New Zealand energy company shuts off power, woman dies
By Michael J.W. Stickings
Seriously:
The company, Mercury Energy, claims not to have known about the machine. The woman's family claimed it told a company representative about the machine and what would happen if the electricity was shut off. One is tempted to believe the family, though of course the representative -- i.e., a technician -- was probably just doing his job. But who knows? Maybe the company, as it put it, was indeed "simply unaware that loss of electricity to the household was putting a vulnerable customer at risk". And since the woman, a schoolteacher, was on leave for medical reasons and behind on her bills (likely well behind on her bills), one wonders why she, or her family, didn't prepare for this possible eventuality with a back-up system.
Regardless of who knew what, it's a pretty awful story.
Seriously:
A New Zealand woman on an oxygen machine died after an energy firm switched off her power supply because of unpaid bills, her family claims.
Folole Muliaga, a 44-year-old mother of four, died within two hours of the electricity being switched off at her home in the northern city of Auckland.
The company, Mercury Energy, claims not to have known about the machine. The woman's family claimed it told a company representative about the machine and what would happen if the electricity was shut off. One is tempted to believe the family, though of course the representative -- i.e., a technician -- was probably just doing his job. But who knows? Maybe the company, as it put it, was indeed "simply unaware that loss of electricity to the household was putting a vulnerable customer at risk". And since the woman, a schoolteacher, was on leave for medical reasons and behind on her bills (likely well behind on her bills), one wonders why she, or her family, didn't prepare for this possible eventuality with a back-up system.
Regardless of who knew what, it's a pretty awful story.
Labels: business, energy, New Zealand
posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at
10:11 PM
1 Comments:
This tragic story has made headline news worldwide. Both sides are defending their positions and the full facts have yet to be made public but that doesn't help the family grieving for their mother or the reputation of either Mercury Energy or New Zealand itself.
A search of the internet for ‘energy company death new zealand’ returned your blog post at number 3. The top 2 slotes were taken by CNN, the 4th by a BBC article and the 5th and 6th by CBS News pieces. Bad news certainly travels fast. A sad case indeed.
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Anonymous, at 7:36 AM
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