EWON Annual Report 2006 | 2007

• Overview and trends analysis
• Complaint handling
• Why are cases complex?
• Determinations
• Statistics
  • Who used our services?
  • How customers heard about us
  • Referrals we provided to customers

Overview and trends analysis

Overall complaints increased 13% in 2006-2007 as EWON closed 8641 cases in total (up from 7624 cases last year). This rise can be attributed to an increase in complaints about retail competition (energy marketing, transfers), which has taken over from billing and credit problems as the primary reason for customers contacting EWON.

This year retail competition complaints represented 29% of all issues raised by customers, up from 20% the previous year. The increase in retail competition complaints is significant given the decline in cases involving credit issues (disconnection, difficulty in payment).

There was an increase in the number of complaints about customer service (poor service, failure to respond), which represented 16% of all issues raised, up from 14% the year before.

As in previous years, EWON is finding that overall our investigations are becoming more complex due to factors such as market contracts and transfers, time-of-use metering, account bundling and more complex billing arrangements, including inclining block tariffs.

Complaint handling
This year we dealt with 3621 complaint enquiries and referred 1964 complaints to senior officers in energy and water companies. We carried out 3056 investigations, a slight decrease from last year (3135 investigations in 2005-2006).

There was a decrease in Level 1 investigations due to a decline in credit related complaints. However, we continued to see an increase in complex casework, with Level 2 investigations up by 59% and Level 3 investigations up by 126%.

Why are cases complex?
It is in the interests of all parties for a customer's complaint to be resolved as quickly as possible. Consequently we aim to carry out our investigations in an expeditious manner. However the complex nature of some cases means a complaint may take several months to resolve.

In more complex investigations, extensive data and information needs to be analysed (for example, billing information going back over several years) or expert advice commissioned. These factors can add to the length of an investigation. 

Determinations
In a small minority of cases it has not proved possible to achieve a negotiated outcome, despite a lengthy investigation. In such cases the Ombudsman may make a Determination (a 'binding decision') to resolve a case. The complainant can choose whether or not to accept the Determination however if it is accepted the provider is bound by its terms.

This year the Ombudsman made 17 Determinations, all of which were to resolve customer complaints relating to claims for compensation for electricity network events. Determinations are available on our website.

Statistics

Who used our services

Overall, the information about who used our service is consistent with previous years.

• 92% of complaints were from residential customers
• 7% of complaints were from business customers
• 35% of complaints were from rural customers
• 53% of customers were female; 47% male
• 90% of customers contacted us by phone
• 5% of customers used our online form to submit their complaint

We do not routinely collect the following information, but it is recorded if offered by customers. So while the numbers are low and almost certainly underestimated, they are still significant:

• at least 25% of customers received a pension/benefit
• at least 5% of customers lived in public housing
• 1% of customers identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
• 5% of customers identified as CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse)