A South Shore couple has run out of time and patience with Hydro Quebec. The Truong family says not only has the public utility defaced their property without their permission, but it wants them to pay to fix it.

Anh Truong and his wife own a modest home in Brossard, and ever since the ice storm of 1998 a hydro pole has been leaning in front of their house.

"I saw the pole inclined to the street and very dangerous," said Truong. "My wife was afraid when we slept, maybe something would happen"

The couple called Hydro Quebec to notify the utility of the situation, and while the Truongs were visiting family in Vietnam, Hydro Quebec secured the pole with a guy wire placed into their lawn in front of their door.

Knowing the difficulty the utility was having across Quebec, the Truongs thought the fix was temporary.

"We said 'Oh maybe one year, two years they will replace it,'" said Truong.

Except Hydro Quebec never came back. The Truongs wanted to repair their front steps and a retaining wall for their driveway, and sell their home, but could not because of the wire.

When they called asked Hydro Quebec to remove the wire and fix the pole, the utility said the wire had not been installed by its crews, initially saying the city of Brossard had installed the support, later saying Bell Canada had rigged up the wire.

After much struggle Truong finally got officials at Hydro Quebec to admit it had installed the wire, and that it could remove it -- but at a price: $14 to $20,000 to remove the wire and have a steel pole installed.

"My wife is very upset because she says this does not belong to us and now we have pay for this!" said Truong.

Hydro Quebec told the Truongs if they did not like the decision to file a complaint with the Regie de l'energie.

They did so, and the Regie determined that after 14 years the Truongs had waited too long to complain, and that Hydro Quebec was no longer responsible for the situation.

"It's unfair. It's really unfair, and they still refuse it," said Truong.

Hydro Quebec told CTV Montreal that it stands behind the Regie's ruling, but that is is still in ongoing discussions with the Truongs.

So far a Hydro Quebec mediator has told the Truongs the utility failed to ask permission before installing the guy wire, and offered the $850 as compensation: an amount equal to half the value of the piece of property the guy wire sits on.

The Truongs have refused that payment, saying they want the wire removed.