Te Aponga Uira would like to correct the misinformation that Cook Islands News published on Thursday, July 25, 2024, in the front-page article titled “Power Cuts Loom for a Quarter of TAU Customers with Overdue Bills.”

The article, a mixture of TAU information and the paper’s own reporting is seriously misleading and falls far short of expected journalism standards in two important respects.

First, the article’s headline is entirely misleading. The media has reported extensively, in recent weeks, on “Power cuts” – which is to say, disruptions to power supply that affect customers generally. The TAU press release was concerned solely with TAU’s credit control practices, with rising levels of non-payment of power accounts and of its intention to customers who persistently ignore or refuse to pay for the electricity they consume.

The release was intended to advise the public generally, that TAU is moving to address this issue. Clearly, those who behave this way are being unfair to our many customers who pay their bills on time; it is unsustainable for TAU to continue providing services without receiving payment.

In line with international best practice, our 90-day notice of disconnection for persistent debtors gives every customer who is in debt to TAU ample time to contact our team. As our release makes clear, if a customer is experiencing genuine hardship, we will work with them to ensure the ongoing supply of electricity while agreeing to a payment plan.

The second serious misreporting is the article’s inaccurate claim that there have been recent ‘power bill hikes’.

TAU’s rates have not increased this year. While the temporary fuel surcharge has remained in place longer than anticipated, we are continuously monitoring fuel prices. Currently, the cost of fuel has not dropped to a level where we can remove the $0.05 surcharge. TAU continues to absorb 75% of the increase in fuel costs.

It is deeply troubling that the journalist included quotes from a customer, Mr Robinson, who suggested he and others had experienced an increase in power bills, occurring “without notice and due diligence”.

Upon learning of Mr. Robinson’s complaint on social media earlier this year, TAU conducted a series of checks to verify the accuracy of his meter reading. This included a special reading, which found that it was within the normal range, and a meter test that confirmed the meter was functioning correctly.

A detailed examination of Mr Robinson’s power installation ensued. Mr Robinson was informed of the outcome of that investigation. Either Mr Robinson has not shared the findings of that investigation with Cook Islands News, or Cook Islands News has chosen not to report that finding. It is not the policy of TAU to comment on the power usage of individual consumers, but given the ongoing coverage, TAU simply wishes to assure both customers of TAU and readers of the Cook Islands News that this customer was correctly billed, in the same way as all other customers, for usage, estimated as per actual consumption figures in the preceding period.

We trust this clarification sets the record straight. We thank our many customers, who pay for the electricity they consume on time and in full. We encourage any customer who has unpaid bills to contact our team to put in place a payment plan. Those customers with genuine financial difficulty can be assured of fair treatment as we move to address credit control issues. We will continue, ourselves, to reach out to customers with persistent debt; while disconnection is a last resort, it must, except in extremely unusual circumstances, be the consequence for customers who fail to pay their bills over long periods of time.