Complaints this quarter

Complaints received (all industries)

January-March 2025 to January-March 2026

Complaint numbers for the January to March 2026 quarter continued at an elevated level compared to the same quarter in 2025. Complaints that factor in consumer energy resources (CER) such as rooftop solar and batteries have significantly increased and this may have links to the rollout of residential batteries through the Commonwealth Government’s cheaper home battery program.
 

Complaints by industry

 

Complaints received by industry

January to March 2026

Industry	Provider type	Jan 26 – Mar 26
Electricity	Retail	5,032
Electricity	Network	290
Electricity	Exempt retailer	34
Electricity	Not allocated	112
Electricity total		5,468
Gas	Retail	820
Gas	Network	26
Gas	Exempt retailer	1
Gas	Not allocated	24
Gas total		871
Water	Retail	156
Water	Network	68
Water	Not allocated	32
Water – total		256
Non-energy/non-water total		18
Grand total		6,613

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Customer complaint issues

High bills remained the most common complaint issue this quarter. Eight of the top ten core complaint issues were about billing. A credit issue relating to payment difficulties also featured in the top ten. It is no surprise that billing and credit issues remain the main drivers of complaints. New South Wales households were already dealing with cost-of-living pressures, before petrol and diesel prices dramatically increased this quarter.

Top 10 core issues closed including the previous four quarters

January to March 2025 – January to March 2026

Primary issues	Secondary > tertiary issues	Jan 26 – Mar 26	Oct 25 – Dec 25	Jul 25 – Sep 25	Apr 25 – Jun 25	Jan 25 – Mar 25
Billing	High > disputed	2,096 33.15%	2,372 36.49%	2,707 37.67%	1,595 27.26%	1,911 30.44%
Billing	Account closing > error	208 3.29%	160 2.46%	168 2.34%	174 2.97%	144 2.29%
Billing	Estimation > meter access / not read	204 3.23%	207 3.18%	202 2.81%	214 3.66%	248 3.95%
Billing	Error > payment	188 2.97%	194 2.98%	222 3.09%	184 3.14%	217 3.46%
General	Energy / water	152 2.40%	143 2.20%	152 2.11%	147 2.51%	129 2.05%
Billing	Information	128 2.02%	77 1.18%	85 1.18%	146 2.50%	150 2.39%
Billing	Backbill	128 2.02%	115 1.77%	119 1.66%	145 2.48%	119 1.90%
Billing	Rebate / concession > error	125 1.98%	107 1.65%	215 2.99%	139 2.38%	124 1.98%
Credit	Payment difficulties > current / arrears	102 1.61%	107 1.65%	180 2.50%	129 2.20%	126 2.01%
Billing	Refund or credit > delay / error / form	92 1.46%	133 2.05%	89 1.24%	150 2.56%	158 2.52%

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Water complaints

Water complaints increased compared to last quarter, with 256 complaints received. High bills remain the primary cause of complaints. Water complaints represented 3.9% of EWON’s overall complaints this quarter, which is a typical proportion.

Top five water core issues closed

January to March 2026

Issue	Number
Billing > high > disputed	66
General > energy / water	39
Supply > sewer overflow / blockage	10
Land > network / transmission assets > maintenance	8
Supply > quality	3

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Embedded network complaints

EWON received only 130 embedded network complaints this quarter -  a significant decrease (almost 30%) on the number received in the same quarter the previous year. This follows a recent trend of falling embedded network complaints each quarter.

Embedded network complaints by service providers

January to March 2026

Service provider	Number
Retail	90
Exempt retailer	32
Network	6
Not allocated	2
Total	130

Top five embedded network core issues closed

January to March 2026

Issue	Number
Billing > high > disputed	45
Billing > fees and charges > service availability	5
Billing > rebate / concession > error	2
Billing > rebate / concession > information	1
Billing > delay	4

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Consumer energy resources complaints

EWON received 911 electricity complaints where the customer mentioned that consumer energy resources (CER) were a factor in their complaint. This includes technologies like rooftop solar and residential batteries.

The second highest core complaint issue related to the performance of the customer’s CER system, specifically that there was a fault with the technology.

This increase in complaints related to CER is likely related to the significant uptake of rooftop solar systems and residential batteries after the launch of the Commonwealth Government’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program. From 1 May 2026, the rebate for solar batteries will:

• decline every six months at a higher rate
• be tiered based on battery system size.

This will impact the number of small-scale technology certificates a solar battery may be eligible for, particularly for larger sized systems. We anticipate that these changes to the Commonwealth scheme may drive new complaints across the energy sector.

Complaints received involving consumer energy resources by service provider

January to March 2026

Service provider	Number
Retail	796
Exempt retailer	5
Network	10
Not allocated	100
Total	911

Top five core issues for closed complaints involving consumer energy resources

January to March 2026

Core complaint issue			Total
Billing	High > disputed		298
Consumer energy resource	System performance > fault		49
Billing	Tariff > feed-in		47
Digital meter exchange	Delay		34
Billing	Estimation > meter access / not read		26