Annual Report 2021

LARGE BUSINESS CUSTOMER | DEBT COLLECTION DURING COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

2020/10960

Affected by the COVID-19 lockdown, Hayden contacted their business' energy retailer asking that the electricity and gas accounts be put on hold. This was agreed. Hayden said that, even though their business suffered a 40% loss of income, it continued to make weekly electricity payments of $500 and gas payments of $250 to help manage its arrears. Even so, the business was emailed and called by debt collectors acting for the retailer. Hayden considered this to be unnecessary harassment, causing stress and anxiety, because the retailer knew the business was suffering financially. Hayden said the business had been a customer of the retailer for over ten years, and in recent years its energy accounts had been in credit. Asked by Hayden about an electricity contract review and rates reduction, the retailer said the best it could do was to put the account on hold. Having then been contacted by debt collectors, Hayden doubted this had happened.

At the Assisted Referral stage, the retailer offered an electricity network tariff change, which it calculated would save the business around $715 a year. When Hayden returned to EWOV still dissatisfied with the retailer's response, we opened an Investigation. In response, the retailer said its own investigation had concluded that Hayden wasn't interested in a payment plan — just a three months' billing waiver on the basis of customer loyalty. The retailer said it was unable to offer that.

The complaint was resolved when Hayden accepted a three-month payment plan of $200 a week towards the business' electricity arrears of just over $15,000, and agreed that all future bills would be paid in full by the due date. It was agreed that the payment plan could be re-negotiated at the end of the three months. The complaint was closed.

BUSINESS CUSTOMER | EXISTING METER, BUT SUPPLY DISCONNECTED | COMPLIANCE WITH REGULATIONS

2021/3643

The property from which Ash was planning to run a business already had an electricity meter. After providing the certificate of compliance requested by the local electricity distributor, Ash was told that the property's meter board needed to be relocated by a Registered Electrical Contractor (REC). Ash engaged an REC, but the connection didn't progress.

With the power still not on, Ash contacted EWOV. When an Assisted Referral didn't resolve the complaint, we opened an Investigation. Responding to our Investigation, the distributor attributed the connection delay to things that Ash's REC didn't address properly. We reviewed the service orders received and rejected by the distributor for the property. We also sought technical advice. This concluded that several things contributed to the delay, including lack of access and incorrect paperwork, but the main reason was a non-compliant point of attachment.

If the property's electricity hadn't been disconnected a few years earlier, this wouldn't have been a problem. Because it had been disconnected, the work had to be treated as a new connection in line with the current Victoria Service & Installations Rules. Our Investigation found that Ash's REC had missed critical steps and paperwork. Ash accepted EWOV's independent advice. The complaint was closed.

RURAL CUSTOMER | TIME TAKEN TO RESPOND | VEGETATION MANAGEMENT

2021/607

During a late afternoon storm, a branch fell onto a powerline on Lou's property causing the line to fall across their wire fence. The Country Fire Authority (CFA) arrived quickly, telling Lou two fences were electrified. They were told to stay clear, preferably inside, until the local electricity distributor came. The distributor arrived 16 hours later. Lou was upset that the repair took so long given the dangerous situation. Lou also raised concerns that the distributor wasn't doing enough to keep the trees pruned.

Assessing that the complaint was unlikely to resolve through an Assisted Referral, the distributor requested an EWOV Investigation. It told us that a severe weather front crossing Victoria had led to more faults in one day than it usually receives in a month, many of them high priority. Around 59,000 customers were affected. The distributor said that when the CFA rang to report wires down, live wires weren't mentioned, so the work was assessed as lower priority.

On top of that, problems it had with its Outage Management System meant staff had to use a contingency application to report faults. On vegetation management, it said its responsibilities were to ensure adequate clearance from powerlines. Ongoing maintenance of a tree or further clearing outside the minimum clearance was the responsibility of the tree owner, in this case the Council. It apologised for the delay in addressing the situation at the properties. Lou accepted the distributor's response to our Investigation. The complaint was closed.

TENANT | TRANSFER IN ERROR | BOUNCED BETWEEN RETAILERS

2020/14915

In late August 2020, the electricity at Alex's unit was disconnected after a real estate agent that managed two units in the block requested a retailer switch for another unit. Alex said that after no bills arrived, they'd called their retailer. They were told their electricity account was now held by a different retailer. Calling the second retailer, Alex was told it had no record of them. Alex went back to the original retailer. It agreed to fix things. Soon afterwards, Alex's electricity was cut off.

The local electricity distributor told Alex the second retailer had ordered the disconnection. Alex rang the second retailer again, and was again told it had no record of them. Alex went back to their original retailer seeking urgent reconnection. While the electricity was off, Alex's fridge stopped working and contents were lost. On top of this, the real estate agent which had requested the retailer switch presented them with an electricity bill of almost $450 for the other unit.

When an Assisted Referral didn't resolve the complaint, we opened an Investigation. The retailer recognised that it hadn't taken appropriate steps to reverse the incorrect switch. It provided a customer service payment of $100 and waived all billing for the period it wrongly held Alex's account. It also agreed it hadn't followed the law when it disconnected Alex's electricity. Because the power was off for 7 hours and 39 minutes, Alex would receive a cheque for a Wrongful Disconnection Payment of $159.37. The complaint was closed.