|
(released Thursday 26 November 2009)
2008/09 was a very busy year for the Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria).
EWOV received 38,533 cases in the year—up 52% on the 25,413 cases received in 2007/08.
Nearly all of those were complaints. There were 36,171 complaints and 2,362 enquiries. 36,173 complaints were finalised during the year.
Cases profile
The source of the increase was complaints, which were up 58% overall. Electricity complaints increased 59%. Natural gas complaints increased 70%. Water complaints went against this trend, increasing by only 8%.
Just on 43% of the total complaints were about one energy company after it carried out a billing system upgrade towards the end of 2007. However, quite a few smaller energy companies had larger percentage increases in their complaint numbers than this company—but off a much smaller base.
EWOV has responded to the challenge of these increased case numbers by giving customers who qualify for an investigated complaint the choice between investigation and referral to a higher level representative of the company. 10,847 customers chose the faster route of referral, knowing that they could come back to us if the referral did not resolve the matter for them. We've made offering this choice a permanent part of our process: it’s quicker for customers, and gives companies another chance to rebuild their relationship with the customer. It means we referred more complaints than we investigated, but even so we investigated 42% more complaints this year than in 2007/08. 7,263 investigated complaints were finalised.
At 45% of all issues, billing was again the most common issue raised by customers overall—in particular, billing errors, high bills and billing delays.
Customer service was the second most common issue at 17%—most commonly about failure to respond, poor service and failure to consult or inform.
Highlights of the Report:
Cases by industry:
Download other sections of the report:
Links and Downloads:
Download Media release
More info about 2008/09 cases & issues overall
More info on systemic issues
Download a full version of EWOV's 2009 Annual Report [PDF 1.3MB]
Request a printed copy of EWOV's 2009 Annual Report
|
|
Download a pdf copy of
EWOV's 2009 Annual Report [PDF 1.3MB]
|