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It should never have been allowed to happen.

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When NB Power cut off power to the house in Baie-Ste.-Anne where brothers Bertrand and Paul-Emile Durelle lived, it’s obvious there was no system of checks and balances in place to ensure that such drastic action would not have tragic consequences.

And because no such system existed, there were indeed tragic consequences: a man died for want of an unpaid $1,500 bill.

Paul-Emile, 53 and diabetic, died at the Miramichi Regional Hospital on April 6, five days after his brother found him on the floor, cold and dehydrated, having failed to follow through on plans to find alternative accommodation.

“He had planned to go to Miramichi, and he had propane,” said Bertrand. “He thought it would be enough to keep him going until he found a place.”

Whatever other questions might linger about the circumstances of Paul-Emile’s lonely demise, it is clear NB Power policies when it comes to the possibility of disconnects because of unpaid bills is woefully lacking.

Opposition leader Jeannot Volpé has demanded a review of the government’s home-heating assistance program, which falls under an official “nodisconnect policy,” and which is intended to ensure low-income residents are able to heat their homes during the winter months.

“There should be a way for New Brunswickers, when they have a hard time during the winter, to be able to negotiate [with NB Power],” Volpé told reporters.

“The government will say there was a program in place. Well if that was in place, how come it didn’t work?” Bertrand Durelle says the utility cut off the power in February, despite the brothers’ hopes that they would stay connected under the “no disconnect” policy, and despite his explaining the brothers’ situation to the utility.

In fact, Bertrand says, at one point after the power was cut off, his brother reconnected the meter himself — only to have NB Power workers remove the meter completely.

One can only imagine some bureaucrat in the much-criticized Crown corporation signing the disconnect order without bothering to question the circumstances or the possible consequences of going through with the proposed cut-off.

It is astonishing that such a drastic action at a time when temperatures are consistently well below freezing can be ordered and executed, apparently without any form of safeguards.

And it is even more astonishing that Energy Minister Jack Keir, stressing that he does not comment on any specific case, can then dismiss the whole situation with a comment to the effect that a program review is not necessary because home owners are responsible for paying their bills and if they are unable to do that, they can access the program for financial relief.

Some program. Some relief.