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Reflect

On this page:

The Ombudsman's view

Catherine Wolthuizen

"We’ve seen complaints about accessing payment difficulty entitlements rising steadily since retailers raised prices in June last year."

The end of the financial year is often a busy time of year, and this was especially so at EWOV as we made the full transition to our new case handling model. Following a successful three-month pilot, the new model is now in place for all matters that come to us. We look forward to seeing all our members and consumers benefit from the expected reduced wait times, quicker resolutions and clearer expectations of what fair and reasonable looks like.

The April to June quarter is typically our quietest quarter. Milder weather combined with more public holidays can reduce the number of complaints we receive, particularly through April and May. This year, while we received fewer cases than we had done in the previous January to March quarter, we saw a 17% increase in our total caseload compared with the same quarter last year.

High bills continue to drive our caseload, up 22% compared with the same April to June quarter last year. Concerningly, credit cases were up 38% this quarter compared with the same quarter last year — we’ve seen complaints about accessing payment difficulty entitlements rising steadily since retailers raised prices in June last year. This year-on-year increase is consistent with a strong affordability theme in our caseload.

Even as we work to meet increased demand for our assistance in our complaint handling, we have also continued to support improved protections for family violence victim-survivors. I’m particularly proud of our latest policy report — Empowering change: supporting victim-survivors of family violence — released in June. The report highlights key insights into victim-survivors’ experiences, potential areas of improvement for policy and regulatory protection, and identifies key provider practices that we consider are particularly effective in improving outcomes for victim-survivors.

We also finalised our submission to the Energy Retail Code of Practice (the Code) Review, which provides a significant opportunity to outline key issues we have observed, and make suggestions about changes to the Code for the Essential Services Commission to consider.

A key recommendation included the introduction of an overarching conduct obligation for retailers to act efficiently, honestly and fairly in all their dealings with consumers, as is the case in the finance sector. This would encapsulate much of the existing consumer protection intent of the Code and help to achieve fair consumer outcomes. Other recommendations that are relevant to the consumer stories in this Reflect include:

  • A new obligation on retailers to provide tariff reviews to a broader cohort of consumers, beyond those entering into hardship programs.
  • Automatic assistance for consumers on concessions, and obligations on retailers to more proactively assist consumers with Utility Relief Grants (URGs).

The big picture

  • We received 4,012 cases in the April to June quarter, a decrease of 9% compared with the January to March quarter (4,424 cases). However, cases were up 17% compared with the same quarter last year — we received 3,428 cases in April to June 2023.
  • Cases about electricity were down 10% this quarter (2,316) compared to last quarter (2,562), but were up 26% compared with the April to June quarter last year (1,837).
  • Cases about gas were down 12% this quarter (1,255) compared to the last quarter (1,422), but up 4% compared to the April to June quarter last year (1,199).
  • Billing cases were down 8% (1,954) compared with the last quarter (2,133). However, Billing cases were up 15% compared with the same quarter last year (1,700) and constitutes 48% of our total case load, slightly lower than 50% in the same quarter last year.
  • Credit cases were up 7% (591) compared with the last quarter (555) and were up 38% compared with the April to June quarter last year (429 cases).
  • Supply cases were down 38% (284) compared with the last quarter (457) but up 97% compared with the same quarter last year (144 cases).
  • Though our caseload fell from the last quarter, the number of high bill cases has continued to rise.

Cases can sometimes be amended, reopened and reallocated — for these reasons, there may be discrepancies between the previous quarter and the information presented in past editions of Reflect.

Payment difficulty entitlements

Issues watch

High bills and payment difficulty entitlements

High bills and missed opportunities for support

High bills remain a central part of our caseload accounting for 11% of cases received for the quarter. While we saw a relatively minor 8% fall in the number of high bill cases this quarter (438) compared with the last quarter (473), high bill cases increased 22% compared with the same quarter last year (358). In this latest quarter, high electricity bills have been a key driver (49% of high bill complaints). In the coming months, we are likely to see winter bills drive higher gas bills.

Some high bill complaints may be masking a broader affordability challenge — in many gas high bill reviews our Technical Consultant has determined that retailers have billed consumers correctly. However, our consumer stories suggest there is often scope for retailers to provide more proactive assistance when consumers call with a complaint about a high bill and with any reference to payment difficulty (for example, offering consumers a tariff review and helping switch consumers to the best offer).

Another rising source of complaints is consumers having trouble accessing payment difficulty entitlements — namely Utility Relief Grants (URGs) and concessions (see chart above). Complaints about payment difficulty entitlements increased 46% from last quarter (109) to the current quarter (160), and rose 540% (25 cases) compared to the same quarter last year. This appears to be driven in part by high bills prompting consumers to seek urgent assistance, such as URGs, government support on bills and key concessions.

Consumer stories

High bill caused by solar PV issues

Essam* contacted us about a high final bill. He told us that he had 40 solar panels, and believed the inverter was on and active. Essam believed his provider at the time was not applying solar feed-in credits to the accounts, amounting to approximately 12 months of missing credits. He raised this with his then provider, who told him to take the matter up with a solar technician. Essam told us that due to these issues, he changed retailers.  The balance on the closed account was over $35,000. His former retailer offered a 6-month payment plan for the final account balance and advised that any unpaid amounts might be referred for debt collection. Essam did not believe he was liable for this amount due to the missing credits, so contacted us for assistance.  

As part of our investigation we conducted a technical review, which concluded that Essam was correctly charged for his electricity usage. Our investigation found there was no solar export recorded while he was a customer of his former retailer, and that the retailer did not owe any solar feed-in credits. Our investigation observed the retailer was not responsible to the consumer to ensure the solar system was functional and the retailer had given appropriate advice when Essam contacted them about the matter. Our investigation found that the final bill was payable, and the retailer had not lodged a credit default. The retailer recognised the risk of payment difficulty, and invited Essam to contact it about options for payment plans on closure of the complaint.    


* Names have been changed

Missed opportunities to provide assistance

Jennie* told us her energy provider had referred an overdue gas account to an external collections agent despite having received an email confirming her accounts were up-to-date. Jennie told us she advised her retailer that she was experiencing payment difficulty because she resigned from her job to care for her son. Jennie also told us she was in frequent contact with her retailer over this time.

As part of our investigation of this complaint, we reviewed contact notes and call recordings, which illustrated multiple instances where Jennie had disclosed her circumstances and payment difficulty she was experiencing, including explicitly stating she was in “significant financial hardship”, stating that she was out of work and her car had broken down, and referring to engagements with Centrelink. In these calls, Jennie also requested payment extensions and notified the retailer of missed payments and when payments would likely be made. Although the retailer provided payment extensions, and sent Jennie a fact sheet about assistance available, they missed multiple opportunities to provide information, advice and practical assistance in response to Jennie’s payment difficulty, and had instead referred Jennie’s account for collection.

Following our investigation, in recognition of the missed opportunities to provide assistance, the retailer reduced the remaining balance by $500, confirmed the deletion of the record with the collection agency, and agreed to offer tailored assistance, including assistance completing an URG application.


* Names have been changed

Outreach and engagement

Our newly formed CareConnect team maintained our ongoing engagement with key community organisations including the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and South East Community Links. Our team connected highly vulnerable consumers with outreach support and direct referral to our investigation teams where appropriate. In the last quarter, we identified multiple consumers who were in significant financial hardship (for example, due to visa status, unemployment or insecure housing) and who had an energy issue but were not aware of, or had not engaged with, their energy provider about assistance available.

In April, Ombudsman Catherine Wolthuizen presented to the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action’s Consumer Insights Forum. Catherine highlighted our elevated caseload, driven by high bills and a storm-related outage, and explained changes arising from our new case handling model. In May, Catherine presented to Solar Victoria and other government stakeholders about cases we receive that relate to consumer energy resources.

Catherine also attended the Financial Counselling Australia conference held in Perth, participating in the External Dispute Resolution forum and First Nations Yarning Circle.

Submissions

Our latest submissions:

Essential Services Commission’s Review of the Energy Retail Code of Practice

Based on our case data we made a number of recommendations and proposed changes to improve the Code and outcomes for consumers.

Read the submission


Network Outage Review Panel

We provided insights relating to the storm event in February 2024, including difficulties accessing compensation, and how providers communicated with consumers in relation to the storm event itself.

Read the submission


Services Australia — Centrepay Reform Discussion Paper (Joint Energy and Water Ombudsman)

We highlighted issues in how Centrepay deduction arrangements are currently being utilised by retailers, for example, changing Centrepay deduction amounts without consumer consultation.

Read the submission


Draft Renewable Energy Zone Community Benefits Plan

We welcomed the proposed neighbour payment arrangements to help obtain social licence for renewable transmission projects and highlighted the need for a clear dispute resolution pathway.

Read the submission


Attorney-General’s Department — Review of Australia’s Credit Reporting Framework (Joint Energy and Water Ombudsman submission)

We strongly supported the comprehensive review of the credit reporting framework, outlining a range of issues identified in the context of the energy industry, such as significantly fewer consumer protections being available to consumers with closed energy accounts that may result in poor consumer outcomes.

Read the submission


Australian Energy Market Commission — Unlocking CER benefits through flexible trading rule change (Joint Energy and Water Ombudsman)

We called for further consideration of secondary settlement points for metering, pointing to implications for tenants, consumers in VPPs, and consumers of white-label retailers.

Read the submission


Proposed amendments to the Residential Tenancies Regulations 2021

We supported the introduction of proposed additional minimum standards to improve energy efficiency of rental properties in Victoria.

Read the submission

Glossary

Visit the Data Hub for a full glossary of terms.