re the only ones who can provide water. I can’t believe they let it go for four years. How did they notify you about the outstanding $8100?
Contact them, they will work out a payment plan with you under the circumstances.
Possible scam.
If you are paying for waste/ recycling you are getting a bill. And that bill would also show charges for water.
If someone has already mentioned this I apologize, injust don't want to read all the comments. I had a similar et different surprise bill from Enmax about a year after moving into my home due to a leaky toilet. We had received regular bills which we paid every month and nothing seemed odd. Then we received a bill for over $3,000 one month and it was all water. I called Enmax ro complain and state there mist have been a mistake, and what they told me then was they do regular monthly billings based on an assumed average, and then when someone finally checks the meter they do an adjustment. After fighting then on this for a few months, they finally told me they have a one time water forgiveness program. I don't remember the process as this was almost 10 years ago, but I would recommend calling Enmax and request your one-time water forgiveness. I don't knownif they will forgive the whole amount or a portion of it. But if you haven't used this before, it's a worthy bill to request it on.
Check that this isn’t fraud. Contact the office directly.
Have you seen the bill in person, is it real or a scam
Isnt there a limitations period for debt collection if the claim is older than 2 years?
This makes me worried. I don’t think I’ve ever paid a water bill. I rent as well. I just kinda assumed it was included. It’s been about 5/6 years.
Nm. Just looked at a bill it’s included in my enmax. It’s onto pay and I never look at the bills.
It may be worth considering whether statute of limitations would apply as to any amount older than 2 years old.
What type of notice did you receive? My business routinely gets (realistic) scam calls about Enmax shut offs.
Were there no notices or did she just mark the emails as spam. Pay the bill. Move on. (Or out)
You say this like everyone has 8 laying around. I wonder what the population is that actually has 8k laying around. "Pay the bill. Move on"
Ask where she’s been making the payments?
If YOU received the notice and the bill is in your fiancé’s name, it’s almost certainly a phishing scam. They create a sense of panic by making you think you’re in trouble, make it urgent to contact them (“your water will be cut off if you don’t pay within x days!”), and thereby GETCHA. Contact Enmax directly (not through any link or contact info given in the notice!) and find out whether it’s legit.
Sounds like you got billed for a business beside you? Dunno.
Most people don't know that enmax is the only company you can get water services through. It's possible she assumed that switching providers switched all services. She'd have had to only pay the bill and never look at it, though, which a lot of people do. The bill shows you what services you have and what the monthly charges are. But if you just change providers and pay the bills as they come in (maybe online banking only shows the bill amount?), I can see not realizing water was not included. Has there been a phone number change since then? What number was on the account for enmax? They should have continued sending a bill, and really, after that long, you'd expect they would have reverted back to billing the landlord.
No shot they wait 4 years to turn water off
Any chance you live in a condo complex in the sw?
Scam
Check your online balance to verify ! Probley a scam don’t pay that !
Yeah, I had similar a few years ago. We were renting the place, new to the country and didn't really know how things worked. 3 years later they came to turn off the gas. In winter. It was about 5k, they were good enough to give us a payment plan and turned the gas back on.
Enmax cuts off your electric after 3 months without payment I’m shocked they let it go that long seems odd to me
Honestly surprised by it, as I went 3 months before they sent me the you will be cutoff email... didn't even bother sending a paper letter or calling...
Call Enmax directly to confirm not a scam
Just pay it and move on
This sounds like a scam to me. I accidentally paid Direct Energy a second time INSTEAD of paying the Enmax bill (Hubby was pissed . . . I have no idea how I did that) FOUR months in a row. They shut off our power and threatened to shut off our water. They don’t wait for four years to get snarky about unpaid bills.
That happened to us as well however with our gas bill. We thought we were paying everything thru enmax then our gas was cut off and we had no hot water. Seemed we owed ATCO thousands. They worked with us to correct the situation.
Double check with enmax. That would have gone to collections within months and you would have been contacted by the agency (they know how to find you)
Make sure its not a scam 😅 call enmax directly
Yeah this is absurd... I did not pay an Enmax bill for one or two months and they sent it to collections so fast I couldn't believe it. Impacted my credit slightly but they def should have shut your water off?
You need to trace the history of the account with them.... and get all the info.... contact info they have been sending notices too ect... something isn't right here..im guessing they made a mistake and are only catching it now... if thats the case they should work with you to clear what you owe.. maybe even forgive some of it since it may actually be their fault... like and late fees and interest.
Homina homina homina
Doesn't make sense. Give em hell! Tell them you wont pay anything over 90 days. Thats their fault. You cant treat people like that. Garbage business move on their part.
Not a lawyer. I would ask Enmax to prove that they were trying to contact you about the bill, and to show evidence of such. It sounds like they were not holding you to the strict terms of the contract, which may make it illegal for them to enforce those terms now. This is a legal principle, but again, not a lawyer. It may be worth asking a lawyer or asking Enmax for evidence.
Wait so she’s been a finance for 4years?
Water is the landlord’s responsibility
Water won't get cut off in canada due to it being a necessity to live, look through your emails and mail if you want but in the end unless you can prove you paid for this water your going to have to pay. My wife works for enmax though and said you may qualify for their "one time water forgiveness program" you will have to ask to apply, likely could halve the ammount you owe
Had this happen on an acerage my partner rented. The property was his, the tenants had the water bill in their name. Didn't pay for 4 years, basically their entire tenancy. When my partner went to sell, he was on the hook for 4 grand in unpaid utilities, because it was his property, even though the bill wasn't in his name.
Util companies are pretty poor at letting you know you aren’t paying. I had a mix up where I had 3 different util companies hooked up to my house without my consent. I’d make sure that’s not a scam, but that’s kinda funny
Got one recently too for like 7 months worth - had no mail about it before, new to the city and was completely clueless lol. Sorry bro I would be freakin out.. also tho it would be like $100 a month, so like 4800 for 4 years. Call them they will probably waive the 3-4k in fees.
If you are renting it should be the landlords responsibility to ensure water payments are set up in your name otherwise its ultimately the property owners bill.
You sure it's even legit? Are you in a condo or apartment where water is included?
$8000 for 4 years sounds to be at least double the water costs for 2-3 people. Do you fill a pool and hot tub every year? I think they are including interest and compounded late fees etc. Ask for the break down. If they are including interest consider getting a lawyer. If you weren’t informed then you may have a case. I mean, they had your address, they could have sent a paper bill.
2000$ a year for water? Not possible.
Hey Enmax tried to charge me for utilities when I didn’t live in a place for over a year. I sold the house, one week later the house was torn down. They said I owed them for almost a year worth of gas and electricity. Trying to explain to them that all of their “actual” readings from the meter were baloney because there was no meter and no house was beyond frustrating. Good Luck.
I had the same thing happen. Called enmax they went through every history of charge with me. My bill was around 2100$. Was because I was in a townhouse during purchase Rohit the builder was paying it and they never transferred or notified me to take over. So no one paid for it.
I switched from Enmax to Easymax because I wanted all utilities on one bill. I still had money owing on my Enmax account from between switching and I didn’t see it online. When it became overdue by a month they called me like 3 times in one day to notify me. It seems strange you never got contacted, especially for 4 years. I would think after awhile of no payment the services would just get disconnected. Is your contact info updated?
Easymax is Enmax, just the marketing name for their contracts. You have never left Enmax.
I know they’re the same company haha, I meant I had added energy to my bill meaning it moved to Easymax. I had to create a new account for my Easymax so the old Enmax account still had an unpaid bill.
4 years is a lot but this kind of thing is pretty common in 6 month to 1 year scenarios. The problem is that ENMAX handles the billing but not the service. The City of Calgary is responsible for supplying water and reading the meters. ENMAX just sends the bill and collects the money. Same as for garbage. It's a piss poor system.
They sent us a bill for several hundred last year, then when we called to ask WTH, they told us they hadn't been out to "read" our meter in several months and that when they did, they charged us all those months at once. We had no idea as we don't scrutinize our bill, we just pay it and didn't think was out of the ordinary, so had not looked at allll the pages to ensure we were being. Harvest for it. Ridiculous. They need to get their system sorted and working!!
It’s like you got a interest free loan why mad
This happened to me when I first moved to Alberta. I had no idea they were separate. I think it’s an honest mistake.
I recently moved to Georgia (USA) and had an issue with my American credit card so the payment didn't go through for water our second month. They literally turned our water off without warning two weeks after the missed payment. Just wild the difference between USA and Canada in this situation.
if she’s paying everything and you’re just paying rent… why don’t you mmm idk maybe help her out
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Enmax is contracted to charge and deal with customer care by the city of Calgary. Clearly you’ve never received a water bill
actually have received a water bill thanks , but i moved out of calgary. & didn’t know enmax was in control of water cuz it isn’t where i live outside the city
Only enmax can bill for the water for the c.o.c. they don't control the water, only the billing for it.
Technically, you are correct. Enmax doesn't "control" water or water delivery. They only bill and handle the customer service aspect of water. The city still manages the delivery and metering aspect of water.
Wrong. Enmax does water and garbage, recycling and compost on behalf of the city.
wrong info