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Case studies
Sunil’s story: No support to help pay first electricity bill
Sunil and his family recently arrived in Australia and had lodged an application for residency. He didn’t have a job and was not eligible for income support. He contacted EWON when he couldn’t pay his electricity bill and was concerned about disconnection.
Sunil said he didn’t realise how much energy would cost. He had received his first electricity bill of $240 ($180 was the security deposit) and the company had given him until the end of the month to pay. Sunil contacted a community agency for help and while they provided him with furniture, they could not provide EAPA (Energy Accounts Payment Assistance) vouchers. The agency referred Sunil to EWON.
We contacted the electricity company who reviewed Sunil’s account and waived the security deposit. The provider agreed to refer Sunil to their customer assistance program.
As Sunil was also worried about receiving his first gas bill we contacted the gas retailer who also agreed to refer him to their customer assistance program.
We advised Sunil that the security deposit had been waived and we referred him to other community agencies that
distribute EAPA. .
Emma's story: Disconnected without warning
Emma was at home when the power went off. She had no warning about the disconnection. Emma wasn’t sure what had happened, so she went to check the meter. She found her meter had been taped by the energy company.
Emma then went to check her previous bill. She had paid the account but hadn’t noticed that her security deposit had been returned.
Emma opened another account with her electricity company and arranged reconnection. She then rang EWON to find out how and why this had happened.
EWON’s investigation found that a new retailer had taken Emma’s account in error. Emma was surprised this could happen as she hadn’t signed anything and hadn’t even heard of the new retailer.
It turned out the new retailer had meant to transfer another customer (‘John’), but the marketer had made a mistake when they recorded the meter identification (NMI) on John’s contract. The NMI the retailer recorded for John was actually Emma’s.
This meant that John was billed for Emma’s electricity and when he didn’t pay the account, Emma was disconnected.
Stephanie's story: Confusion when a transfer goes wrong
When Stephanie moved into her new home she contacted her electricity provider, Retailer A, to transfer her account. She received a bill for $90 which she paid.
Retailer A then sent her a refund for $90 and a letter apologising for charging her as she wasn’t their customer. When Stephanie called Retailer A, they said there had been an error and her property (the ‘site’) belonged to Retailer B. Stephanie told Retailer A she wanted an account with them and they told her they would fix the problem.
During this time, Retailer B was sending letters to Stephanie’s property addressed to the previous tenant. Stephanie rang Retailer B to tell them the tenant had moved on and she had set up an account with Retailer A. Retailer B said they would adjust their records.
Stephanie continued to receive bills from Retailer B addressed to the previous tenant, so she rang EWON for help. Stephanie said she was confused and irritated by the ‘lack of clarity’ surrounding her account, and asked EWON if she was responsible for the bills sent by Retailer B. She explained she was on a fixed income and she wanted to sort the matter out as it had been going on for months. We advised Stephanie that she was responsible for paying for the electricity she had used, but she was not responsible for the previous tenant’s consumption. We then contacted both retailers to establish who owned the site.
Retailer A said their records indicated they had incorrectly noted the NMI number and Stephanie’s account was never established. As almost six months had passed, they said they may not be able to retrospectively transfer the account and bill Stephanie. They were prepared to cancel her contract and not charge a termination fee.
Retailer B confirmed they still owned the site and if Stephanie wanted to be their customer she would need to open an account.
We contacted Stephanie and presented the options to her. Stephanie chose to set up an account with Retailer B and with her approval we provided her contact details to the company.
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