Once payment arrangements have been made, you can consider whether the energy retailer acted appropriately in disconnecting your client’s electricity or natural gas supply.
A ‘wrongful disconnection’ is one where the electricity or natural gas retailer didn’t comply with the terms and conditions of its contract with your client—in practice, this basically comes down to whether it followed the Energy Retail Code in disconnecting your client’s supply.
In December 2004, the Victorian Government introduced a law requiring energy retailers to pay residential and small business customers (consuming under 40MWh per annum), whose supply was disconnected wrongfully, $250 a day—for each day they were without electricity or gas, or part thereof.
Wrongful disconnection payment does not apply to LPG or water.