Death by Privacy Act - Powerless in Auckland part 3

We gasped in shock when Folole Muliaga died after Mercury cut the power supply to the family home over an overdue debt of $168.40. Most fingers, including our Prime Minister's, were pointed at Mercury. Some of us thought there was another cause like poor handling by the public health system or poor access to welfare benefits. Even the church the family belonged to were blamed.

Who would have thought that an act of Parliament giving people the right to privacy would have played any part?
If TVNZ's Sunday progaram is correct that is what played a large part in this family's tragic loss.

All along the finger has been pointed in part at the Muliaga family for not trying to arrange a payment plan with Mercury to prevent the electricity being cut off.

Now is seems they did try to do just that. The problem? Mr Muliaga rang Mercury to try and sort it out in early May but Mercury did nothing. (Put your pointing finger on hold for a moment)

Why?

Mr Muliaga wasn't the account holder!
Mrs Muliaga was!
So despite that fact that she was in hospital at the time and unable to handle sorting out the power bill herself Mercury, under the privacy act, was unable to act on any instructions or offers from her husband.

It is only because the Muliaga family waved their right to privacy that we have even heard about this.

Of course there are other factors involved as well, like our lax credit control laws (with the accompanying explosion of loan sharks), the obesity "epidemic", the ridiculous student allowance rules based on parents income with no reference to how many children those parents are feeding and our creaking health system, not forgetting our privatised electricity supply of course.

Every law potentially is a double edged sword. This sad case just proves that the privacy law is sharper than most. As many a family of a dementia sufferer or mental health patient has pointed out before, often in their grief, cuts from the privacy act can be fatal.

Powerless in Auckland
Mercury's response