It’s been more than six months since Kelowna resident Gary Fong lost his beloved home to a fire, but that hasn’t stopped Fortis BC from sending him massive power bills.

Fong said having his beautiful 5,000-square-foot log home burn to the ground in January was devastating, and receiving electric bills in the thousands of dollars months later didn’t help.

The latest bill, which covered the period from May 19 to July 17, demanded a whopping $4,582.

“It says that we used 25,000-plus kilowatt hours,” Fong told CTV News. “People don’t spend [thousands] a month on electricity for a building that’s not there.”

Fong said he challenged Fortis, but was given no relief.

“They said actually the meter’s fine – in fact, we just installed a new smart meter so we stand by our billing,” he said.

Fortis has since confirmed the bills were based on estimates from previous years’ usage, and it used that billing method because an employee was unable to access the property’s meter.

Spokesman Michael Allison acknowledged that Fong had alerted the company he’d lost his house, however.

“No customer should have to go through what Mr. Fong went through,” Allison said. “We do regret the miscommunication that took place, and we want to do what we can to make it right.”

The company told CTV News Fong will be credited for any power he didn’t actually use.

Fong said he hopes his story forces Fortis to treat customers better in the future, because the bills could have caused even more trouble for a less fortunate family.

“We can afford to pay this and dispute it later, but what if we couldn’t?” Fong said.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Kent Molgat