No. The changeover to the new system in January 2008 does not involve any changes to rates, conditions of electricity service or the way your consumption is calculated.

As soon as the new Customer Information System is put in place at the beginning of the new year, every residential customer account number will change. Financial institutions have already been informed of your new account number. However, when you are ready to pay the first bill you receive in 2008, we suggest you check that your account number is the one shown on your new bill, just as a precaution. It is a 12-digit number starting with 299 (for example, 299000 000000).

No. You still have 21 days following the billing date to pay your bill.

Some important reminders
Hydro-Québec considers your bill settled when we receive your payment. Please be sure to allow enough time for mail, bank or electronic processing. You may wish to contact your financial institution or Canada Post to find out how long it takes.

If your payment is late, Hydro-Québec will charge administration fees at the rate in effect on the billing date, from that date until your payment is received.

Fees are also charged to your account if a payment (cheque, preauthorized debit or online payment) is refused by a financial institution.

If you pay by direct debit (Authorized Payment), you will continue to be able to do so. The change in your Hydro-Québec account number will not have any impact on your payments, which will be debited as usual on the due date shown on your bill.

Yes. Both the Equalized Payments Plan and Authorized Payment will continue to be in effect after January 1, 2008.

The new numbers give you a better overview of your account and allow us to manage customer records better. Here's a little more about them.

	Customer number : A nine-digit number always beginning with 1.
This number is used to identify a customer or group of customers, and will not change with the new system. It serves to identify you whenever you contact Hydro-Québec.
	Account number : A 12-digit number always beginning with 299.
This number is linked to all the financial and administrative information pertaining to your account, such as payments, service charges and your billing address. This is the number you use when you pay your bills.
	Contract number : A nine-digit number always beginning with 3.
A part of your account, your contract comprises information on power consumption at each site or service address, such as the address, meter number, meter readings, etc.
	Bill number : A 12-digit number.
This new number identifies each individual bill and makes accounting operations easier.

Hydro-Québec is putting a new system in place so that it can continue to offer high-quality customer services.

The previous system had been in operation for many years, and was requiring more and more maintenance as well as frequent upgrades. In addition, it could not support the utility's future needs.

To make its services as efficient and effective as possible, Hydro-Québec took advantage of the opportunity to review all its administrative procedures. The results were presented at hearings of the Régie de l'énergie, which approved Hydro-Québec's decision to change its computer system.

No, the upgraded system was put into effect in two phases. Business customers began using the new system in 2006.

Yes, several improvements have been made, the most visible of which is your Personal Page's new look. However, rest assured that your access code and password have not changed.

Hydro-Québec regularly consults its residential customers. Among other things, it held focus groups to ensure that the new Customer Information System met customer needs.

Hydro-Québec considered both customer expectations and technological capabilities when choosing its new system.

If your most recent bill was issued prior to January 1, 2008, you will find it by clicking on "Bills prior to 2007-12-31" (under the address where service is supplied). As soon as your first bill of 2008 is issued by the new system, it will appear in your bill history. You will also be able to access it by clicking on "Details of most recent bill." The billing date will be clearly indicated along with the amount and the due date.

The "View bill history" icon provides access to all bills issued since the new system was implemented at the beginning of January 2008. Naturally, no bills will be listed until your first bill of 2008 is issued. However, you can access your previous bills by clicking on "Bills prior to 2007-12-31" (under the address where service is supplied).

The "View payment history" icon provides access to all payments made since the new system was implemented at the beginning of January 2008. Naturally, no payments will be listed until we receive your first payment of 2008.

If you are using Adobe Acrobat Reader 5

• Start up Acrobat Reader.
• Choose Edit > Preferences.
• Select Options from the list of categories on the left.
• Uncheck Display PDF in browser.
• Click on OK.

If you are using Adobe Acrobat 6 or later

• Start up Acrobat Reader.
• Choose Edit > Preferences.
• Select Internet from the list of categories on the left.
• Uncheck Display PDF in browser.
• Click on OK.

If you are using version 8,

you may get this error message: Internet Explorer cannot download: ent=988948800000&facture;=.pdf from transaction.hydroquebec.com. Internet Explorer was not able to open this Internet Site. The requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found. Please try again later.

If so, choose Internet Options from the Internet Explorer Tools menu. Click on the Advanced tab. Scroll down to the bottom of the Security area and uncheck Do not save encrypted pages to disk. Click on Apply, then OK..

Note: You cannot use Foxit Reader to view your bill.

If you still cannot see your bill, please contact our technical support team.

Some customers on the Equalized Payments Plan are unable to submit their meter readings from their Personal Pages. We are working on this problem. For the time being, you can submit your reading by going to www.hydroquebec.com/meter_reading and clicking on the link at the top of the page. Thank you for your understanding.

If you are on the Equalized Payments Plan, your consumption profile is updated at the start of each month, no matter when you receive your bill.