What in the world possessed the Mercury Energy reps to turn the power off
Evidently they say they were not informed of her illness and the requirement to maintain power to the oxygen machine:
Mercury Energy's General Manager, James Moulder, said: "Our interview with the contractor indicates there was a discussion with Mrs Muliaga, who simply discussed possible bill payment and reconnection timeframes, but did not alert the contractor to her medical situation."
Mr Moulder expressed his sympathy to Mrs Muliaga's family but said: "We were simply unaware that loss of electricity to the household was putting a vulnerable customer at risk."
No doubt what actually occurred will be subject of the investigation.
Further even if the machine was turned off or had no power, it ought not have been necessary to keep her alive:
Counties Manukau Chief Medical Officer Don Mackie said Mrs Muliaga was sent home from Middlemore Hospital earlier this month.
She had been admitted with a cardio-respiratory complaint and was discharged with a breathing support device, he said.
"We do not expect it to be used 24 hours a day. Most people use them at night, particularly just to support their breathing and to relieve any distress from breathlessness while they are sleeping."
Later, he told Radio New Zealand Mrs Muliaga would not have been sent home if she needed the machine to keep her alive.
"I feel surprised that this has happened... This is not a ventilator at the intensive care level."
The machine just supported someone's ventilation rather than doing all the work for them, he said.
"People who are on this are capable of breathing for themselves... That is why we are surprised that she deteriorated and tragically died so soon after the support was withdrawn and we need to understand more about that."
Mercury Energy does have a policy for dealing with customers that can't pay owing to medical conditions needing electricity. Add to that an amublance was not called when she first got into difficulty.
While this is undoubtably a tragic and preventable mistake, I'm not sure the power company is entirely to blame.
Pay us or die
I can just imagine the flyers falling out of the envelope with the bill.
