Customer complaint issues

For the top core issues, including the previous four quarters, click here

In our last EWON Insights report we anticipated complaint numbers would continue to increase. Customers are facing unprecedented cost of living pressures, notably from interest rate rises, combined with increased food and energy prices. We have seen more Retailer of Last Resort (RoLR) events and long term effects from extreme weather events, including one of the wettest winters in history. Price increases also affected many customers from 1 July 2022 as people began to receive their winter bills.  

In the last quarter the complaints EWON received increased by 30.1%. While we often see increased case numbers following winter bills, the jump is significantly higher than the 2021 winter period, which saw a 7.6% increase in cases. 

The ongoing increase in the cost of living and energy is at the forefront of people’s minds, with customers concerned about how this will impact household budgets. This is reflected in: 

• price increases emerging as a new core issue and top 10 issue 
• a jump in cases about rebates/concession (up by 40.1% to 111 from 79) as the core issue of complaints 
• customers identifying high disputed billing as a complaint issue increased by 58.3% (to 1,599 up from 1,010), while those that identified it as the core issue of their complaint increased 76.1% (to 1,266 from 719).  

While this data points to economic pressures causing the upward trend in cases, another underlying cause could be seasonal impacts.  

For the top 10 issues, including the previous four quarters, click here.