Latest complaint statistics
Overview 1 October 2010 - 31 March 2011
From October 2010 to March 2011, EWON finalised 8922 cases, a 9% increase from the previous period. In terms of industry, the majority of complaints related to electricity retailers (69%) and gas retailers (15%).
Overall, we continue to see an increase in complaints about billing issues. We received 2094 complaints about a high bill or disputed account. This issue represented 23% of all complaints, making it the stand out issue for customers.
The number of customers complaining about debt collection or credit default listing because of a utility debt remains high. In the same period last year, EWON recorded 348 complaints about this issue, compared with 543 this period. This represents a 56% increase.
In terms of retail competition, complaints about marketers misleading or pressuring customers are steadily increasing.
Snapshot of Complaints
| Overall | Total complaints closed | 8922 | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customers | Residential customers | 8493 | (95%) |
| Small business customers | 342 | (4%) | |
| Living in social housing* | 330 | (4%) | |
| Receiving pension/benefits* | 1651 | (19%) | |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander customers* | 34 | (<1%) | |
| Culturally and linguistically diverse customers* | 137 | (2%) |
*EWON does not routinely collect demographic information however it is recorded if offered by the customer.
Complaints by industry
| Industry | Provider type | Apr 2010 - Sept 2010 | Oct 2010 - Mar 2011 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity | Retailer | 5520 | 6161 | +12% |
| Distributor | 423 | 493 | +17% | |
| Exempt Retailer | 24 | 30 | +25% | |
| Other* | 69 | 88 | +28% | |
| Gas | Retailer | 1361 | 1374 | +1% |
| Distributor | 50 | 34 | -32% | |
| Exempt Retailer | 0 | 1 | +100% | |
| Other* | 23 | 7 | -70% | |
| Dual Fuel | Retailer | 260 | 284 | +9% |
| Other* | 2 | 5 | +150% | |
| Non-energy/non-water | Other* | 44 | 37 | -16% |
| Water | Retailer | 261 | 270 | +3% |
| Distributor | 136 | 120 | -12% | |
| Exempt Retailer | 1 | 0 | -100% | |
| Other* | 21 | 18 | -14% | |
| Total | 8195 | 8922 | +9% |
*Non member specific, out of jurisdiction
Complaints by company
Legend: NSW retail customer bandwidth
Above 1 million customers
500,001 to 1 million customers
100,000 to 500,000 customers
under 100,000 customers
| Energy Retailers | No. complaints | |
|---|---|---|
|
ActewAGL | 87 |
|
AGL | 2508 |
|
Australian Power and Gas | 146 |
|
Country Energy | 470 |
|
EnergyAustralia | 1263 |
|
Integral Energy | 982 |
|
Jackgreen^ | 99 |
|
Lumo Energy | 11 |
|
Origin Energy | 1636 |
|
Powerdirect | 47 |
|
Red Energy | 55 |
|
Sanctuary Energy | 68 |
|
TRUenergy | 387 |
| Energy Distributors | No. complaints |
|---|---|
| Ausgrid | 255 |
| Endeavor Energy | 125 |
| Essential Energy | 111 |
| Jemena | 34 |
| TransGrid | 1 |
| Water Distributors/Retailers | No. complaints | |
|---|---|---|
|
Essential Energy* | 5 |
|
Gosford City Council | 8 |
|
Hunter Water | 50 |
|
Shoalhaven Water | 7 |
|
State Water | 5 |
|
Sydney Water | 284 |
|
Wyong Shire Council | 6 |
There were no complaints received about ActewAGL Distribution, Albury Gas Company, APT Allgas, Aurora Energy, Central Ranges Pipeline, Diamond Energy, Dodo Power & Gas, Envestra NSW, Independent Electricity Retail Solutions, Momentum Energy.
^Suspended from the market
*Essential Energy is a water provider for Broken Hill customers only.
Snapshot of customer issues
| Issues | Apr 2010 - Sept 2010 | Oct 2010 - March 2011 | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billing | |||
| High bill or disputed account | 1850 | 2094 | +13% |
| Estimated account | 443 | 500 | +13% |
| Delay in billing or bill not received | 276 | 396 | +43% |
| Backbilling | 241 | 307 | +27% |
| Credit | |||
| Arrears or utility debt | 1104 | 1071 | -3% |
| Facing disconnection for non-payment |
716 | 782 | +9% |
| Debt collection or credit default listing | 532 | 543 | +2% |
| Disconnected due to non-payment | 401 | 400 | <1% |
| Denied an extension or payment plan |
212 | 220 | +4% |
| Marketing | |||
| Misled by marketers | 320 | 339 | +6% |
| Pressured into signing or agreeing to a contract |
96 | 111 | +16% |
| Non-account holder approached for consent |
49 | 44 | -10% |
| Transfer | |||
| Problems with the contract terms (variation in price, termination fee) | 600 | 502 | -16% |
| Did not consent to the transfer | 256 | 238 | -7% |
| Site ownership or disconnected in error due to transfer |
189 | 205 | +9% |
| Transferred in error | 131 | 110 | -16% |
HOW WE CATEGORISE COMPLAINT ISSUES
Note: There may be more than one issue raised per complaint
- Billing - high and disputed bills, fees and charges, responsibility for accounts
- Credit - disconnection, arrears, difficulty in payment, payment arrangement declined, debt collection
- Customer service - failure to respond, incorrect advice, poor attitude/service
- Land - impact of network assets, maintenance, environment
- Marketing - conduct by marketers, misleading information, pressure, non-account holder signed up
- Provision - problems with new or existing connections
- Supply - quality, damage/loss, outages
- Transfer - error in billing or account transfer due to switching retailers, contract terms, transfer delay, site ownership
- General - non-energy/non-water related, contractors
