EWON Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW. Free, fair and independent.

Marketing or transfers

EWON has investigated a range of complaints resulting from a requested or unwanted transfer to a new retailer, including:

• misleading conduct by a marketer or misleading information by a marketer/retailer
• not informed about cooling-off rights or cooling-off request not actioned
• pressure to sign or agree to contract by a marketer
• non-account approached for consent
• account transferred without account holder's consent
• accounts transferred in error
• delay in transferring an account
• transfer request rejected by retailer

EWON can negotiate with your supplier, review your contract conditions and provide advice and referral information.

Case studies

Transfer difficulties

When Fiona and her three-month old baby moved into rental accommodation, she rang a company that supplied both electricity and gas to organise connection. She followed automated prompts and selected the option to open 'electricity and gas accounts'. Fiona then started receiving bills from this supplier, which she assumed were for both her electricity and gas.

A few months later, the local electricity supplier came out to disconnect Fiona's electricity supply. They informed Fiona that they had no record of her holding an account with another company. Upon calling the supplier that was billing her, she was given her account reference number to prove that she had an electricity account with them. Nevertheless, the local electricity supplier kept sending Fiona letters requesting that she immediately establish an account, or she would be disconnected.

After five separate attempts to resolve the issue, Fiona was told that she only had a gas account with the supplier. Her gas supplier told her that the account reference number was wrong and she should have been requested to sign a contract to have her electricity supplied by the one company. When she told them that no contract had been discussed the electricity company told her that she would have to pay $683 owing for the electricity used over the last eleven months.

Worried about the size of her electricity account and her financial situation Fiona contacted EWON. In an effort to apologise for the confusion they had caused with her electricity connection, Fiona's gas supplier offered to clear $193 owing on her current gas account, and waived her security deposit fee and late payment fees. This left her gas account $100 in credit, which they agreed to issue as a cheque of $100. Her electricity supplier established a payment plan to assist her in managing and paying off her arrears.

Termination fee

When Cherie moved in to her new address six months ago, she asked her local electricity supplier to connect her power. She paid the bills as they came in, and was surprised to receive a letter from her supplier stating that they were sorry to hear that she had signed with another electricity retailer.

Cherie had not signed a new electricity contract, so she rang this new retailer for more information. They said that the previous tenant had signed a contract for the supply of electricity, so Cherie was obliged to honour the terms of that contract. Although she offered to forward a copy of her lease to prove she was not the tenant who signed, the new retailer told her she had no choice but to honour the contract or pay a termination fee. Cherie did not think it was fair that she should have to pay a penalty for ending a contract that she was not a party to and contacted EWON for assistance.

EWON discovered that the previous tenant had signed a contract shortly before moving out. It had taken six months for the transfer process to be completed and now the site 'belonged' to the new retailer. Nevertheless, the new retailer acknowledged that the advice given to the customer was incorrect and she could not be forced to comply with a contract she had not signed. The retailer agreed to immediately transfer the customer back to Cherie's chosen supplier without charging a termination fee.