Ombudsman's message

Annual report 2010-201 

EWON recently released its annual report for 2010-2011, which showed a 17% increase in complaints – up from
15,048 complaints the previous year to 17,559 this year. The majority of complaints continue to concern electricity retail matters and more than half (9,669) involved billing issues. The dominant complaint issues were disputed high bills and other billing problems, payment difficulties, disconnection and poor customer service.

Complaints received throughout the year indicate growing numbers of consumers are facing affordability challenges. We noted the value to be gained from discussion at a national level about financial hardship, addressing issues such as energy affordability benchmarks.

Energy marketing emerged as a consumer issue to watch closely too. With increased market competition following  the sale of state-owned electricity retailers, complaint numbers for misleading marketing and transfers without consent began to rise in the  last quarter.

Our annual report also highlighted the need for retailers and distributors to respond to heightened consumer expectations with good service, effective communication and appropriate referrals by contact centre staff.

Putting the 'free' in freecall

In September 2010, EWON wrote to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to support a pricing review of calls to 1800 and 13/1300 numbers from mobile phones.

This was a priority issue for us as we were concerned that those already experiencing financial hardship are greatly disadvantaged under the current arrangement, with charges of up to $1.78 per minute applying.

Customers often report having to make numerous phone calls to their provider to sort out a problem and being on hold for extended periods of time. This means trying to resolve a utility issue can be a costly exercise.

With these concerns in mind, we are delighted that ACMA has now announced its intention to put an end to the high cost of ‘freecalls’ from  mobiles. ACMA’s agreement to take the financial sting out of 1800 and 13 calls is a big win for all consumers, most especially those whose  finances are under strain.

In the interim, if a customer contacts EWON by mobile phone we’ll continue to offer to call them back.

Complaint statistics: 2011 trends

In the 6 months to 30 September 2011 complaints finalised by EWON increased by 24% compared with the previous period. Complaints concerning high and disputed electricity bills continue to dominate, but complaint numbers are growing across the board. For more details on our most recent figures, see the latest complaint statistics and this issue's selection of marketing case studies.

New EWON members

We welcome to EWON the following new members: