Authorized Payment

Terms of service

Definition

Authorized Payment (AP) is a method of payment whereby you authorize Hydro-Québec and your financial institution to debit the amount of your electricity bill from your bank account on the due date.

Debit Authorization

You authorize Hydro-Québec to make regular preauthorized debits (PADs) from your bank account in payment of sums owing pursuant to our service agreement for electricity service and delivery at the applicable rates.

These payments are personnal preauthorized debits.

Prior to making a personal PAD, Hydro-Québec will send you a bill indicating the amount billed and the date on which it will be debited.

Administration charges

Hydro-Québec provides this service free of charge. However, your financial institution may apply service charges to your account. It would be wise to check.

First withdrawal

Authorized Payment comes into effect the day Hydro-Québec approves your application. If any billed amounts are outstanding on that date, they will be debited from your bank account during the following night. Outstanding amounts that are not overdue will be debited from your bank account when they come due.

Change or Cancellation

If you change your financial institution, branch or account number, you must notify Hydro-Québec promptly at 1 888 385-7252.

You may revoke an authorization at any time upon 5 days’ notice. To obtain a cancellation form or for more information on your right to cancel a PAD agreement, contact your financial institution or visit the Canadian Payments Association Web site, at www.cdnpay.ca.

You acknowledge that submitting this authorization to Hydro-Québec is equivalent to submitting it to the financial institution identified herein.

Insufficient funds

If an installment cannot be debited due to insufficient funds in your bank account, it will be debited along with an administration charge on the 15^th day following the date of refusal, or the next business day, if the 15^th day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday.

Payment deferral

From the time you receive your bill until the business day prior to the due date, you can defer the debit from your bank account by calling Customer Services at the number indicated on your bill. If your installment is late, however, administration charges will apply.

Termination of service

Hydro-Québec could terminate the service:

• If an installment could not be debited on two consecutive occasions because of insufficient funds.
  
• If you request cancellation. Depending on the date your request is received, one more installment may be debited from your bank account.
  
  

Termination of Authorized Payment does not mean termination of your electricity service contract. Therefore, you are still responsible for paying your electricity bills, either by mail, Internet or via your financial institution.

Responsibility of the financial institution

Your financial institution is not responsible for verifying whether debits are made in accordance with the authorization it receives.

Reimbursement

You have certain recourse rights if any debit does not comply with this agreement. For example, you have the right to receive reimbursement for any PAD that is not authorized or is not consistent with this PAD agreement. For more information on your Right of recourse, contact your financial institution or visit www.cdnpay.ca.

On behalf of Hydro-Québec, the financial institution will reimburse you for the amounts debited in error within 90 calendar days of the debit, in the case of a personal PAD, provided that the grounds for requesting reimbursement are admissible.

You will be required to submit a request to that effect to your financial institution in accordance with the procedure that it indicates.

Finally, you acknowledge that a request for reimbursement filed after the deadline indicated above is an issue that must be resolved solely between Hydro-Québec and you, and the financial institution shall not incur any liability or obligation.

If you think an error has been made

First call Customer Services at the number indicated on your bill.

If necessary, you may also contact your financial institution which, at your request, will make the correction and notify Hydro-Québec.

Consent to Disclosure of Information

You hereby consent to the disclosure of any information contained in your PAD application to your financial institution, provided that such disclosure is directly related to and necessary for the application of the rules governing PADs.